ULW broadcasting
Wireless broadcasting in the Ultra Long Wave (ULW) band was the first commercially available flavor of broadcasting consumed by the general public in Illuminatia and remains a dominant standard for audio broadcasting.
Standard ULW broadcasting provides for 135 distinct channels on the wireless dial, located between 390 KRU and 2400 KRU in the ULW band using channels spaced 15 KRU apart.
Additionally, the Bureau of Spectrum Management (BSM) has made provisions for an adjacent amateur and experimental ULW broadcasting band, setting aside channels located just above the standard ULW broadcasting band. Operating between 2415 KRU and 3000 KRU on the dial, these 29 additional channels are also spaced with 15 KRU increments and are available for non-licensed but registered operation, allowing amateur and experimental operators to also broadcast to the general public. These additional channels are generally also available on the standard consumer wireless receiver set.
ULW wireless broadcasting is the Illuminatian analogue of AM or mediumwave radio from the earlier modern days of Earth. Like AM radio, ULW broadcasting uses a lower band of frequencies compared to broadcasting in the later-adopted Medium Wave (MW) broadcasting band. ULW wireless also broadcasts audio fidelity with some limitations compared to MW broadcasting and also broadcasts in mono, although these limitations are less pronounced than the difference between traditional AM and FM radio on Earth.
Thanks to technical specifications and atmospheric characteristics, ULW stations have the largest broadcast range of any other broadcast medium in Illuminatia. This has resulted in ULW wireless being used predominantly for services oriented toward regional, superregional, and continental audiences. A ULW wireless station is the ideal medium for transmitting a service to a population over a wide, remote, rural region or in mountainous terrain.
History
Early in Illuminatian history, ULW wireless broadcasting began as a medium officially reserved for use by governmental and other authoritative entities for the purpose of broadcasting to the general public, with no limitations or restrictions on the capability of members of the public to receive the broadcasts.
Shortly after the settlement of Illuminatia, early ULW transmitters were retrofitted from point-to-point communications devices used by crew of the Lucidus spacecraft. These first broadcast transmitters operated in what is now the extended ULW broadcasting band, between 2400 KRU and 3000 KRU.
These early ULW wireless stations, dubbed Local Information Stations (LIS), had a limited broadcast range confined to the area immediately surrounding a local settlement. In many cases, these local information stations grew from previously established wired communications systems, leading to the commonly-used term "wireless" as a reference to what some people on Earth would have referred to as radio.
As the Bureau of Spectrum Management developed a licensing scheme taking into account the ability to use significant amplification and optimized antenna systems to increase stations' range and to reach populations that rapidly became larger and more disbursed, these civically-operated LIS stations began to upgrade their facilities and increase their range to become more regional in nature and started broadcasting to the large expanses to which ULW stations are known to broadcast today. These higher-powered ULW stations were delegated to a lower band of frequencies from 390 KRU to 2400 KRU, which is where mainstream ULW wireless broadcasting is found today.
While ULW wireless began as a medium officially reserved for use by governmental entities, other unofficial broadcasters popped up and were known to transmit on parts of the frequency band left unused by official broadcasters. These transmissions were nonetheless receivable by much of the general public using the same receiving devices used to listen to the officially-authorized broadcasts. While this type of unauthorized broadcasting had the feeling of an "underground" character, the authorities never found any reason to restrain or curtail it, as these unofficial wireless stations were never operated in a way that interfered with official operations and never engaged in any illicit activity. Additionally, in the spirit of Illuminatian culture's reverence for the spirit of freedom of speech and freedom of the press, no law limiting the freedom to receive wireless broadcasts was ever imagined.
Fairly quickly, the BSM liberalized its licensing scheme, permitting unauthorized local wireless stations not operated by official civic entities to register their presence and become legitimate broadcasters using the Registered Civilian Station (RCS) designation. The expansion of official ULW broadcasting station to utilize high power in the newly-utilized lower 390 KRU frequency band allowed these formerly-unofficial stations to proliferate in the upper 2400 KRU band. Many of these stations became professional commercial operations and also migrated to the mainstream ULW broadcasting band.
As such, the BSM's allowance for unofficial, amateur, and experimental broadcasting eventually resulted in innovation that spawned media outlets that catered to the dynamic interests of the general public.
