Best ham radio books according to redditors
We found 73 Reddit comments discussing the best ham radio books. We ranked the 41 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 73 Reddit comments discussing the best ham radio books. We ranked the 41 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
I hope folks on this Sub aren't sick of me trotting out this list when homebrewing comes up, but here's my go-to selection of resources for Ham Radio homebrew. (Plus there's new links every time!):
I think the most extensive book for learning about radio homebrewing Experimental Methods in RF Design. It covers everything from basic direct-converstion recievers to phasing SSB transceivers. It's not super dense with information on newer DSP techniques or older regenerative receivers. But it's a wealth of practical information for the modern homebrewer.
That said, the EMRFD is dense, complex, and a little wandering. Not a great first book, but a book I keep coming back in homebrewing projects. A more approachable place to start might be reading the blogs of other homebrewers, not that these are all ideal starting places. Here's my go-to list:
For specific designers, here's a few personal recommendations:
Feel free to message me if you want to talk kitbuilding/homebrewing!
De KK9JEF
Ignore reddit subs. There's not a lot of info out there. Incidentally I spent a good couple of years researching this and bought about 20 books on the subject in the end. Most of the textbooks are complete drivel. The books I list below are notably different. I assume you want focus on Amateur Radio as part of it so I have included only books which treat it in context to that.
Experimental Methods in RF design. Covers literally everything, relatively up to date and relevant. Expensive but fantastic book on so many levels. Comes with a copy of Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur which was a good predecessor from the 1980s on CDROM: https://www.amazon.com/dp/087259923X
Practical RF Design Manual. Covers blocks and individual system components. Nice book but old. The techniques are still valid however. Very accessible and well written: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0136937543
The Electronics of Radio. Covers a full system level engineering of a transceiver, and all electronics fundamentals. There are practicals in it and you require some half decent and therefore relatively expensive test gear. It is focused around the Norcal 40A transceiver designed by the guy who runs Elecraft now. If you want to learn in steps rather than from a reference, this book is gold: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3URCNG
The first title can be obtained from Library Genesis if you want to trial it before buying.
Not sure what country you are in but the above are available from box73.de or amazon in EU as well.
This is a book-length topic. Experimental Methods in RF Design
Say Again, Please is Bob Gardner breaking down radio comms in mostly laypeople's terms.
LiveATC lets you tune into most towers in the US and listen to actual conversations in real-time. See the archives for prior conversations.
Pilot/Controller Glossary (P/CG) is the FAA document, a subset of the AIM, that has guidelines for radio communication. It's the most rote and most informative of this list.
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/ is a great place to start. They also have a book that will cover much of the basics from the different radio's you can get, antennas, filters and a walk through of large amount of projects. If you want to go a bit deeper you should check out the book Field Expedient SDR: Introduction to Software Defined Radio. There are three books to that series.
As for your first SDR Nooelec NESDR Smartee bundle is a great start. Once you have an idea of what other projects you want to work on you can upgrade to something like LimeSDR (or mini) or a hackrf. I would recommend the LimeSDR Mini.
I liked Say Again Please
Good for learning about radio calls and working with ATC in different kinds of airspace.
This is the first book I flipped through when I was initially interested: Ham Radio For Dummies.
Just look through it and see if it's for you. Then try to get your tech license if you're still interested. Study online with HamExam. What sort of activities are you interested in?
edit: added activities link
Or like, you can launch your own satellites with stuff from a model rocket store.
A great book for these kind of questions: http://www.amazon.com/Say-Again-Please-Guide-Communications/dp/1560277602
You didn't mention which SDR you are using, but if it is an RTL dongle or Ettus then you should loko at Dr. Lou's Ham2Mon code:
https://github.com/madengr/ham2mon
I also highly recommend this book series, very helpful step by step intro to RF and Radio Signals using SDR.
https://www.amazon.com/Field-Expedient-SDR-3-Book/dp/B077GWV6HH/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1538131131&sr=8-5&keywords=field+expedient+SDR
The link is to the kindle edition for the 3 books, but each book is also available as paperback. Be aware there is a black and white and a color version of the paperback books, the color version is a lot more useful as colors are used in configuring GNURadio blocks.
May I recommend the ARRL Handbook or one of the other beginner books they have (Basic Electronics https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Basic-Electronics-Softcover-ARRL/dp/0872590828/ref=pd_bxgy_14_2/137-9572297-3505000?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0872590828&pd_rd_r=5052272e-6067-11e9-a944-2f3383ee933a&pd_rd_w=vXd4s&pd_rd_wg=mTQr7&pf_rd_p=a2006322-0bc0-4db9-a08e-d168c18ce6f0&pf_rd_r=19NY554AMXTMYHHSWRDK&psc=1&refRID=19NY554AMXTMYHHSWRDK ). There is also 'The Art of Electronics' 3rd edition available on the archive.org site. These books will get you started with a lot of the theory, basic nodal and mesh analysis, etc. AllAboutCircuits.com is also a good resource with a somewhat interactive textbook. Khan Academy is good for math. You need Calc I, II and III as well as Differential Equations as a minimum for EE. Then you will want to pursue your EE undergrad if it all seems interesting. Getting your ham radio license is also a good intro to EE as well as applying a lot of the theory where most schools fall short.
