What is Television Signal?

19 Apr, 2021, 1:59 AM

Written: July 11, 2016

TV signal is energy and it moves through the air at the speed of light  – very fast! Each channel you view has a unique energy not shared by any other channel. So if you have 5 networks operating in a given location then you will have 5 different lots of energy to capture.

It moves at the speed of light and arguments persist today as to whether it is a particle or a wave! My opinion is particle.

Electricity is also energy but we have learnt to capture it and control it. We have attempted to do the same with Radio Frequency Signals (as they are known) However we have not done as well with this form of energy because it is subject to temperature, topography, altitude and the frequency selected.

TV signal is an RF Signal. RF Signals do occur as a natural phenomena but they can be artificially created and manipulated to carry information. Man has learnt to use and to send information to you via a transmitter that then sends the signal to the Television Antenna System. Satellite is exactly the same but the signal instead of from a transmitter on a nearby hill comes from a Satellite in space known as a transponder.

Everywhere you go the TV channel changes energy. This is known as the frequency. An antenna must be designed to pick up this frequency. This is what makes a caravan antenna unique because unlike the antenna on your home (which is designed to efficiently pick up 5 or 6 channels at a particular frequency spread) your caravan antenna must be able to pick up all channels available on the continent. Some 50 or so.

Caravanners are frequently confused between a channel and a network. They are different things. A network is responsible for the program and this same program can be sent out on many different channels. But for the actual reception the Frequency is the most important factor that the antenna is designed to work with.

Sally Garden
RF Consultant Founder
Wilkgard Technology Group P/L