Worked examples of a Morse, a phone and a data station, and how to name the block marked with a question mark.
What you will be able to do
Name the missing block in an antenna-switch, Morse, phone or data station diagram
Use the neighbouring blocks as clues
How do I work out which block is missing?
The exam shows a diagram with one block replaced by a ? and asks what it is. The trick is to
read the neighbours.
Antenna switch
An antenna switch between the transceiver, the antenna and a dummy antenna
The switch sits between the transceiver, the antenna and the dummy antenna. It chooses which
one the transceiver is connected to. A block that connects a transceiver to either an antenna or a
dummy load is the antenna switch.
A Morse station
A Morse station: telegraph key and power supply into the transmitter, a TR switch, an antenna and a receiver
The block feeding the transmitter from below, in a Morse (telegraphy) station, is the
telegraph key.
The block that hangs off the TR switch and takes the signal from the antenna is the
receiver.
The block fed by the power supply and the key, and sending to the TR switch, is the
transmitter.
A phone station
A radiotelephone station: the microphone replaces the key
In a radiotelephonestation (voice), the block feeding the transmitter is the
microphone.
A data station
A data station: computer, modem, transceiver and antenna
The block between the computer and the transceiver is the modem. It turns the
computer's digital data into signals the transceiver can send.
You now know
The block between a transceiver and an antenna plus dummy antenna is the antenna switch.
In a Morse station the block feeding the transmitter is the telegraph key; in a phone station it is the microphone.
The block between a computer and a transceiver is the modem.