Carrier current transmission, originally called wired wireless, employs guided low-power radio-frequency signals, which are transmitted along electrical conductors. The transmissions are picked up by receivers that are either connected to the conductors, or a short distance from them. Carrier current transmission is used to send audio and telemetry to selected locations, and also for low-power broadcasting that covers a small geographical area, such as a college campus. The most common form of carrier current uses longwave or medium wave AM radio signals that are sent through existing electrical wiring, although other conductors can be used, such as telephone lines.
Carrier current generally uses low-power transmissions. In cases where the signals are being carried over electrical wires, special preparations must be made for distant transmissions, as the signals cannot pass through standard utility transformers. Signals can bridge transformers if the utility company has installed high-pass filters, which typically has already been done when carrier current-based data systems are in operation. Signals can also be impressed onto the neutral leg of the three-phase electric power system, a practice known as "neutral loading", in order to reduce or eliminate mains hum (60 hertz in North American installations), and to extend effective transmission line distance.
For a broadcasting installation, a typical carrier current transmitter has an output in the range 5 to 30 watts. However, electrical wiring is a very inefficient antenna, and this results in a transmitted effective radiated power of less than one watt, and the distance over which signals can be picked up is usually less than 60 meters (200 feet) from the wires. Transmission sound quality can be good, although it sometimes includes the low-frequency mains hum interference produced by the alternating current. However, not all listeners notice this hum, nor is it reproduced well by all receivers.
Extensive systems can include multiple unit installations with linear amplifiers and splitters to increase the coupling points to a large electrical grid (whether a campus, a high-rise apartment or a community). These systems would typically require coaxial cable interconnection from a transmitter to the linear amplifiers. In the 1990s, LPB, Inc., possibly the largest manufacturer of these transmission systems, designed and supplied several extensive campus-based systems that included fiber-optic links between linear amplifiers to prevent heterodyne interference.
The ability for electrical conductors to act as waveguides for radio signals was noted in the earliest days of radio experimentation, and Heinrich Hertz published the first review of the phenomenon in 1889. [1] By 1911, Major General George Owen Squier was conducting some of the earliest studies designed to put carrier current transmissions, which he called "wired wireless", to practical use. [2] To be effective, the radio transmitter must be capable of generating pure continuous-wave AM transmissions. Thus, the technology needed to set up carrier current transmissions would not be readily available until the late 1910s, with the development of vacuum tube transmitters and amplifiers.
The first commercial applications of carrier current technology included the setting up of long-distance telegraph, telemetry, and telephone communication by electrical companies over their high-voltage distribution lines. This approach had a major advantage over standard telegraph and telephone lines, because radio signals can readily jump over any small gaps in cases when there is a line break. In May 1918, the Imperial Japanese Electro-Technical Laboratory of Tokyo successfully tested "wave telephony" over the Kinogawa Hydro-Electric Company's 144-kilometer (90-mile) long power line. [3] In the summer of 1920, a successful test transmission over 19.2 kilometers (12 miles) of high-tension wires was reported from New Jersey, [4] and by 1929, 1,000 installations had been made in the United States and Europe. [3] The majority of power line communication installations use transmissions in the longwave band, to avoid interference to and from standard AM stations.
In 1923, the Wired Radio Service Company, a subsidiary of the local electric company, set up a subscription news and entertainment service at Staten Island, New York that used carrier current transmissions over the electrical power lines. To receive the transmissions, subscribers had to lease a receiver costing between two and five dollars a month. [5] However, despite the power company's optimism that the system would eventually be installed nationally, the effort proved unable to compete with the free offerings provided by standard radio stations. General Squier continued to unsuccessfully promote the technology for home entertainment, until 1934, when he helped found the Muzak company, which focused on the business market.
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Carrier current home entertainment services would prove to be more popular in Europe. Previously, there had been a few successful telephone newspaper services, which sent entertainment to subscribers over standard telephone lines. However, carrier current transmissions had the ability to provide programs over telephone lines without affecting the regular telephone service, and could also send multiple programs simultaneously.
