Lab7AMRadio

RichardLiuandBrodyKellish

IhaveadheredtotheDukeCommunityStandardincompletingthisassignment.

Objectives

Inthislabassignment,weexploredtheprocessofamplitudemodulation.Welearnedhowto
modulateacarriersignalinordertotransmitinformationinthemodulatedsignal,aswellas
howtorecoverthistransmittedinformationuponreceipt.Tothisend,wealsocreatedabasic
demodulatorcircuit(essentiallyanenvelopedetectorfortheinputvoltagesignal),thatwe
usedtorecovertheAMwave.Weusedthemodulationfunctiononthefunctiongeneratorto
createandtransmitanAMwavewithaveryshortrange.Bytuningasmall,portableAMradio
tothecorrectfrequency,wewereabletohearourAMsignal.Wethenusedourenvelope
detectortodemodulatetheAMsignalanddisplayitontheoscilloscope.

Background

Inthislab,wefocusedprimarilyonamplitudemodulation/demodulation,theprocessesused
inAMradiototransmitsignals.Bymodulatingacarriersignalwiththedesiredmessage
signal,wecancreateasignalthathasthesamefrequencyasthecarriersignal,butthathas
anamplitudethatfollowsthefrequencyofthemodulatingmessagesignal.Thisprocessis
illustratedinthefollowingdiagramprovidedinthelabhandout.Inthefigure,m(t)isthe
messagesignal,andc(t)isthecarriersignal.Asisclearfromthefigure,theeffectofthe
modulationistovarytheamplitudeofthecarriersignalaccordingtothemessagesignal
(creatinganamplitudeenvelope).

Inordertoextractthismessagesignalfromthemodulatedcarriersignal,wecanutilizea
simplecapacitivefilterknownasanenvelopedetector.Theoutputoftheenvelopedetector
effectivelytracestheamplitudeofthemodulatedcarriersignal.However,inordertoachieve
thedesiredbehavior,wemustchoosecomponentvaluessuchthatthetimeconstantofthe
circuitallowsforthevoltageacrossthecapacitortotracethevoltageoftheinputmodulated
signalinordertoachieveaccuratedemodulation,andrecoveryofthemessagesignal.

Exercise1:AMSignalinTimeandFrequencyDomains

Procedure

First,wesetthefunctiongeneratortooutputa50kHzsinusoidalsignalwithapeaktopeak
voltageof1V.Wethenconnectedthefunctiongeneratortotheoscilloscope,sothatwecould
viewtheoutputsignal.Wemadesurethatthehorizontalscaleoftheoscilloscopewassuch
thatwecouldseeseveralperiodsoftheAMsignal.WeusedtheAMmodulationfeatureon
thefunctiongeneratortocreateasinusoidalmodulating(message)signal.Inordertodoso,
wehadtosettheshapeoftheAMwavetoSINE,selecttheINTmodulationtype(thefunction
generatoritselfproducesthemodulationsignalinternally),andsettheparametersofthis
internallygeneratedsignaltothefollowing:

f m = 1 kHz
(Index of M odulation) = 0

Withthesemodulationsettings,wesavedtheoscilloscopedisplaytoanimagefile.This
screenshotshowsjusttheunmodulatedcarriersignal,sincethevalueof was0.Next,we
set equalto0.50(50%).Again,weadjustedtheoscilloscopehorizontalscaletosee
severalperiodsofthewave,andsavedanotherscreenshotofthedisplay,thistimeshowing
themodulatedAMsignalatthenewmodulationfactor.Weusedtheoscilloscopetomeasure
theminimumandmaximumvoltagesoftheAMsignal,andthencalculatedtheexperimental
usingthefollowingequation:

V max V min
V max + V min

Thecalculatedvalueofshouldbeclose(ifnotequalto)0.50,whichwasthemodulation
factorwespecified.Ourcalculatedvaluesofcanbefoundintheresultssection.

