Text: A device for converting oscillating currents of high freqeuncy (radio waves) into a form suitable for operating a telephone receiver or sensitive measuring instrument. It is often referred to as a rectifier, because it serves to change incoming currents from alternating to pulsating direct currents. Detectors vary in type and efficiency, ranging from the now obsolete coherer, to the modern sensitive regenerative vacuum tubes.

See Also: TRANSDUCER

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