eolas/zk/Difference_between_frequency_and_bandwidth.md

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radio
ham-study

The difference between frequency and bandwidth

Think of a radio transmission as being like a lane on the motorway. The frequency is the specific motorway that you are travelling on. A frequency like 95.8 is the "center frequency".

In fact, a licensed radio station has a range of frequencies at its disposal. These other frequencies exist around the center frequency. The total available frequencies constitute the station's bandwidth.

The different frequencies are like different lanes on the motorway. Not all of the data will be transmitted on the center frequency. Nearby frequencies will also be used such as 95.7, for example.

When you tune to 95.8 you are not only tuning to that frequency, you are tuning to it as the center frequency encompassing the other frequencies. FM has 200kHz bandwidth per station whereas AM has much less bandwidth resulting in poorer sound quality. An FM station can use the additional frequencies to transmit sound in stereo, for example.

A radio receiver is designed to process the data accross the frequency spectrum for the station and unify it into a reconstruction of the original audio signal.

The more information you want to transmit, the more "lanes" or bandwidth you require.