The Diamond Age of Wireless

November 11, 2009 9:24 AM

I would like to understand the dynamics of radio waves like a bird understands air currents.

What would be the best way as a middle-aged learner to gain this insight?

Some previous discussions indicate a degree in electrical engineering, but I'm pretty much done with academia - I'm looking for a more kinesthetic approach. I really want to intuitively understand the ways that radio waves bounce, jostle and jive!

Any thoughts appreciated! :)

posted by mouthnoize to science & nature (3 comments total)

Look at getting a Amateur Radio license. It doesn't require knowing Morse Code any more. They have "Ham Cram" sessions which can help you get your license in one day.

Check out the ARRL or your library which will have pretty approachable books on antenna design such as the ARRL Antenna Book.

You can download free antenna design software which will let you model signals and antennas.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 9:38 AM on November 11, 2009

I am an electrical engineer that works with radio wave stuff although it took me a long time to "get it" (my background was computer hardware/software).

One thing I would suggest you do is to beg, borrow, or steal time with a spectrum analyzer and go out and look at stuff. Some interesting frequencies to look at are the AM radio band (520-1620 kHz), the FM radio band (88.1-107.9 MHz), and cellular frequency bands (869-894 MHz and 1850-1990 MHz). If you have a portable spectrum analyzer, you can drive/walk around and see how the signal changes as it bounces of walls, trees, etc... The U.S. Frequency Allocation chart will give you some more ideas.

I googled "cheap spectrum analyzer" and came across this website that is a kit for building your own spectrum analyzer as well as some interesting tutorial kind of info.

A lot of my colleagues are into Ham radio and go to Ham swap meets with equipment from work to show their Ham buddies -- you might find interesting people to talk to there -- from what I can tell, people that are into Ham radio are really interested in the topic and very excited to educate others. You might try googling "ham swap meet" and your city/region.
posted by elmay at 10:41 AM on November 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

I made a map of WiFi signal strength around my house. It was informative to see where blind spots existed and where signal strength was strong. It's a small but easy way to build your intuition about EM fields.
posted by msittig at 6:29 PM on November 11, 2009