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FM Radio


FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM) technology. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, it is used worldwide to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is capable of better sound quality than AM broadcasting, the chief competing radio broadcasting technology, so it is used for most music broadcasts. FM radio stations use the VHF frequencies. The term "FM band" describes the frequency band in a given country which is dedicated to FM broadcasting.

Throughout the world, the FM broadcast band falls within the VHF part of the radio spectrum. Usually 87.5 to 108.0 MHz is used, or some portion thereof, with few exceptions:

The frequency of an FM broadcast station (more strictly its assigned nominal center frequency) is usually an exact multiple of 100 kHz. In most of South Korea, the Americas, the Philippines and the Caribbean, only odd multiples are used. In some parts of Europe, Greenland and Africa, only even multiples are used. In the UK odd or even are used. In Italy, multiples of 50 kHz are used.

There are other unusual and obsolete FM broadcasting standards in some countries, including 1, 10, 30, 74, 500, and 300 kHz. However, to minimise inter-channel interference, stations operating from the same or geographically close transmitter sites tend to keep to at least a 500 kHz frequency separation even when closer frequency spacing is technically permitted, with closer tunings reserved for more distantly spaced transmitters, as potentially interfering signals are already more attenuated and so have less effect on neighboring frequencies.


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