Next,weusedtheFFT(FastFourierTransform)functionontheoscilloscopetoviewthe
frequencydomainofthesignal.Wesetthecenterfrequencyoftheoscilloscopeplottobethe
carrierfrequency,andadjustedthefrequencyspanto10kHztoensurethatwecouldseethe
entireregionofinterest.WetookascreenshotoftheFFTplot(alongwiththecorresponding
timedomainsignal),takingspecialcaretonotethepresenceofthreepeaksinthefrequency
plotone(thelargestpeak)at50kHz(thecarrierfrequency)andtwomore(oneoneither
sideofthecarrierfrequency),locatedat501kHz.Wethenchangedthevaluesofthe
carrierfrequencyandthemodulationfrequency.Ourobservationsarenotedinthe
Discussion.

Finally,werepeatedthestepsaboveforthreedifferentvaluesofthemodulationfactor.We
usedvaluesof0.15,0.80,and1.15tocompare,repeatingthecalculationsfortheobserved
ateachmodulationfactorspecified.Thescreenshots/calculationsfor=0,=0.50,andthe
calculationsforallothertrialscanbefoundintheResults.Sinceallwearechanginginthese

trialsisthemodulationfactor,thefrequencyspectrumplotswillnotchangeforeachvalueof
.
Results

ScreenshotsoftheoscilloscopedisplaysforeachAMsignal(withthecorrespondingFFT
plot),alongwiththecalculationsofthemodulationfactorcanbefoundbelow.Weperformed
theexperimentformodulationvaluesof0,0.50,0.15,0.80,and1.15(thismodulationfactoris
significantinthatitisgreaterthanoneseetheDiscussionformoredetails).

=0
NoFFTwasprovidedforthistrial,sincetheAMsignalisapure,unmodulatedsinusoid

AMSignal50kHzCarrier,1kHzMod, =0

V max V min
V max + V min

2.09V 2.05V
2.09V + 2.05V

= 0.0097

=0.50
Notethepresenceofthreepeaks,locatedatthefrequenciesdescribedinthe
procedure.

AMSignal50kHzCarrier,1kHzMod, =0.50

V max V min
V max + V min

0.80V 0.22V
0.80V + 0.22V

= 0.57

0.50

= 0.18

0.15

= 0.77

0.80

= 1.11

1.15

=0.15

V max V min
V max + V min

0.58V 0.40V
0.58V + 0.40V

=0.80

V max V min
V max + V min

0.775V 0.10V
0.775V + 0.10V

=1.15

V max V min
V max + V min

1.00V (0.05V )
1.00V + (0.05V )


Inthistrial,itisimportanttonotethatthevalueofVminisnegative.

Discussion

Howmanypeaksdidyouexpecttoseeandwheredidyouexpecttoseethemon
thefrequencyaxis(inregardstothe=0.50modulatedsignal)?

Wesawthreepeaksinthefrequencyspectrum.Thelargestpeakwaslocatedatthecarrier
frequency(50kHz)withtwosmaller,identicalpeaksat49kHzand51kHz.Thesethree
peakswouldalsoberepeatedatthesamelocationonthenegativefrequencyaxis.

Changethefrequencyofthemodulatingsignalandobservehowthespectrum
changes.Noteyourobservations.

Whenwechangedthefrequencyofthemodulatingsignalfrom1kHzto2kHz,wesawthat
thetwopeaksoneithersideofthecarrierfrequency(50kHz)movedfartherawayfromthe
carrierfrequency.Thatis,thevaluesoccurredat502kHz(48kHzand52kHz).Thiscan
beseeninthefollowingscreenshot.

Noticethatthemodulatingfrequencypeaksoccurfartherfromthecarrierfrequencypeaks

Changethefrequencyofthecarriersignalandobservehowthespectrum
changes.Noteyourobservations.

