Reddit mentions: The best ham radio books

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:

• HamStudy.org: includes free flash cards, pages of info, and more info about getting licensed.
  
  
• HamExam.org simulated exams online
  
  
• Ham Radio Study for Android a simple, clean, easy to use app that simulates exams for you on the go. Answer as many questions as you like at a time.
  
  
• Ham Radio for Dummies: the "for Dummies" books are terrific, and the one in the link is actually an updated version from the one I used. This book focuses more on understanding the principles and general knowledge of amateur radio.
  
  
• ARRL Study Guides: these are awesome, but hold off on buying them new until you have shopped around to see if any used copies are available for cheap. I was lucky, and got mine free from a fellow ham, which I later passed on to another person interested in radio via /r/amateurradio.
  
  
• ARRL supplemental guide materials: okay, I didn't use this at all, but it's a great supplement if you want to expand what you get out of the study guide. I see no reason why this couldn't be used in conjunction with free guides, as well.
  
  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 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:

• SolderSmoke - As you already mentioned, the Soldersmoke podcast is like the Car Talk of Analog Homebrew Radios.
  
• Peter Parker VK3YE's Website and YouTube Channel. His articles Homebrewing for the Novice and Ham Radio's Hidden Curriculum are great starting places.
  
• Dave Richards, AA7EE, particularly his build of VK3YE's Micro-4 or his Rugster or Sproutie projects. Some of the prettiest builds out there.
  
• Pete Juliano N6QW's Website - The other half of solder smoke, he somehow finds time to pound out rig after rig in Juliano Blue
  
• Paul Darlington m0xpd - Works a fair amount with DDS modules and receivers
  
• Peter Rachow DK7IH - has some really nice finished multiband transceiver projects, all wrapped up in little boxes.
  
• Todd Gale VE7BPO's QRP-Popcorn - Todd's always making new and interesting things with great documentation. He also had a long time website, the QRP/SWL Homebuilder, which he took down a couple years ago. Thanksfully, Jason NT7S hosts of a copy of the materials from that website.
  
• WA0ITP has a great "book" online called Crystal Sets to Sideband with great tribal wisdom on homebrew construction methods and guidance.
  
• Oh and what the heck, a shameless plug for my own site KK9JEF - I build direct conversion transceivers, currently working on a sideband transceiver.
  
  For specific designers, here's a few personal recommendations:
  
  
• I'd start with a simple Pixie or kit from eBay. They're cheap, and good experience of soldering. With a good antenna and a lot of luck, you can actually make contacts on them, but I wouldn't be discouraged if you don't. There's something to be said for soldering a $4 circuit together and pulling signals off the air.
  
• Next, I'd suggest one of the multitude of NE602/LM386 Direct Conversion Receivers or Transceivers, or homebrew your own based on their similar designs. AA7EE's build of half of the ZL2BMI DSB radio is a beautiful example.
  
• Beyond that, you're likely into homebrewing superhets. Bill's partner in crime Pete N6QW has a multitude of examples on his blog; there's the popular BITX Design which Bill N2CQR has built several of, and has a nice recorded talk on YouTube about.
  
  Feel free to message me if you want to talk kitbuilding/homebrewing!
  De KK9JEF

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.

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.

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

Getting a license is one of the first steps, if not THE first step. To help you pass the license exam, you can download a free version of my Technician Class license study guide from kb6nu.com/study-guides.

Next, i'd suggest finding a ham radio club in your neck of the woods. You can attend the meetings before you get your license even, and by attending the meetings you'll meet hams who can help you get started and you can learn about all the things they do.

Most seem to start out by purchasing an inexpensive handheld radio to get on the air. That's OK, but don't stop there. Check into the local nets, help out with public service events, build a better antenna for your handheld.

As far as learning radio theory, get an ARRL Handbook. Also, consider getting the ARRL's Hands-On Experiments book. It's a big hobby, and there's a lot to learn. Take your time to figure out what you'd like to do, then take it one step at a time.

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.

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.

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:

• http://qrpkits.com/
  
• http://www.4sqrp.com/kitIndex.php
  
• https://www.qrp-labs.com/
  
  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

Hello! I'm in a similar situation. I passed my exam back in '09, but am just getting into ham radio now.

