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 RadioShack Consumer Electronics Glossary: N

 
N
Electronics, Semiconductors: see Semiconductor, N-Type.
Measurements: see Nano- (n-).
 
NAM
Acronym: Number Assignment Module
Telephony: The electronic memory in the cellular telephone that stores the telephone number and electronic serial number. Telephones with dual- or multi-NAM features offer the user the option of registering the telephone so that it will have two or more telephone numbers.
 
NAND
Electronics: An AND logic gate followed by a NOT gate. It outputs "False" when both inputs are "True"; otherwise, the output is "True".
 
nano- (n-)
Measurement: SI / Metric unit of decimal measurement, equal to 10-9 or 0.000000001.
 
Narrowband
Communications: A signal whose bandwidth is on the order of its information bandwidth.
 
Narrow Response: see Response, Narrow.
 
Navigation
GPS: The science of getting vehicles from place to place; especially the method of determining position, course, and the distance traveled.
 
NAVSTAR
Acronym: NAVigation Satellite Timing And Ranging
GPS: The official U.S. Government name given to the GPS satellite system.
 
NC
Acronym: Normally-Closed
Electronics: A designation indicating that the contacts of a switch or relay are closed or connected when at rest. When activated, the contacts open or separate.
 
NEC
Acronym: National Electrical Code
Electronics: The NEC is the electrical standards guide established by the IEEE.
 
Negative Ground: see Ground, Negative.
 
Negative Response: see Response, Negative.
 
Network
Computers, Networking: A group of two or more computer systems linked together. Networks are of varying types (LAN, WAN, CAN, MAN, HAN) and topologies (Bus, Ring, Star, Mesh, Tree).
 
Network, Circuit-switched: see Circuit-switched Network.
 
Network Interface Card: see NIC.
 
Network, Packet-switched: see Packet-switched Network.
 
Neutral Ground: see Ground, Neutral.
 
Neutral Response: see Response, Neutral.
 
Newton
Weather: The unit of force giving a mass of about one kilogram (2.205 pounds) an acceleration of about one meter (1 yard) per second per second.
 
NFPA
Acronym: National Fire Protection Association
Electronics: The National Fire Protection Association is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to developing worldwide standards for fire safety.
 
NIC
Acronym: Network Interface Card
Computers, Networking: A computer card designed to allow the computer to connect to a network, such as an Ethernet, ARCnet, or token ring card.
 
Ni-Cd
Batteries: A secondary battery type that uses a nickel oxide positive electrode and a cadmium negative electrode.
 
Nickel-cadmium: see Ni-Cd.
 
Nimbostratus
Weather: A cloud exhibiting a combination of rain or snow, and sometimes the base of the cloud cannot be seen because of the heaviness of precipitation. They are generally associated with fall and winter conditions, but can occur during any season.
 
Nitrogen (N2)
Weather: A colorless, tasteless, odorless gas that is the most abundant constituent of dry air. It comprises 78.09%.
 
NMT
Acronym: Nordic Mobile Telephone
Telephony: The Scandinavian cellular telephone system, that uses 30 KHz channels and 1200 Hz and 1800 Hz signaling tones.
 
NO
Acronym: Normally-Open
Electronics: A designation indicating that the contacts of a switch or relay are normally open or not connected. When activated the contacts close or become connected.
 
NOAA
Acronym: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Weather: An administration within the United States Department of Commerce.
 
No Answer Transfer
Telephony: A feature that allows calls to a mobile to be transferred to a predetermined number if the mobile does not acknowledge an incoming call or is not answered.
 
Noise
Digital Video: Misinterpreted pixels found in a digital image, usually occurring in longer exposures, that appear as misplaced or random bright pixels in the picture.
 
Noise Filter: See Filter, Noise
 
Noise, Pink
Audio: A type of sound with higher power at the lower frequencies but equal power per octave.
 
Noise Reduction, Active
Audio: A method of noise reducion on headphones that samples the ambient outside noise and uses an active electronic mechanism (usual feeding in inverse wavelengths to cancel out the noise).
 
Noise Reduction, Passive
Audio: A method of noise reducion on headphones that uses baffles or padding to insulate the ear from outside sound.
 
Noise, White
Audio: A type of sound with all frequencies evenly distributed at equal power.
 
No Motion
Metal Detectors: A mode of operation that does not require search coil movement to trigger target response.
 
Non-ferrous
Metal Detectors: Metals and alloys not composed of iron. This includes gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, brass, bronze, etc.
 
NOR
Electronics: An OR logic gate followed by a NOT gate. It outputs "False" when one or both inputs are "True"; otherwise, the output is "True".
 
Nordic Mobile Telephone: see NMT.
 
Nor'easter
Weather: A cyclonic storm occurring off the east coast of North America. These winter weather events are notorious for producing heavy snow, rain, and tremendous waves that crash onto Atlantic beaches, often causing beach erosion and structural damage. Wind gusts associated with these storms can exceed hurricane force in intensity. A nor'easter gets its name from the continuously strong northeasterly winds blowing in from the ocean ahead of the storm and over the coastal areas.
 
Normalize
Audio: The process of boosting the signal of an audio file to its maximum level without causing distortion.
 
Normally-closed: see NC.
 
Normally-open: see NO.
 
NOT
Electronics: A logic gate with only one output. It converts the input to the opposite: if the input is "True", it outputs "False" and vice versa. Also called an Inverter.
 
Notch Accept
Metal Detectors: A mode of operation where all target responses are 'tuned out' except those the instrument is adjusted to accept in the notch window.
 
Notch Discrimination
Metal Detectors: A mode of operation that uses circuitry to allow a desirable window of targets to be accepted within the rejection range of unaccepted targets.
 
Notch Filter: see Filter, Notch.
 
Notch Level
Metal Detectors: A control used to select the target level of conductivity that the notch filter will act upon.
 
Notch Reject
Metal Detectors: A mode of operation where all targets within the notch width (at the chosen notch level) will be tuned out.
 
Notch Width, Notch Window
Metal Detectors: A finite discrimination range of target conductivities ("window") at the chosen notch level.
 
NPN Transistor: see Transistor, NPN.
 
NPO
Acronym: Negative and Positive to zerO
Electronics: A capacitor with both the negative and positive leads set to zero.
 
NTSC
Acronym: National Television Systems Committee
Video: 1) The color television standard or timing format used in North America, most of South America, and most of the Far East. It encodes all of the color, brightness, and synchronizing information in one signal that uses a total of 525 horizontal lines per frame, with two fields per frame at 262.5 lines each. Each field refreshes at 60 Hz (actually 59.94 Hz). Compare to PAL and SECAM.
2) The standardizing body that created this system in 1954.
 
n-type Semiconductor, n-type Semiconductor Material: see Semiconductor, n-type.
 
Null
Metal Detectors: 1) The zone just below audible threshold in detector tuning.
2) The momentary drop, or quiet response, of threshold audio as the search coil passes over a discriminated or rejected target.
 
Nulled Out
Metal Detectors: The term used to describe the effect of a coin not being detected because of interference or a piece of trash metal located too close to the coin.
 
Null Tuning
Metal Detectors: Tuning so that the effects of mineralized ground have been nulled, making the detector most sensitive to metals or minerals.
 
Number Assignment Module: see NAM.
 
NWR
Acronym: NOAA Weather Radio 
Weather: A national weather broadcast from various local stations under the National Weather Service.
 
NWS
Acronym: National Weather Service 
Weather: A division under NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the NWS is responsible (among other things) for administrating the NOAA Weather Radio system and local NWS broadcast offices.

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