Technical background
Today's ULW wireless broadcasting uses the single-sideband (SSB) refinement of amplitude modulation (AM) to transmit a monophonic analogue audio program, similar but not identical to AM or mediumwave broadcasting of the earlier days of Earth. ULW broadcasting, like all broadcasting in Illuminatia, uses an entirely analogue signal.
Unlike current ULW broadcasting, the original LIS stations of early Illuminatia used the same double-sideband AM modulation used by early AM broadcasting on Earth, which allowed for the simplest and cheapest transmitters and receivers possible. But upon licensing full-powered wireless stations, the BSM decided to enact the slightly more advanced SSB modulation. Adopting SSB modulation allowed for significant efficiency increases for broadcasters as well as a more spectrally efficient usage of the electromagnetic spectrum, but at the expense of transmitters and consumer receivers of a modest level of complexity. In the end, it was agreed that the benefits far outweighed the disadvantages of SSB modulation. All new stations were required to broadcast using SSB modulation and eventually all existing LIS and RCS stations transitioned to SSB transmissions exclusively.
ULW wireless broadcasting uses a 12 KRU positive deviation from the carrier for analogue audio within a 15 KRU channel bandwidth. This provides a 3 KRU guard band between channels. The 12 KRU deviation to pass a 12 KRU frequency range of audio allows ULW broadcasting to take sufficient advantage of the audible frequency range of the average Illuminatian human. 12 KRU of audio accommodates the majority of the up-to 18 KRU frequency range that Illuminatians can hear, providing for satisfactory fidelity for spoken word and most uncomplicated musical content.
The 3 KRU guard band within the ULW channel has been used for data communications and other encoded information. For instance, the early Monetary Network and Polling and Balloting Network used data communications piggybacking on the signal of high-powered ULW stations to transmit transaction information and encrypted ballots over significant distances before the Department of Monetary Policy (DMP) and the Department of Direct Democracy (DDD) implemented other communication technologies for these two networks. In other situations, ULW music stations have been known to use some of the 3 KRU guard band to extend the station's audio frequency response for the benefit of listeners with radios that could be adjusted to receive the wider bandwidth.
Geographic range and fidelity
The vast broadcast range of a full-powered ULW station, much like AM broadcasting on Earth, is thanks to the propagation behavior of these low-frequency signals across the Illuminatian planet's surface. ULW wave propagation follows the surface of the planet and easily passes around obstructions, such as mountains or urban terrain. The low frequencies of ULW signals also provide superior penetration of structures for indoor listening without outdoor aerials. ULW propagation does not suffer from atmospheric fluctuations that alter the distance a signal can travel in the way that affected AM/mediumwave broadcasting on Earth, so ULW stations can benefit from their extended listening range regardless of the time of day.
ULW signals are known to travel much further than the station's intended broadcast range, albeit with the extremes of the bandwidth of the broadcast signal increasingly attenuated with distance. This means, while listeners within a ULW station's local "protected" range enjoy unhindered fidelity for musical content, distant listeners outside a station's intended range can often can receive ULW stations well enough to understand human speech and decipher important information from the distant broadcast, but with the lowest and highest audio frequencies of the broadcast missing.
ULW wireless broadcasting maintained dominance for many years as scientists struggled to develop frequency modulated broadcasting capabilities using the mediumwave band. The advent of MW broadcasting allowed broadcasters to exploit the full range of human hearing up to 18 KRU with a stereophonic audio program. Nevertheless, monophonic ULW broadcasting maintained wide use even after the popularization of MW FM wireless audio broadcasting.
Identification and allocation
Professional commercial and non-commercial ULW wireless stations within the professional ULW band between 390 KRU and 2400 KRU are assigned unique identifying sequences of letters, referred to as call signs. These call signs begin with the letter "Q" followed by two or three additional letters. Originally, stations were assigned three-letter call signs with sequentially increasing alphabetical lettering. Later, as the number of wireless stations increased, four-letter call signs were assigned and stations were allowed to select personalized call signs of their choosing.
Amateur stations, normally allocated frequencies above 2400 KRU, are assigned unique call signs beginning with the letter "Σ," while experimental stations are given call signs beginning with "Γ."