Whenwechangedthefrequencyofthecarriersignalfrom50kHzto51kHz(whilekeeping
themodulatingsignalfrequencyat1kHz)wesawthethreepeaksshiftedtotherightby1
kHz.Thecarrierfrequencypeakoccursat51kHz,andthemodulatingsignalfrequencypeaks
occurat50kHzand52kHz.

Noticetheshift1kHztotherightofthethreepeaks

Writeabriefparagraphonhowweshouldchoosethemodulatingfactor.

Themodulatingfactor,asageneralruleofthumb,shouldalwaysbelessthan1.Aswecan
seefromthegraphsintheResultssection,whenthemodulatingfactorisgreaterthanone,
thereissomecrossoverintheresultingAMsignal,asisdepictedinthefollowingdiagram.

Figuretakenfromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amplitude_modulation

Whenthiscrossoveroccurs,itbecomesimpossibletoaccuratelyrecoverthemodulating
signalwithanenvelopedetector.Theenvelopeofthefunctionappearstobecomposedof
twodifferentperiodfunctions,wheninreality,thevaluesoftheenvelopecrossatthe
Amplitude=0axis,causingdistortionintheAMsignal.Thus,weneverwantamodulation
factorgreaterthan1,inordertoavoidthiscrossoverintheAMwave.Thisisknownas
overmodulation.Thevalueofthemodulationfactor(whenitisbetween0and1)determines
thedeepnessofthevalleysintheAMwave.

Conclusions

AmplitudeModulationproducesasignalwithfrequencycontentatthecarrierfrequency,fc,
andatadistance(positiveandnegativedistance,thatis)offmawayfromthecarrier
frequency,wherefmisthefrequencyofthemodulatingsignal.Moresimply,thefrequency
contentoccursatfc,fc+fm,andfcfm.

Additionally,theindexofmodulationmustalwaysbelessthanonetoensurethatnodistortion
occursinthereconstructionofthemessage(modulating)signal.Themodulationfactor
determineshowmuchthemaximumandminimumpeakvoltagesdiffer,andthus,ahigher
modulationfactorwillresultinanoutputsignalwithdeepervalleysbetweenthepeaks.The
modulationfactorcanbeeasilycomputedfrominspectionofthegraphofanAMsignal,bythe
followingformula:

V max V min
V max + V min

Exercise2:UsinganExternalModulatingSignal

Procedure

Inthisexercise,weusedthesame50kHzcarriersinusoidasinthepreviousexercise.
However,bychoosingtoplaymusicastheinputmodulationinsteadofamonotone,wewere
abletoseetheAMsignalasitmodulatesasignalwithdynamicfrequencies.Withthefunction
generatorstillconnectedtotheoscilloscope,wesetthescaleontheoscilloscopeproperlyso
thatwecouldseemultipleperiodsoftheAMsignal.Wethensetthefunctiongeneratorto
EXTAMmodulation(externalmodulationinput).Thisallowedustoconnectanaudiocableto
thebackofthefunctiongeneratortobeusedastheinputtotheoscilloscopemodulation
function.Weconnectedtheaudiooutputfromamobilephonelineouttothemodulationinput
ofthefunctiongenerator.Weplayedavarietyofsongsfromthephone,andobservedthe
behavioroftheAMsignalontheoscilloscopeinboththefrequencyandtimedomains.A
screenshotoftheamplitudemodulatedsignal,alongwithitsFFT(adjustedforscale)are
shownbelowintheResultssection.

