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1.
Repeaters & Translators 101: In the beginning, there was the main
FM station signal and it spread over the land like a, warm, fuzzy blanket.
However, when it was discovered that the blanket had holes, meaning the
main signal could not reach into all areas of a given radio station's
blanket (coverage area), the need for a device that could repeat the
signal for the benefit of listeners in the areas where the main signal was
want to go. Ergo, a patch in the name of a broadcast repeater was
developed, in that the main signal would be received using a commercial
grade FM receiver, and passed off to a transmitter, thereby allowing the
main signal to be received throughout the blanket's (main signal) coverage
area.
However, it was immediately obvious that a simple
repeater would not be the definitive solution to mend all reception
problems. Re-broadcasting a signal on the same frequency as the main
signal could interfere disastrously with the clarity of both the repeater
and main signals. Ergo, a slightly different patch was developed called a
"translator" broadcast repeater. The translator differed from the repeater
mentioned earlier in that an exciter would be employed to demodulate the
baseband signal from the receiver, and then re-modulate it on another
frequency for re-transmission. |
