Ever wondered how your trusty portable radio is able to make your voice heard many miles away? If you want to learn more about radio waves, modulation or how repeaters work, we’ve got great news for you: the Tait Radio Academy offers free online educational resources dedicated to providing easy to follow lessons to help improve radio and communications systems knowledge – from basics for new users, to advanced technology descriptions.
It’s so simple that we hardly ever stop to think about how it actually works: you press the PTT button, speak, and your portable radio transmits your voice to an intended receiver. Simple, right? But what about the technical side of it? How do radio waves and propagation work? What’s modulation, channel spacing or trunking?
Want to know how to properly use a radio first, before delving deeper into the technology behind it? Check out our Lessons for New Radio Users blog.
Learn Radio Fundamentals at the Tait Radio Academy
In critical communications there are many terms, patterns and principles that can be confusing, which often have needlessly complex answers to the simple questions you’re asking. But not to worry, whether you are just starting out in critical communications or need a refresher on how modulation and channel spacing works, at the Tait Radio Academy you can get clear answers to your questions.
Basic Radio Awareness
The Basic Radio Awareness course starts at the very beginning, explaining the essential principles, definitions and helping to build a strong foundation of knowledge. It consists of 3 lessons:
- Introduction to Radio Communications Principles
- Modulation and Radio Building Blocks
- Communications Systems
In the introductory lesson, you can learn about radio waves, propagation and how repeaters work. The next lesson on modulation discusses how your voice gets converted into waves that can be transmitted and received by radio devices. You’ll learn about modulation, channel spacing, the difference between FDMA and TDMA and more.
The third lesson is about communication networks and all the different options out there. Trunked or conventional? Digital or analog? TDMA or FDMA? In chapter three, we explore the different types of communication systems and their various benefits and disadvantages. Here you can learn about scanning, voting, simulcast, digital and analog radio and how trunking works.
Each module in the course consists of several short videos, written text, a PDF study guide, and once you have completed all the lessons, you can take a final assessment to earn a Tait Radio Academy completion certificate.
Written and presented by experts in a way that’s easily understood, the Tait Radio Academy is an online learning tool that you can complete at your own pace.
Tait Radio Academy
Want to know more? Check out this course and others at the Tait Radio Academy, where you can learn about anything from the basics of radio operation or wave modulation right up to comparative analysis of emerging radio standards!
The Tait Radio Academy is a free training resource, providing foundational education on a wide range of critical communications topics. From basic radio awareness to Industrial Control Systems, there is a range of material for people in both technical and non-technical roles.
Register to Tait Radio Academy and unlock access to quizzes, downloadable study guides, the ability to join our Discussion Group on LinkedIn, and more.