Results

ThisscreenshotrepresentsaninstantaneouscaptureoftheAMwaveforminreality,the
envelope(alongwiththecorrespondingFFTplot)isconstantlychanginginrealtimealong
withthemusicbeingplayed.Wenoticeintheplot,thefrequencyforthecarrierwaveformis
clear(50kHz)whilethefrequenciesforthemodulatedmusicinputaredynamicandcontains
manypeaksofvaryingamplitudes.Thisistobeexpected,asthemusicsignaliscomposedof
audiocontentatmanydifferentfrequenciesandwithdifferentvolumes.Wealsoobservethe
samesymmetryaboutthecarrierfrequencyasinthelastexample,whichistobeexpected
althoughthemodulatingsignalisnolongerapuresinusoid,weshouldstillseethesame
propertiesforeachindividualmodulatingsinusoidintheaudioinput(thismakesintuitive
senseifwethinkofthemusicsignalasaweightedsumofindividualsinusoids,each
contributingindependentlytotheoverallfrequencyspectrumofthesignal).

Discussion

Answerthefollowingquestionsreferringtotheoscilloscopedisplay:
a.Whatarethefrequencyrangesofthetwosidebands?
b.Arethesidebandsmirrorimagesofeachother?

Thefrequencyrangesofthetwosidebandsareapproximately52.557.5kHzand42.547.5
kHz.Thesidebandsaremirrorimagesofoneanother.

Conclusions

Thebiggesttakeawayfromthisexercisewasthatevenwhentheinputmodulationsignalis
dynamicandnotjustamonotone,theFFTplotoftheAMsignalisstillsymmetricalandhas
clearsidebands,whicharemirroredacrossthefrequencyofthecarriersignal.Intuitively,this
makessensetous,asmusicisjustasuperpositionofsignalsofdifferingfrequenciesand
amplitudes.Thus,weexpecttoseethatrepresentedinourFFT,whichwedid.

Exercise3:BroadcastingYourSignal

Procedure

Inthissegmentofthelab,weaimedtocreateasimpleAMradiostationbybroadcasting
musicviaamplitudemodulatedsignals.Onthefunctiongenerator,wesetthecarriersignalto
haveafrequencyof1000kHzandapeaktopeakvoltageof1.5Vwith50%modulation.We
chosetoplaythesongCollardGreensbySchoolboyQ,asitinvolvedawiderangeof
frequencies,sothatwemayseetheeffectofamplitudemodulationonlowandhighfrequency
content.However,withtheaforementionedsettings,wedidnothearanythingonourportable
AMradio,despitevaryingthedistancebetweentheportableradiototheantennafromvery
closetorelativelyfar,andcyclingthroughallpossiblestations(partofthisfailuremayhave
beenduetoadysfunctionalportableAMradio).AfterswappingouttheAMradiofora
functionalone,wealsochangedthepeaktopeakvoltageofthecarriersignalto2V,aswe
predictedthatitwouldcreateastrongeroutputsignal,andthus,wouldcreateaclearerradio
station.Withthesechanges,wewereabletohearthesongrelativelyclearly.

Results

Themostsignificantresultweobservedwastheeffectofchangingthepeaktopeakvoltage
oftheAMwaveform.Forlowervoltages,wewerestillabletoheartherecoveredmusic,albeit
faintlyandwithafairamountofstaticnoise.Asweincreasedthevoltage(firstfrom1.5Vto
2.0V),wenoticedthatthemusicbecameslightlylouder,andthus,easiertohear.Aswe
continuedtoincreasethepeaktopeakvoltage,weheardanoticeabledifferenceinvolume.
Wedidnotnoticeanydifferenceintherangeofbroadcastwhenchangingthepeaktopeak
voltage,butthatcouldbejustduetolackofproperequipment.

Discussion

Howfarcanyoumoveawayfromthetransmitterandstillrecognizethemusicsignal
fromyourstation?


Themaximumrangeofthebroadcastwasonlyafewcentimeters(510cm).Thesignalwas
strongestwhentheantenna(anauxiliarycable)wasnearlytouchingtheportableAMradio.
Askyourpartnertochangethepeaktopeakvalueofthecarriersignal.
a.Didthestrengthofthereceivedsignalchange?
b.Didthefidelityofthereceivedsignalchange?

