what is the difference between Channel and Band

[khlitoshi]

I have been reading on in this article entitled: "Better Hearing Through DSP" at **broken link removed**

somewhere at the top of page two it says:
"Digital technology allows this 14-channel, 64-band processing to be achieved on a small low-power hearing aid chip."

I know a channel is range of frequency, if it is right so what a band is ?

Thank you

 

[hshah8970]

If I remember my definitions correctly, bands are the frequency ranges whereas channels are mediums through which signals are passed. In wireless transmission, channels are connections from receiver to transmitter which facilitate communication over certain bands of frequency.

 

[khlitoshi]

Thanks hshah8970,
Now I understood it this way, not sure whether its correct:
A channel is a single frequency for example 91MHz
A band is a frequency range similar to what you defined, for example from 10MHz to 25MHz

 

[hshah8970]

Not quite. Let me put it in simpler terms.

A band is a range of frequency. For example, the HF (High Frequency) band ranges from 3 MHz to 30 MHz.

Now if you were to communicate different signals using HF, you would divide the HF band into channels. What you call a "single frequency" is not a frequency at all; it is simply the frequency width, or bandwidth if you will, of a channel.

Therefore a 4 kHz channel doesn't mean that it only passes signals of 4 kHz frequency; it means that the difference between the lowest permissible frequency and the highest permissible frequency within that channel is 4 kHz.

I hope that helped.

 

[anilrock87]

Hi,

With radio "spectrum" usually refers to the entire electromagnetic spectrum capable of sustaining radio waves, DC to light basically. A "band" refers to a small portion of the radio spectrum such as the UHF TV band (470MHz to 860MHz). A "channel" refers to a portion of a band which in the case of the TV Band is around 8MHz wide. Other bands have smaller or larger channels depending on their use, varying from 9KHz for AM radio up to 30MHz for a satellite TV transponder.

 

[khlitoshi]

I like your explanation hshah8970
So a band has wide bandwidth containing several channels, and the difference between a channel and a band is in the bandwidth.
How is this definition?

 

[hshah8970]

You've understood the difference but when trying to explain it, you should clearly mention that a band starts from a specific frequency and ends with a specific frequency whereas a channel is simply a fixed width of unspecific frequencies.