🔊 Mixing frequencies 🔊 To mix signals

to heterodyne

9.9

To mix a signal with another to make new frequencies for radios

verb
/ˈhɛtərəˌdaɪn/

Specialized

: heterodinear

To improve sound quality, technicians can heterodyne different audio waves before transmission.

Well, now imagine heterodyning someone's voice onto nerve signals of a background noise.

Examples

The engineer used a special circuit to heterodyne the incoming signals and extract the desired frequency.
And So what we're actually going to get from the heterodyning at the receiver is X of N times all of this.
Well, now imagine heterodyning someone's voice onto nerve signals of a background noise.

Danny Jones
When radio waves are combined through the process of heterodyne, new frequencies are generated that can carry more information.

Synonyms

to mix

vsto heterodyne

Specialized

142 4.1

Blend two or more sounds into one sound

produces new frequencies equal to the sum or difference of inputs

Compounds

heterodyne oscillator

Specialized

8.9

A circuit that makes a radio signal to combine with incoming signals to make new frequencies in radios

heterodyne receiver

Specialized

9.2

A radio that mixes its signal with a received signal to make a lower frequency easier to amplify and hear

Surface Forms

heterodyne infinitive

heterodyned past

heterodyned past participle

heterodyning present participle

heterodynes third person singular

Morphology

heterodyne = dyne (opaque) = hetero + dyne

Although 'hetero-' (different) is visible, the element '-dyne' is a technical combining form (or a unit name) that does not mean 'frequency', so the specific sense 'to combine frequencies' is not predictable to an average learner.

Etymology

Heterodyne comes from hetero- 'different' and dyne 'force', as in dynamic. So to heterodyne is to mix two different waves (or signals) to create new frequencies that are the sum or the difference of the originals.