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How Radio Is Made - Manufacture, Making, History, Used, Parts, Components, Industry, History, Raw Materials
How Radio Is Made - Manufacture, Making, History, Used, Parts, Components, Industry, History, Raw Materials
How Radio Is Made - Manufacture, Making, History, Used, Parts, Components, Industry, History, Raw Materials
Radio
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Background
The radio receives electromagnetic waves from the air that are sent by a radio transmitter. Electromagnetic waves are a combination of electrical and
magnetic fields that overlap. The radio converts these electromagnetic waves, called a signal, into sounds that humans can hear.
Radios are a part of everyday life. Not only are they used to play music or as alarms in the morning, they are also used in cordless phones, cell phones, baby
monitors, garage door openers, toys, satellites, and radar. Radios also play an important role in communications for police, fire, industry, and the military.
Although there are many types of radios—clock, car, amateur (ham), stereo—all contain the same basic components.
Radios come in all shapes and sizes, from a little AM/FM "Walkman" to a highly sophisticated, multi-mode transceiver where both the transmitter and
receiver are combined in one unit. The most common modes for a broadcast radio are AM (amplitude modulation) and FM (frequency modulation). Other
modes used by ham radio operators, industry, and the military are CW (continuous wave using Morse code), SSB (single sideband), digital modes such as
telemetry, radio teletype, and PSK (phase shift keying).
History
Guglielmo Marconi successfully sent the first radio message across the Atlantic Ocean in December 1901 from England to Newfoundland. Marconi's radio
did not receive voice or music. Rather, it received buzzing sounds created by a spark gap transmitter sending a signal using Morse code.
The radio got its voice on Christmas Eve 1906. As dozens of ship and amateur radio operators listened for the evening's traffic messages, they were amazed
to hear a man's voice calling "CQ, CQ" (which means calling all stations, I have messages) instead of the customary dits and dahs of Morse code. The
message was transmitted by Professor Reginald Aubrey Fessenden from a small radio station in Brant Rock, Massachusetts.
In the years from 1904 to 1914, the radio went through many refinements with the invention of the diode and triode vacuum tubes. These devices enabled
better transmission and reception of voice and music. Also during this time period, the radio became standard equipment on ships crossing the oceans.
The radio came of age during World War I. Military leaders recognized its value for communicating with the infantry and ships at sea. During the WWI, many
advancements were made to the radio making it more powerful and compact. In 1923, Edwin Armstrong invented the superhetrodyne radio. It was a major
advancement in how a radio worked. The basic principles used in the superhetrodyne radio are still in use today.
On November 2, 1920 the first commercial radio station went on the air in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was an instant success, and began the radio revolution
called the "Golden Age of Radio." The Golden Age of Radio lasted from the early 1920s through the late 1940s when television brought in a whole new era.
During this Golden Age, the radio evolved from a simple device in a bulky box to a complex piece of equipment housed in beautiful wooden cabinets.
People would gather around the radio and listen to the latest news and radio plays. The radio occupied a similar position as today's television set.
On June 30, 1948 the transistor was successfully demonstrated at Bell Laboratories. The transistor allowed radios to become compact, with the smallest
ones able to fit in a shirt pocket. In 1959, Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce received the first patent for the integrated circuit. The space program of the 1960s
would bring more advances to the integrated circuit. Now, a radio could fit in the frame of eyeglasses or inside a pair of small stereo earphones. Today, the
frequency dial printed on the cabinet has been replaced with light emitting diodes or liquid crystal displays.
Raw Materials
An internal antenna consists of small-diameter insulated copper wire wound around a ferrite core. An external antenna consists
of several aluminum tubes that slide within one another.
The printed circuit board consists of a copper-clad pattern cemented to a phenolic board. The copper pattern is the wiring from
component to component. It replaces most of the wiring used in earlier radios.
Resistors limit the flow of electricity. They consist of a carbon film deposited on a cylindrical substrate, encased in a plastic
(alkyd polyester) housing, with wire leads made of copper.
Capacitors store an electrical charge and allow alternating current to flow through an electrical circuit but prevent direct current
from flowing in the same circuit. Fixed capacitors consist of two extended aluminum foil electrodes insulated by polypropylene
film, housed in a plastic or ceramic housing with copper wire leads. Variable capacitors have a set of fixed aluminum plates and
a set of rotating aluminum plates with an air insulator.
