Offers an insider's view of the outrageous, rebellious, and controversial free-form FM radio era, from its counter-culture rise in the 1960s to its 1980s defeat by the "format machine"

This completely updated second edition of an Artech House classic provides a thorough introduction to the basic principles of electromagnetic wave propagation of radio frequencies in real-world conditions, fully updated by including new achievements in theory and technology. It serves as an invaluable daily reference for practitioners in the field and as a complete, organized text on the subject. This comprehensive resource covers a wide range of essential topics, from the classification of radio waves, electromagnetic wave theory, and antennas for RF radio links, to the impact of the earth surface on the propagation of ground waves, atmospheric affects in radio wave propagation, and radio wave reception. The book explores the propagation of the ground radio waves, namely the waves that propagate in vicinity of the earth's surface (e.g., guided by that interface), without involvement of any atmospheric effects. Specifics of the high-frequency (HF) radio propagation due to reflections from ionospheric layers is studied, based on commonly used models of the ionospheric vertical profiles. Scattering of the radio waves of UHF and higher frequency bands from the random variations of the tropospheric refraction index (from tiny air turbulences) are also considered by using the principles of statistical radio-physics. Analysis of propagation conditions on real propagation paths, including analysis of the power budget of the VHF/UHF link to assure its stability (percentage of availability within observation time frame), terrestrial, broadcast, mobile, and satellite RF links are presented. The engineering design of the cellular networks, including LTE 4G, 5G and upcoming higher generations is explored. HF propagation predictions for extremely long-range links design for commercial and military applications are explained. Packed with examples and problems, this book provides a theoretical background for astrophysical, aeronomy and geophysical instrumentation design.

This book is concerned with the ionosphere and the magnetosphere, and the theory of their effect on radio waves. It includes accounts of some mathematical topics now widely used in this study, particularly W. K. B. approximations, Airy integral functions and integration by steepest descents. The subject is divided into ray theory and full wave theory. Ray theory is useful for high frequencies when the ionosphere is treated as a horizonally stratified medium. The discussion of the magnetosphere, whose structure is more complicated, includes an account of whistlers and ion cyclotron whistlers. The book has been planned both for final year undergraduates and as a reference book for research. It is suitable as a course book on radio propagation for students of physics or electrical engineering or mathematics. Some of the topics are presented from an elementary viewpoint so as to help undergraduates new to the subject. The later parts are more advanced. Because the subject is so large and has seen many important recent advances, some topics have had to be treated briefly, but there is a full bibliography with about 600 references.

Mexican Waves is the fascinating history of how borderlands radio stations shaped the identity of an entire region as they addressed the needs of the local population and fluidly reached across borders to the United States. In so doing, radio stations created a new market of borderlands consumers and worked both within and outside the constraints of Mexican and U.S. laws. Historian Sonia Robles examines the transnational business practices of Mexican radio entrepreneurs between the Golden Age of radio and the early years of television history. Intersecting Mexican history and diaspora studies with communications studies, this book explains how Mexican radio entrepreneurs targeted the Mexican population in the United States decades before U.S. advertising agencies realized the value of the Spanish-language market. Robles’s robust transnational research weaves together histories of technology, performance, entrepreneurship, and business into a single story. Examining the programming of northern Mexican commercial radio stations, the book shows how radio stations from Tijuana to Matamoros courted Spanish-language listeners in the U.S. Southwest and local Mexican audiences between 1930 and 1950. Robles deftly demonstrates Mexico’s role in creating the borderlands, adding texture and depth to the story. Scholars and students of radio, Spanish-language media in the United States, communication studies, Mexican history, and border studies will see how Mexican radio shaped the region’s development and how transnational listening communities used broadcast media’s unique programming to carve out a place for themselves as consumers and citizens of Mexico and the United States.

This work treats the essential elements of radio wave propagation without requiring recourse to advanced electromagnetic concepts and equations. However, it provides sufficient detail to allow those concerned with wireless systems to acquire quickly a practical working knowledge of the important concepts. Radio wave propagation is placed in a practical context by considering the design aspects of communications systems at microwave frequencies. A fuller consideration of the electromagnetic properties of materials is given late in the book rather than as an introductory chapter.

This book has been fully updated to reflect the latest developments in the field of radio communications. This book introduces the basic concepts and mechanisms of radiowave propagation engineering in both the troposphere and ionosphere, and includes greater emphasis on the needs of digital technologies and new kinds of radio systems.

When most people hear the term "radio waves," they think of the radio in their car or on their desk, but radio waves are so much more than a way of listening to music! Readers will discover how radio waves are similar to and different from light we can see. They'll learn how radio transmitters and receivers work and the difference between AM and FM frequencies. Readers will learn about the that roles that radio waves play in space exploration and how they might reveal life on other planets.