Chapter 1. Basic Concepts

This chapter introduces you to the minimum vocabulary and concepts you will need to learn the subject of RF. Before you learned to read and write, you needed to learn your ABCs. This chapter is the ABCs of RF. In it you will be reintroduced to terms you probably learned back in high school, like scientific prefixes. You will also be introduced to some terminology common to all fields of electronics, not just RF, like watts, circuit, and Hertz. And of course the term RF—with all its meanings—will be thoroughly explained.

An important concept introduced in this chapter is the block diagram, which is a graphical depiction used to illustrate RF hardware. In this chapter it is used to show the two basic building blocks of all wireless systems: transmitters and receivers. The two forms which electrical energy can take are discussed, along with the two types of electrical signals: analog and digital.

Frequency, the single most important concept to understanding RF, is explained in full detail. And finally, a surprising aspect of wireless communications is highlighted—the fact that wireless communication actually involves combining two different forms of electrical energy: one to store the information and one to carry the information.