There are tons of books for learning basic Electronics. Any one of them will give you the basics, but you won't be able to get your EE degree in 2 weeks.
http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Basic-Electronics-Softcover-arrl/dp/0872590828/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335460522&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Electronics-Forrest-Mims/dp/0945053282/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1335460522&sr=8-7
This book will show you all the stuff you don't know yet (because I seriously doubt you could read this book in 2 weeks and have an understanding of what is in it):
http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/dp/0521370957/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335460573&sr=8-1
I used these books for Technician and General study. I passed both. I used the Kindle ebooks.
Check out the Radar Contact Podcast and website
http://atccommunication.com/radar-contact-audio-show
Say Again, Please is also a great reference
https://www.amazon.com/Say-Again-Please-Guide-Communications/dp/1560277602
A search on Amazon shows several copies going for as low as $15 dollars.
Say Again, Please helped me out quite a bit with a ton of questions I had about radio communications. It also had a lot of other common sense tips unrelated to communications.
Fast Track. Used it for my Tech and General. Book and Audiobook.
https://www.amazon.com/Track-Technician-Class-Radio-License/dp/1503077373
I recommend this book:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1503077373
I used his books to study for my technician and general licenses. No class needed. I'd still recommend getting involved with a local club if possible, though.
I'm doing the same thing. The two books that are on my "to buy" list so far are:
http://www.amazon.com/Experimental-Methods-Design-ARRL-Inc/dp/087259923X
http://www.amazon.com/RF-Circuit-Design-Second-Edition/dp/0750685182
Pass Your Amateur Radio Technician Class Test - The Easy Way. Along with the previously mentioned hamstudy.org If you're willing to pay postage, I'll send you my copy for free.
Say again please is a useful book on communicating with ATC.
Awesome list!
So to talk to people local-ish, I would suggest a mobile radio on your vehicle. See this list of mobile radios, and this list of mobile antennas. See k0bg.com for info on installation and hardware selection.
You may want a VHF (2m) or VHF/UHF (2m/70cm) radio, depending on local activity.
See here for some kits you can build:
There are more. I would suggest you search for "qrp kits".
All of the above will help you learn electronics. When you're ready, check out Experimental Methods in RF Design.
Search here for some ARRL-affiliated local clubs: http://www.arrl.org/find-a-club
Hope this helps! 73
For what my opinion is worth, I'd hesitate to start out on the flight simulator route. And Helix said why in his very own post... you WILL develop terrible habits, and it's VERY different from the real thing. All that simulator time will be worthless until you get actual training in a real aircraft. (I think FSX has room to be beneficial, but only as a way to reinforce what you've already learned in the airplane.) And all of that time you spend in a simulator reinforcing bad habits will only serve to lengthen how much actual time it takes you in the air. For example, one of the hardest habits a student pilot has to break is looking inside at the instruments too much. Students get overwhelmed at all the information there and bury their heads in it, but most of what you're learning for your PPL involves sight pictures and visual reference outside of the aircraft. You won't get proficient at steep turns, S turns, turns around a point, flying the traffic pattern, or watching for traffic until you learn to look outside and only reference your instruments at a glance. FSX will reinforce that bad habit, and probably slow down your practical learning because of it.
I'd think what would be much more likely to help would be doing the bookwork ahead of time. Memorize all the procedures in the PTS. Find a POH and read it 10 times. Memorize the emergency procedures. Get a copy of Say Again, Please and learn you airspaces and radio communications. Learn to read a sectional chart and do flight planning. Learn the FAR/AIM. This, in my opinion, will be much more beneficial than FSX time. (And cheaper than buying a yoke/rudder/throttle.)
One thing I like to point out with flight training is to look at a breakdown of the costs. If your intent is to keep flying after you pass your checkride, then "as cheaply as possible" has a different meaning. At $100/hr, you're going to spend at least $4000 to fly for 40 hours. That number remains constant after you get your license, too. It will still cost $100/hr to fly, or $4000 to fly for 40 hours. So really it's a two part question: 1. Can I afford to fly at all? 2. Can I afford the extra cost to learn how to fly? If you finish training in exactly 40, which most people don't, then you'll have a maximum of 30 hours dual instruction, which is $1200. So think about it that way--the actual "learning to fly" part of flying is only 1200 bucks, the rest of the money is the fixed cost of flying that you'll be spending AFTER you pass your checkride to keep flying.
Ham Radio For Dummies
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119454840/
You should get this book RR, it's pretty informative and helpful to a newbie in Ham Radio and it does explain propagation, digital modes, repeaters. https://www.amazon.com/Ham-Radio-Dummies-Computer-Tech/dp/1119454840/ref=dp_ob_title_bk *I have the book and like it and how it is put together.
