Eli5:Whats the science behind radio jamming and what does that have to do with frequencies ?
In: Physics
When you have an antenna it sends the radio receiver the sum of all the radio energy it absorbs. Just like how a microphone sends the sum of the sounds from all the musical instruments in an orchestra to a recording device.
The radio contains a tuner, which rejects all the frequencies besides the “station” you are tuned to. This is how one antenna works with all FM radio stations.
However, a jammer transmits at the same frequency as the signal it wants to corrupt. The antenna adds this jamming signal to the other things it receives, and the tuner isn’t able to reject it by frequency, so it turns the signal into worthless noise.
To return to the orchestra analogy, you might be able to selective listen to the trumpet by tuning out the higher-than-a-trumpet and lower-than-a-trumpet notes, but if someone in the audience blows a buggle that has the same sound as the trumpets, you get garbage.
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