Why does a radio signal of a FM radio improve when the hand gets closer to its antenna?
In: Physics
* Something called “multi-path interference”.
* When radio waves are broadcast from the tower, they shoot out in all directions.
* Some of the waves are pointed directly at the antenna of your radio.
* Many of them are not and bounce off of the ground or other objects before getting to your radio.
* If you think about the physical path these waves take from the tower to your radio you can see that the bounced signals take a longer path than the straight ones do.
* This can create interference at the radio.
* Two copies of the same signal show up but one is slightly behind the other.
* If you think about how waves work, they are alternating moments of high power and low power.
* If a high power moment in one wave happens at the same time as a low power moment of another copy of that wave, they will cancel each other out a little bit.
* This can cause a poor signal.
* ***When you get close to the antenna, you are blocking a lot of the bounced signals that cause interference.***
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