Since you're wanting to work with the step-response, you are probably looking at a FDTD (finite-difference time-domain) solution. One open source implementation of this is OpenEMS. It's a simple enough concept that if you have some time, you could write your own implementation: it's basically just solving Maxwell's equations repeatedly at a number of points through your domain.
Most software will let you work in 3 dimensions, the limit will simply be on the computing speed/power you have access to. Any program will let you program different media, and study their effects. Finally, many programs will not calculate the step response directly, but will calculate in the frequency domain, which you can convert to step-response using a Fourier transform.
ANSYS HFSS is a good commercial software for this purpose, and is about on-par with the difficulty of any other program out there. These software programs are complex because they have to be a CAD program (for you to design the shapes and structures), and then a simulation program, which has a lot of complexities on its own. Other software out there is FEKO (3D, good for antennas), ADS (2.5D, mostly for circuit board design), and NEC (free, and best for antennas made of thin wires).
Computational electromagnetics is a huge subject, and there is a right tool for every application. The problems you're trying to solve don't sound too complex, but you still need to know what you're doing in order to get accurate results from the software. Some good books on the subject are this, which gives an introduction to the techniques used by many of the programs, and this, which gives you information on how to build your own FDTD solver using Matlab.
Best of luck with your simulations.
I second this. As the name implies, it's more for looking things up once you know the basics rather than learning from scratch. There are lots of good books for learning electronics. Another one to look at is the ARRL book, Understanding Basic Electronics.
These would be a good start:
GROL+Radar https://www.amazon.com/dp/0945053606/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_CgirzbRG9608Q
Avionics Training: Systems, Installation, and Troubleshooting https://www.amazon.com/dp/1885544219/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_Giirzb62JVYSC
Plain-English Study Guide for the General Radiotelephone Operator License (GROL) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BJ9X8AA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_jjirzbHP0JBY6
GROL Plus: General Radiotelephone Operator License Plus Radar Endorsement https://www.amazon.com/dp/0945053142/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_Mjirzb020BB3W
Shop around for these or check with libraries.
I'd probably use a toroid in the tank circuit instead of the old-school plug-in coil, and an AC supply to save 'A' and 'B' batteries. Maybe add another audio stage so I could hear signals from more than a few feet away. It never worked very well and I was probably lucky not to electrocute myself, but it was pretty cool nonetheless.
For a newbie? Well, I wouldn't recommend using tubes, to begin with, unless you're just hyper-interested in older technology. The whole thing will fit on one chip, of course, but that's going too far in the other direction IMHO. I'd probably recommend building one of the simpler receivers based on JFETs and bipolars in Wes Hayward's book, to build some intuition about what happens when you put your fingers on the wires. Where you go from there is wide open, but start simple.
/didn't read post, probably should've
Experimental Methods in RF Design
Worth every penny.
Hey, no problem!
As for the class, it really depends on how you think you learn best. I never took a class, so I can't speak as to how they are structured or how hands-on they are, but some people do learn better in a classroom setting and being able to discuss the subject with others. Other people can read and take notes solo, which, in the case of radio, is what I did, and be effective.
The online sources are okay, just like I said, be aware of how up to date the source is. If you go that route, I highly recommend looking at the ARRL question pool as you study. The beauty of the exams are that you get to see all the questions and answers before hand. You just don't know which questions will actually be on your copy of the exam. Since the question pool is public information, you can find any number of smartphone apps or websites that will simulate exams for you, which helps you see where your strengths and weaknesses are.
Note: The question pool changes every four years, and it's due to change at the end of June this year. The new pool will be up on July 1st in case you don't complete your exam by then.
Here are the resources I used to prepare:
That all looks like a lot, but it's not. I just wanted to give you a bit of variety. I mostly focused on the ARRL's official study guide, and I thumbed through the "for Dummies" book on and off, learning a bit more for the sake of knowing. I used both test simulations, but preferred the one for my phone since it was easy to just fire that up when I was sitting around waiting for other things. All in all, I'd say I devoted about 3 hours a week over about two months, simply because I planned ahead for my test date and wanted to break everything up into small, manageable chunks for myself. I fail at cramming for tests, but other people have studied one or two evenings, and taken the exams just fine. Again, it all depends on how you learn.
Any more questions, feel free, but there might be a delay in my responses because I am at work all day.
I’ve been eyeing this book for awhile, seems like it would be very useful.
And sometimes a beer can! ;-)
https://www.amazon.ca/Beer-Can-Crystal-Radio-crystal-ebook/dp/B00I5O8GPO/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=crystal+radio+kit&qid=1566857044&s=gateway&sr=8-7
Wanted to chime in besides Balanis (he explains MoM in antenna theory as well but much better in Advanced Emag) you could try this this video course
or this book which I learned from myself
Also if you like using python you could pick up an intro to computational physics book with python and then look up FENICS, MEEP or gprMax
Do you mean the ARRL book?? Amazon, first google query, total search time: 5 seconds.