In electronics and radio, to combine two different frequencies to create new frequencies; also the device or process that does this.
From Greek hetero- 'different' and Greek dyne 'power' or 'force.' Coined in early radio technology; heterodyne radios revolutionized communication in the early 1900s.
The heterodyne principle is why your radio can pick up stations—it mixes your radio station's frequency with an internal oscillator to convert it into a frequency the receiver can amplify, a technique still used in modern electronics.
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