Confusion in AM and MW channels

sudhirbhosale

Active Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2013
Messages
268
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Location
Hyderabad / Mumbai
Hi all
I am planning to buy radio/tuner mainly for vividh bharti (for parents). I found tuner with AM/FM bands (many) and few with MW/FM. Again in the manual of AM/FM tuners, MW was mentioned as supported bands. I checked my pocket radio, I did not find AM band but has MW band.

I really get confused on below points:
Is AM/MW same? Would AM band also capture MW? Where vividh bharati can be tuned (AM or MW or both)?
My worry is, if I buy AM tuner and it dont catch VB then its waste of money.

Same time I also noticed that my pioneer car stereo has AM not MW. And it dot tune any station. I use only FM. Not sure any antenna issue, or no-signal. Mechanic also dont have idea as rarely people use AM/MW.

Thanks
 
Here you go -

FM is newer transmission technology than AM. FM - Frequency Modulation, AM-Amplitude Modulation. So in short its transmission technology and both are analog.

On air they may look like this -
AM_FM_scaled.jpg


Now Bands -
(New technology) FM has household radio band from 88-108MHz, this is noise free stereo reception.
(Old Technology) AM is further divided into 3 main bands, this is noisy reception with each sub-band below needs separate type of antenna.
- LW : Long Wave (153KHz279 kHz)
- MW : Medium Wave (531Khz - 1602KHz)
- SW : Short Wave (2.3MHz26.1 MHz)
Here this SW band can be further divided into 14 separate bands like SW1, SW2...SW14. But not all radio receivers implement that way. So we get only 1 band aggregated as SW. :)

Now days receivers come with AM/FM support where AM is only meant MW. No other bands like LW or SW.

All local FM stations with 100KM transmission radius can transmit Vividh Bharati. Also same stations are available on MW (like Mumbai 1188 KHz) and SW mainly.

Please make sure your receiver is in range of any of supported station and bands.
 
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Hi all
I am planning to buy radio/tuner mainly for vividh bharti (for parents). I found tuner with AM/FM bands (many) and few with MW/FM. Again in the manual of AM/FM tuners, MW was mentioned as supported bands. I checked my pocket radio, I did not find AM band but has MW band.

I really get confused on below points:
Is AM/MW same? Would AM band also capture MW? Where vividh bharati can be tuned (AM or MW or both)?
My worry is, if I buy AM tuner and it dont catch VB then its waste of money.

Same time I also noticed that my pioneer car stereo has AM not MW. And it dot tune any station. I use only FM. Not sure any antenna issue, or no-signal. Mechanic also dont have idea as rarely people use AM/MW.

Thanks

Hello Sudhir,

AM stands for amplitude modulation and FM stands for frequency modulation. Modulation refers to the way in which the audio (in the case of radio) and video (in the case of television) signals are superimposed upon the carrier wave or radio or television signal.

In AM, the amplitude of the carrier wave is shaped or modulated by the voice signal at the time of broadcasting. In FM, it is the frequency of the carrier wave that is raised or lowered by superimposing the audio or video signal while transmitting.

An AM signal may be either long wave (LW), medium wave (MW) or short wave (SW) depending upon whether the frequency of the carrier wave is low, medium or high. Medium wave (MW) signals are transmitted using amplitude modulation (AM) and the terms are used interchangeably.

FM signals are mostly transmitted in the very high frequency (VHF) or ultra high frequency (UHF) bands and are used for voice (radio) as well as video (TV) broadcasting.

Most AM/FM radios will cover the MW band only and only very rarely any other band i.e. LW or SW. You may safely assume that any AM/FM radio you buy will cover the MW band. Reception of signals and issues regarding antennas or antennae have been discussed in the other thread by you on the subject.

Mr O Mishra has illustrated the subject of AM and FM signals technology very well in his post.
 
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Hi suggest you go for a DD STB. You can receive all the AIR channels on that. It's hassle free and costs less than 2000. All your parents need to do is to operate the remote. You may check my post.

However if you do go for a handheld radio then try to buy it locally after checking the manufacturing date. Phillips is the best option.

Sent from my Redmi 3S using Tapatalk
 
As the threads explained above the terms AM and FM are using different modulation - technology for transmisson .AM being an old technology ,it is still in use world over . India being the forefront in implementing newer technologies are trying to implement the digital technology is being replaced .From my experience and knowledge i may state, that amplitude modulation was mentioned to mean the technology in broadcasting , the sound content is being used with the strength of the sound signal is being modulated in the broadcasting process in the transmitter while at the receiving end the sound is being demodulated at the receiver end (in the radio we use ). AM broadcasting technology is being used to transmit the sound /music in different bands according to frequency . MEDIUM BAND MEDIUM WAVE (MW)is 500 to 1600 Kilohertz / 550 meters 185 meters (approx). Afterwards the frequency being high it is designated as SHORT WAVE (SW) as MEGA HERTZ (Mhz) . These are being reproduced in the RADIO/ TUNERS.SW is from 2 MHz to 30 Mhz. the length of the wave being from 100 meters to 10 meters; the same is also being reproduces in RADIOS/ Tuners like 120 m(meters ) to 10/11m(meters ) . These are commonly used AS"" AM "". The radios/ tuners are not essentially being cover the entire Radio Frequency SPECTRUM . The one which covers the entire spectrum is called ,"" ALL WAVE "".
 
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