As you use Citizens Band radio and become a more skilled radio operator you will probably promote your own interest into the mysterious world of radio frequency and radio waves. The following information is designed to provide you with a basic working knowledge of the Radio Frequency Spectrum and its components. Signals are transmitted and received by millions of stations. Radio waves travel at the speed of light. To help you to visualize the behavior of invisible radio waves imagine the effect on the surface of the water when you toss a small stone into the air and it lands in the water.
Tiny ripples radiate in all directions.
If you increase the size of the stone the size of the ripples will also increase and the distance between the peak of each ripple will increase also. If you could count the number of times the peak of each wave went past a specific point over one second, you would know the waves' frequency and wavelength. In radio waves, we measure frequency by the number of wave cycles per second. The more waves that pass a specific point in one second, the higher the frequency. It is named after Heinrich Hertz, a German physicist who discovered electromagnetic waves.