Whenwechangedthepeaktopeakvalueofourcarriersignalfrom1.5Vto2.0V,themusic
wentfrombeingveryfainttorecognizable.Similarly,anotherincreasefrom2.0Vto2.5V
madethemusiccleareragain.Asfarasourearscouldhear,therewasnonoticeablechange
inthefidelityofthesignalthestaticthatweheardwasamplifiedalongwiththevolumeofthe
musicitself.

Conclusions

Thisexercisetaughtushowwecouldapplyamplitudemodulationintherealworldtotransmit
andrecoverinformationusingAMwaves.Welearnedthatitisindeedpossibletoretrievea
modulatedinputclearlyexamplesofsuchapplicationsincluderadiostationsaswellas
twowayradiosandwirelessinternet.However,oneareawherewecouldhaveimproved
uponinthisexercisewasincreasingtherangeofbroadcastofoursignal.Ourrangeof
broadcastwasextremelysmall(about510cmaslistedabove),andifwehadmoretime,we
couldhavetriedtoadjustvariouspropertiestoseeifwecouldpossiblyincreasetherange
withtheequipmentthatwasavailable.

Exercise4:AMDemodulationUsinganEnvelopeDetector

Procedure

ForthisexerciseweconstructedanenvelopedetectorusinganRCcircuit.Thecircuitwas
builtaccordingtothebelowdiagram.

Forourcircuitcomponents,wechosea2000resistoranda50nFcapacitor(howwecame
tochoosethesevaluesisexplainedintheDiscussionsection).

Usingthefunctiongenerator,wecreatedaninternallymodulatedAMwaveformwithacarrier
frequencyof100kHz,peaktopeakvoltage5Vandamodulationindexof0.5.Our
modulatingwaveformhadafrequencyof1kHz,andwasasimple,puresinusoid(thismadeit
easiertoviewourresultsontheoscilloscopelaterintheexperiment).
WethenattachedtheoscilloscopeprobesacrosstheresistorRstovisualizetheAM
waveformitselfoftheenvelopedetector,andtookseveralscreenshotstoshowthe
characteristicbehaviorofthesystem.WealsomeasuredtheoutputacrosstheresistorR(the
voltageacrossRisequaltothevoltageacrossC,giventhattheyareconnectedinparallel)in
ordertomeasuretheoutputoftheenvelopedetector..

Results

AMWaveformTimeandFrequencySpectra(Input)

Intheabovefigure,weseethesamecharacteristicFFTofanAMwaveformasinthefirst
experiment.Thatis,thefrequencyspectrumhaspeaksatthecarrierfrequencyfc=100kHz,
andfc fm,wherefm(thefrequencyofthemodulatingsignal)isequalto1kHz.

EnvelopeDetectorTimeandFrequencySpectra(Output)


Inthissecondfigure,whichwetookfromtheoscilloscopewhentheleadswereconnected
acrosstheoutputresistorR,wedonotseethetraditionalAMwaveform.Instead,wefound
thattheoutputsignalcontainedapeakat1kHz(thefrequencyofthemodulatingsignal),
alongwithsomeartifactsthatoccurevery1kHz.Itwouldappearthatourenvelopedetector
functionedcorrectly,asthemodulatingsignalwaseffectivelyrecovered(albeitslightly
attenuated,althoughthisistobeexpected,duetothepresenceoftheRsresistor,which
dropsthevoltageoftheinputsignal).

Discussion

Howmanypeaksdoyouobserveinthespectrum?Wherearetheylocated?Isthis
expected/unexpected?

Inthepowerspectrum,weobserve3peaks.Oneisat100kHzandtheothertwoareat99
kHzand101kHz.ThisisexactlywhatweexpecttoseeintheoriginalAMwaveform.

Commentonthetwotimedomainsignalsthatyouobserved(Q1andQ5).