In Germany, the carrier current service was called Drahtfunk, and in Switzerland Telefonrundspruch. In the Soviet Union, this approach was very common beginning in the 1930s because of its low cost and accessibility, and because it made reception of uncensored over-the-air transmissions more difficult. In Norway radiation from power lines was used, provided by the Linjesender facility. In Britain such systems were used for a time in areas where reception from conventional BBC radio transmitters was poor.
In these systems programs were fed by special transformers into the lines. To prevent uncontrolled propagation, filters for the service's carrier frequencies were installed in substations and at line branches. Systems using telephone wires were incompatible with ISDN which required the same bandwidth to transmit digital data. Although the Swiss and German systems have been discontinued, the Italian it:Filodiffusione still has several hundred thousand subscribers.
Programs formerly carried by "wire broadcasting" in Switzerland included:
Carrier current technology is also used for broadcasting radio programs that can be received over a small area by standard AM radios. This is most often associated with college radio and high school radio, but also has applications for hospital radio stations and at military bases, sports stadiums, convention halls, mental and penal institutions, trailer parks, summer camps, office buildings, and drive-in movie theaters. Transmitters that use carrier current are very simple, making them an effective option for students interested in radio.
Carrier current broadcasting began in 1936, when students at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island developed a carrier current station initially called "The Brown Network". This station was founded by George Abraham [6] and David W. Borst, [7] who had originally installed an intercom system between their dormitory rooms. The intercom links were first expanded to additional locations, and then the system was replaced by distributed low-powered radio transmitters, which fed their signals into various buildings' electrical wires, allowing nearby radio receivers to receive the transmissions. [8]
The carrier current station idea soon spread to other college campuses, especially in the northeastern United States. The Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS) was formed in February 1940, to coordinate activities between twelve college carrier current stations and to solicit advertisers interested in sponsoring programs geared toward their student audiences. [9] The innovation received a major publicity boost by a complimentary article that appeared in the May 24, 1941 issue of The Saturday Evening Post , [10] and eventually hundreds of college stations were established. Responding to the growing phenomenon, a 1941 release issued by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) stated that because of the stations' very limited ranges, it had "not promulgated any rule governing their operation." [11] Therefore, to operate legally, U.S. carrier current station broadcast emissions must adhere to the FCC's Title 47 CFR Part 15 Rules for unlicensed transmissions. [12]
Many college stations that went on to obtain FM broadcasting licenses started out as carrier current stations because of the low cost and relative ease of starting one. Although college-based carrier current stations have existed for over 80 years, their numbers are steadily declining, becoming supplemented, or replaced, by other transmission methods, including low-power FM (LPFM), closed circuit over cable TV channels, and Internet streaming audio and video, along with simple PowerPoint presentations of college campus news and information being streamed using low-cost consumer televisions and monitors. As with most other student-run facilities, these stations often operate on sporadic schedules.
In the United States, unlike educational FM stations, carrier current stations can carry a full range of advertising. Due to their low power, these stations do not require an FCC license, and are not assigned an official call sign. However, in keeping with standard radio industry practice, they commonly adopt their own call sign-like identifiers.
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In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating current, the antenna radiates radio waves.
AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave transmissions, but also on the longwave and shortwave radio bands.
Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio station, while in satellite radio the radio waves are broadcast by a satellite in Earth orbit. To receive the content the listener must have a broadcast radio receiver (radio). Stations are often affiliated with a radio network that provides content in a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast, or both. Radio stations broadcast with several different types of modulation: AM radio stations transmit in AM, FM radio stations transmit in FM, which are older analog audio standards, while newer digital radio stations transmit in several digital audio standards: DAB, HD radio, DRM. Television broadcasting is a separate service that also uses radio frequencies to broadcast television (video) signals.
Beautiful music is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator music, light music, mood music, and Muzak are other terms that overlap with this format and the style of music that it featured. Beautiful music can also be regarded as a subset of the middle of the road radio format.
Free-form, or free-form radio, is a radio station programming format in which the disc jockey is given wide or total control over what music to play, regardless of music genre or commercial interests. Freeform radio stands in contrast to most commercial radio stations, in which DJs have little or no influence over programming structure or playlists. In the United States, freeform DJs are still bound by Federal Communications Commission regulations.