Coils and transformers perform similar functions. Their purpose is to insulate a circuit while transferring energy from one circuit
to another. They consist of two or more sets of copper wire coils either wound on an insulator or mounted side-by-side with air as
the insulator.
Transistors consist of germanium or silicon encased in a metal housing with copper wire leads. The transistor controls the flow
of electricity in a circuit. Transistors replaced vacuum tubes used in earlier radios.
The integrated circuit houses thousands of resistors, capacitors, and transistors into a small and compact package called a chip.
This chip is about the size of the nail on the little finger. The chip is mounted in a plastic case with aluminum tabs that allow it to
be mounted to a printed circuit board.
Design
Radios consist of many specialized electronic circuits designed to perform specific tasks—radio frequency amplifier, mixer,
variable frequency oscillator, intermediate frequency amplifier, detector, and audio amplifier.
The radio frequency amplifier is designed to amplify the signal from a radio broadcast transmitter. The mixer takes the radio signal and combines it with
another signal produced by the radio's variable frequency oscillator to produce an intermediate frequency. The variable frequency oscillator is the tuning
knob on the radio. The produced intermediate frequency is amplified by the intermediate frequency amplifier. This intermediate signal is sent to the detector
which converts the radio signal to an audio signal. The audio amplifier amplifies the audio signal and sends it to the speaker or earphones.
The simplest AM/FM radio will have all of these circuits mounted on a single circuit board. Most of these circuits can be contained in a single integrated
circuit. The volume control (a variable resistor), tuning knob (a variable capacitor), speaker, antenna, and batteries can be mounted either on the printed
circuit board or in the radio's case.
The Manufacturing
Process
There is no single process for manufacturing a radio. The manufacturing process depends upon the design and complexity of the radio.
The simplest radio has a single circuit board housed in a plastic case. The most complex radio has many circuit boards or modules housed in aluminum
case.
Manufacturers purchase the basic components such as resistors, capacitors, transistors, integrated circuits, etc., from vendors and suppliers. The printed
circuit boards, usually proprietary, may be manufactured in house. Many times, manufacturers will purchase complete radio modules from an vendor. Most of
the manufacturing operations are performed by robots. These include the printed circuit boards and mounting of the components on the printed circuit board.
Mounting of the printed circuit board and controls into the case and some soldering operations are usually done by hand.
Quality Control
Since most of the components or a radio are manufactured by specialized vendors, the radio manufacturer must rely on those venders to produce quality
parts. However, the radio manufacturer will take random samples of each component received and inspect/test them to ensure they meet the required
specifications.
Random samples of the final radio assembly are also inspected to ensure quality. The overall unit is inspected for flaws—both physical and electrical. The
radio is played to ensure it can select radio frequencies it's design to receive, and that the audio output is within specifications.
Byproducts/Waste
Today's environmental awareness dictates that all waste be disposed of properly. Most byproducts from the construction of a radio can be reclaimed. The
etching solutions used in the printed circuit board manufacture are sent to chemical reclamation centers. Scraps from the leads of electronic components are
sent to metal waste recovery centers where they are melted to create new products.
The Future
Radios are being combined with computers to connect the computer to the Internet via satellites. Eventually radios will convert from analog to digital
broadcasting. Analog signals are subject to fade and interference, digital signals are not. They can produce high quality sound like that found on a CD.
Digital radios can be programmed for specific stations, types of music, news, etc. Eventually, radios will have mini-computers built in to process sounds in
numerical patterns "digits" rather than an analog waveform. This will allow listeners to program their radios for favorite radio stations, music type, stock
quotes, traffic information, and much more.
Books
Carter, Alden R. Radio From Marconi To The Space Age. New York: Franklin Watts, 1987.
Floyd, Thomas L. Electric Circuit Fundamentals. Columbus: Merrill Publishing Company, 1987.
The American Radio Relay League. The ARRL Handbook for Radio Amateurs. Newington, CT: ARRL, 1996.
Other
Canadian Broadcasting Company Web Page. "The Future of Digital Radio.: December 2001. < http://radioworks.cbc.ca/radio/digital-radio/drri.html
(http://radioworks.cbc.ca/radio/digital-radio/drri.html) >.
Ernst S. Sibberson
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