ThetimedomainrepresentationoftheAMwaveformisexactlyhowwewouldexpectittolook
weseethecarrierwave,apuresinusoidat100kHz,whoseamplitudevaries(byafactorof
0.50)accordingtothemodulatingsignal,whichwasapuresinusoidat1kHz.Thetime
domainplotoftheenvelopedetectoroutputsignalappearstobethemodulatingsignalitself
thatis,apuresinusoidat1kHz,albeitslightlyattenuated.

Whatdidyouexpectthesignalattheoutputoftheenvelopedetectortolooklike?
Haveyourecoveredyouroriginalsignal?

Weexpectedtoseeasinglesinusoidat1kHz.Uponinspectionofourfigure,wedidrecover
thissignal,butwealsoseesomereplicasofthesignalthatoccurevery1kHz(these
harmonicsarelikelyartifactsofthebehaviorofthesimplecircuititself).

Commentonthetwofrequencydomainrepresentations(Q3andQ7).

TheAMwaveformshowsthecharacteristicthreepeaks,centeredatthecarrierfrequency,a
distancefmawayfromthecarrierfrequencyinthepositiveandnegativedirections.Inthe
envelopedetector,wewouldideallyexpectasinglepeakat1kHz,butsincethisisan
imperfectenvelopedetector,weseesmallerpeaksthatoccurevery1kHz.Theseartifacts
couldbeduetointerferenceoranimperfectlyconstructedcircuit,ormayjustbeafunctionof
therelativesimplicityofthisenvelopedetectorcircuit.

Relateyourfrequencydomainobservationstoyourtimedomainobservationsofthe
inputandoutputsignals.

Lookingfirstatthefrequencydomainrepresentations,wenoticeseveralthingsbetweenthe
inputandtheoutput.WeexpecttheinputAMsignaltohaveapeakat100kHzandsidebands
at100 1kHz.Essentially,thatisindeedwhatweobserved.However,aperfectenvelope
detectorwouldgiveanoutputthatisamonotonesinusoid,withfrequencydomain
representationofasinglepeakat1kHz.However,weobservethatalthoughthereisapeak
at1kHz,therearealsopeaksat2kHz,3kHz,4kHz,etc.Thiscanbeattributedtovarious
imperfectionsintheenvelopedetectorconstruct.Translatingtheseobservationstothetime
domain,weseethattheinitialsignalisaarchetypalexampleofanamplitudemodulated
signal,andfrequencyof1.4083kHzatteststhattheoriginalmonotonehasindeedbeen
modulated.Theoutputfromtheenvelopedetectorresemblesasinusoidandhasafrequency
of1.003kHz.Becausetheaforementionedartifactsoccuratmultiplesof1kHz,our
fundamentalfrequencyisstill1kHzandouroscilloscopedatamatchesourexpectations.The
artifactsareeasyenoughtoremove,buttheyillustratethatwehave,infact,reconstructedthe
basicmodulatingsignal.

DescribeindetailhowyouselectedthevalueofRandCforyourcircuit.Justifyyour
selectionintermsofthesignalparameters(e.g.,carrierfrequency,messagecontent).

WewereinstructedtocreateanRCcircuitthathadatimeconstant suchthat
1
1
100000 < < 1000 .Thesevaluesaresignificantinthattheyrepresenttheperiodsofthecarrier
frequencyandthemodulatingfrequency,respectively,accordingtothefollowingformula
(shownforthecarrierfrequency,100kHz):

T =

1
f

1
100 x103


Sotherefore,wedecidedtochoosearesistorandcapacitorvaluewhoseproductwasaround
1
10000 or0.0001.Onecombinationwefoundwas R = 2000 and C = 50 nF .

Whatmustbe(orcanbe)donetomaketheoutputsignalmoreliketheoriginal
message(modulating)signal?