Radio broadcasting has been used in the United States since the early 1920s to distribute news and entertainment to a national audience. In 1923, 1 percent of U.S. households owned at least one radio receiver, while a majority did by 1931 and 75 percent did by 1937. It was the first electronic "mass medium" technology, and its introduction, along with the subsequent development of sound films, ended the print monopoly of mass media. During the Golden Age of Radio it had a major cultural and financial impact on the country. However, the rise of television broadcasting in the 1950s relegated radio to a secondary status, as much of its programming and audience shifted to the new "sight joined with sound" service.
FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting offers higher fidelity—more accurate reproduction of the original program sound—than other broadcasting techniques, such as AM broadcasting. It is also less susceptible to common forms of interference, having less static and popping sounds than are often heard on AM. Therefore, FM is used for most broadcasts of music and general audio. FM radio stations use the very high frequency range of radio frequencies.
WHUS is a non-commercial educational FM college radio station. It transmits with 4,400 watts on 91.7 MHz from the University of Connecticut (UConn) in Storrs to audiences in Connecticut, southern Massachusetts and western Rhode Island. WHUS operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year as a community radio station that features members of the student body and the local community.
Radio Glendon is a Canadian online radio station, which broadcasts on radio-glendon.ca in Toronto, Ontario. It is the campus radio station of the city's Glendon College, a campus of York University.
Laker Radio is an internet radio station in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, United States. Broadcasting a college radio format, The 46th Parallel Radio is the campus radio station of the city's Lake Superior State University, and also provides mobile DJ services for on-campus and Sault Ste. Marie events. From 1993 to 2017, the station broadcast at 90.1 on the FM dial with the call sign WLSO, before becoming solely an internet radio station during the 2016–2017 school year.
WEXP was a free-form college radio station in Philadelphia, which operated for nearly 50 years. The station primarily operated as a very low powered carrier current station, with its coverage limited to the La Salle University campus. At times it was also simulcast over the La Salle TV channel's Second Audio Program (SAP), and distributed over the Internet.
WCDB is a college radio station located at The University at Albany in Albany, New York. WCDB currently broadcasts at 90.9 FM with a signal covering the Capital District and reaching parts of Western Massachusetts. The station is staffed completely by students and student alumni, operating on a 24/7 schedule. WCDB's programming includes a wide range of alternative music programs. The station is available worldwide via streaming on their website.
WRMU-FM is a non-commercial FM radio station at the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio broadcasting at 91.1 MHz.
WRUC is an independent educational college radio station, owned and operated by Union College in Schenectady, New York. The station transmits with an effective radiated power of 100 watts, providing coverage over an approximate 15-mile radius. WRUC also streams its programming on Internet radio. The station's offices and studios are located in the Reamer Campus Center on the Union College campus.
WKAR is an non-commercial public AM radio station, licensed to the trustees of Michigan State University (MSU) at East Lansing, Michigan. It is part of MSU's Broadcasting Services Division, along with WKAR-FM and WKAR-TV. Studios and offices are in the Communication Arts and Sciences Building, at the southeast corner of Wilson and Red Cedar Roads on the MSU campus.
Black Squirrel Radio (BSR) is a non-commercial internet radio station run by students of Kent State University, originating from the university's campus in Kent, Ohio, and broadcasting exclusively online. Black Squirrel Radio is overseen by faculty from Kent State University's Journalism and Mass Communication program. While relaunching under this name in the fall of 2005, Black Squirrel Radio can be traced back directly to 1964 as an unlicensed carrier current AM station on the university's campus, and is intertwined with the establishment and history of the university's licensed non-commercial educational radio station, WKSU.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to radio:
WFAL Falcon Radio is a commercial internet radio station run by students of Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, broadcasting exclusively online. WFAL Falcon Radio is overseen by faculty from Bowling Green State University's School of Mass Communications. In addition to being available online, the station is simulcast via cable radio throughout Northwestern Ohio on Spectrum Cable channel 21.
The NAB Crystal Radio Awards are presented annually by the National Association of Broadcasters to American radio stations. The award was established in 1987 to recognize radio stations for year-round commitment to community service.
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