radio beam
- noun
- /ˈreɪdioʊ biːm/
- Specialized
:
haz de radio
- During the storm, the aircraft relied on the radio beam for guidance amid poor visibility.
Examples
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The rescue team used a radio beam to communicate with the lost hikers in the mountains.
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Each time the spacecraft passes behind the planet or reappears on the opposite side (as seen from Earth), its radio beam will pass through the Martian atmosphere briefly on its way to Earth.
Academic text (1992) -
It's throwing the gyroscopic controls of a guided missile off balance... ... with a radio beam?
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We send police assistance to every one of those calls, because they're not just codes on a radio beam, they're cries for help.
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Due to a freakish combination of atmospheric and magnetic factors, DeCamp Island was in a dead zone, impenetrable by all but the most tightly focused of radio beams.
Fiction book (1991) -
The pilot followed the radio beam to safely land the plane in heavy fog.
Synonyms
43
6.5
A narrow radio signal that helps pilots find a runway in bad weather
26
2.7
A wave used to send or receive information through the air
19
3.2
A wave of invisible energy that sends signals to radios and phones
How Narrow
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly composed from 'radio' (electromagnetic transmission) + 'beam' (a narrow directed ray or signal), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer 'a narrow radio signal'. The specific use for guiding pilots is a predictable application of a directed radio signal and follows normal noun–noun compounding patterns found across languages, making the phrase transparent.
Etymology
The term radio beam comes from the image of a thin beam of light but made with radio waves that pilots can follow like an invisible line in the sky. So radio beam means a narrow radio signal used 'to guide' pilots in darkness or bad weather.