Onekeydifferencebetweentheoutputandtheoriginalsignalwasthattheoutputhad
artifacts,orpeaksatfrequenciesevery1kHz,startingfrom1kHz(peakswouldbeat1kHz,
2kHz,3kHz,etcofdecreasingamplitudeinthefrequencydomain).Removingthiswould
maketheoutputmoreliketheoriginalsignal,whichisideallyasinglepeakat1kHz.Inorder
toremovetheseartifacts,wecouldapplyalowpassfilterwithacutofffrequencybetween1
and2kHz.Thiswouldmakesurethattheoriginalsignal(withasinglepeakat1kHzinthe
frequencydomain)wouldpassthroughwhiletheotherpeaks(2kHz,3kHz,4kHz,etc)would
beremoved.

Conclusions

Inthisexperiment,welearnedhowtoconstructabasicenvelopedetectorcircuit,composed
ofadiodeinserieswitharesistorandcapacitorconnectedinparallel.Thisenvelopedetector
worksbytracingtheamplitudeoftheinputvoltageviathecharging/dischargingofthe
capacitor.Sincetheoutputdependsonthebehaviorofthecapacitiveelementofthecircuit,
wemustselectanappropriatetimeconstantsuchthatthevoltageacrossthecapacitor
roughlyfollowstheamplitudeoftheinputsignal.Thatis,thecapacitorvoltagemustnot
dischargetooquickly(fallingtoofarintothetroughsofthesignal),andmustchargequickly
enoughthatittracesthepeaksofthesignal.Wecancalculateanacceptablerangeforthe
timeconstantusingtheinequalityabove.Additionally,wealsosawhowtheoutputofthe
envelopedetectormaynotnecessarilybetheexactmodulatingsignalinourcase,wesee
artifactsofthe1kHzsinusoidthatoccurateveryfundamentalharmonic(2kHz,3kHz,etc).
Thus,wecanapplyfurthersignalprocessingfunctions(inthiscase,asimplelowpassfilter
wouldsuffice)tomoreaccuratelyrecreatetheoriginalsignal,ifneedbe.

Extension

FrequencyModulation
Themostcommonalternativetoamplitudemodulationusedintransferringaudioisfrequency
modulation.Althoughthefunctionsofthetwoprocessesaresimilar,thereareactually
severalkeydifferences.Mostobviously,AMkeepscarrierfrequencyconstantandmodulates
amplitudewhileFMkeepscarrieramplitudeconstantwhilemodulatingfrequency.Agraphical
explanation(courtesyofWikipedia)isshownbelow.


Figuretakenfromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amplitude_modulation

Asstatedinthelab,AMworksbestbetween5001600kHz,whereasFMworksbest
between90110MHz.BecausethefrequencyrequiredforFMissomuchlargerthanthatfor
AM,wecanhypothesizethattheenergyrequiredtobroadcastFMsignalsismuchgreater
thanthatrequiredforAMsignals.Thisraisesthequestion:why,then,wouldpeopleuseFMto
broadcastsignals?OurfirstinstinctiveresponseisthatbecauseFMtransmissionmodulates
solelythroughfrequency,itislesspronetointerferencefromstraysignalsandthusthesound
qualitywouldbebetter.Thatisbecauseinterferenceisessentiallyadditionoftwo
timedomainsignals,whichwouldaffectanAMsignal(whichreliesontheamplitudeofthe
signal,whichchangeswithadditioninthetimedomain)muchmorethananFMsignal.

ItisalsoworthnotingthatsincethefrequencyrangeforFMsignalsissolarge,weknowthat
thewavelengthsassociatedwithFMsignalsisthusverysmallcomparedtoAMsignals,which
meansthatFMsignalshaveasmallerrangeofbroadcastthanAMsignals.Uponsome
internetresearch,weverifiedthatthishypothesisiscorrectthetradeoffofusingFM,which
producesclearer,strongersignalsatshortranges,isthatwecannotbroadcastFMsignalsas
farasAMsignalswithoutusingexorbitantamountsofpower.Thus,AMisoftenthemore
costeffectiveoption,althoughFMisoftenofarelativelyhigherquality.