What is a transceiver?

A transceiver is a single piece of equipment that combines both a transmitter and a receiver. The word itself is a portmanteau (a blend) of TRANSmitter and reCEIVER. In the early days of radio, operators used separate boxes for transmitting and receiving. Today, almost all amateur radios, from handhelds to desktop base stations, are transceivers because combining the circuits saves space, reduces cost, and makes operation much easier. The distractors describe other common amateur radio devices. A device for matching impedance is an antenna tuner, a device for sending/decoding Morse code might be a TNC or keyer, and a device for converting bands is known as a transverter.