For now I'm just a HT user. Here's what I do:

• Legal? Consult your local laws. (It is in FL)
  
• As for "channels", pick up a copy of the ARRL's repeater directory and use it to pre-program information about your local repeaters into your radio memory. The national simplex calling frequencies are also handy to program in. (146.520 & 432.10) From there, I just put the HT into auto memory scan mode. Helps to keep the eyes on the road.
  
  
• In my area it seems to be a group of 'regulars' who talk at certain times of the day, but there's always more people listening than you might think, so go ahead and call out! :D
  
  
• What do you talk about? Anything! Really! Weather, sports, Anything goes.
  
  
• How do you introduce yourself? Just say, CALLSIGN-X (optional: + mobile, portable, etc.) monitoring, listening, anyone out there?, etc.
  
  
• As for breaking into the repeater to those who know each other well and whatnot, I'm still working on that; I get the sense they've talked on those repeaters since the day they were erected and they just aren't used to noobies.

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.

Yes, you can certainly etch antennas for upper UHF and microwave on to PCBs. Here's a site with yagis, log-periodics, patches, and a couple of more exotic designs.

For a beginner, I'd honestly start with straight copying designs others have used. Antennas in general are fickle creatures, and the higher the frequency, the more of a pain in the butt they tend to become.

For understanding general antenna theory, I highly recommend the Practical Antenna Handbook by Joseph Carr. It's an excellent primer on both antennas and propagation, and almost anybody can understand most of it.

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

Probably not a single book. My picks for this are:

Syntony and Spark: The Origins of Radio

Continuous Wave

These are not "equation deriving technical" books but highly footnoted historical overviews of the key events and technologies involved in radio between Maxwell's and radio by the 1930s.

What's interesting (to me) about the 2nd book is the focus on Federal Telegraph which made a bizarro radio technology called an "Arc Converter". Federal Telegraph were originally located in Palo Alto, site of Silicon Valley.

In fact if you read the history of Hewlett-Packard in The HP Way (which is juicy in its name-dropping historically reality: Varian, Litton, Tektronix, Fleming, Terman, and... Federal Telegraph) you'll see there is a line of causality from these early technologies to present-day Silicon Valley that is quite spectacular.

Filling these out post-HP are:

The Secret History of Silicon Valley

The American Experience: Silicon Valley

There are crazy people in engineering who claim this history is irrelevant. Honestly it only makes sense and is only really interesting knowing it.

I have this book here: Understanding Basic Electronics And it's awesome! Maybe you could find it at the library? (It's a very large book, however). It would definitely help you.

> I make mental notes of who has giant amateur radio antennas on their houses, always good people to know.

Those are probably not the hams you want to know or depend on if the SHTF. In general, they're the ones into it for the sporting aspect, "chasing paper" as they say, trying to get confirmed contacts with as many stations around the World, or trying to get the biggest score in a ham radio contest.

The kind of ham you want to know is the guy like me: The one with effective, but nigh-on-invisible antennas at his home. If you were to drive by my house, you wouldn't see my antennas even though I have 4 of them. In fact, you wouldn't know I was a ham unless you saw my car in the driveway.

You want the kind of ham like me, who practices setting up his emergency set-up in the park occasionally:
https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/8emyj7/finally_managed_to_deploy_my_as2259gr_copy_and

You want to know the kind of guy who keeps a QRP radio and antennas in his "bug out bag".

You want to know someone who has a copy of this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Low-Profile-Amateur-Radio-Operating/dp/0872599744

Chances are, the guy with the big 100' tower with a bunch of Yagis on it isn't the sort of person who is going to have the ability, or knowledge, to effectively communicate in an emergency.

Ditto this.

The second edition is also available and cheaper.

Bowick has the best treatment of smith charts that I have ever read, even better than Pozar or Ludwig.

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

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

I liked Say Again Please

Good for learning about radio calls and working with ATC in different kinds of airspace.

A great book for these kind of questions: http://www.amazon.com/Say-Again-Please-Guide-Communications/dp/1560277602

If you like that, you might like this too: Experimental Methods in RF Design.

Say again please is a useful book on communicating with ATC.

• http://www.amazon.com/Say-Again-Please-Guide-Communications/dp/1560277602/ref=sr_1_1
  Say Again, Please is Bob Gardner breaking down radio comms in mostly laypeople's terms.
  
  
• http://www.liveatc.net
  LiveATC lets you tune into most towers in the US and listen to actual conversations in real-time. See the archives for prior conversations.
  
  
• http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/pcg/index.htm
  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.

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.

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

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.

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