Amateur radio hf antenna basics ebook series these ebooks on hf antenna basics, described on this page, are intentionally light on theory and heavy on practicalities. Antennas and antenna theory has always been a fascinating subject for me, and it is this excitement that leads me to present this tutorial. Some confusion on basic antenna theory and crystal radio antenna. This book introduces the fundamental principles of antenna theory and explains.
Disclosure i, claude jollet, am the author of the ebooks and paperback book advertised on this page. In transmission, a radio transmitter supplies an electric current to the antennas terminals, and the antenna radiates the energy from the current as electromagnetic waves radio waves. An introduction ham arrl guide to antenna tuners ham arrl magic band antennas ham arrl portable antenna classics ham arrl receiving antennas for the radio amateur ham arrl vertical antenna classics ham. This manual is a compilation of numerous articles on the subject of design and theory of the loop antenna that have appeared through the years in dx news. Occasionally the equivalent term aerial is used to specifically mean an elevated horizontal wire antenna. The radiation pattern of a small loop antenna has two sharp nulls in opposite. However, the good news is that experimenting with homemade antennas is one of the most accessible and enjoyable aspects.
However, since every piece of information in the universe can be decomposed into sine and cosine components of varying frequencies, we always. A transmitting antenna transforms electric currents into radio waves and a receiving antenna transforms an electromagnetic field back into electric current. This book will provide the foundation in radio theory and practice necessary for anyone undertaking more advanced topics such as those presented in the arrl handbook for radio. Beverage and longwire antennas design and theory order. They confirmed that the types of people who buy the book meet the profile above. Carrs practical antenna handbook is a thick volume that tries mostly successfully to balance technical detail against practicality. Arrl antenna handbook a musthave book, you can purchase a used. Submitted to the faculty of the worcester polytechnic institute. Foundations of antenna engineering kildal antenn ab. L the purpose of a repeater and when it would be necessary. All amateur radiorelated projects, tips, tricks, and tools. L difference between amplitude modulation am and frequency modulation fm. In chapter 6, we will discover how fm radio works and how to build an fm radio with an sca output for.
The difference between a mediocre antenna system and a great antenna system isnt the antenna itself. It is in a condensed form and the antenna theory is explained so most hams can understand it. It is the purpose of this paper to provide the interested reader with a general body of knowledge of am antenna systems. I found myself reaching a certain point, putting it down for a while and then returning to explore a different topic. An introduction to amateur satellite ground station antennas. With the addition of skywave propagation, am broadcast signals can travel great distances 500 miles or more.
Can anyone point me at a good book or website that can teach me about antenna theory from a beginners standpoint. In radio engineering, an antenna is the interface between radio waves propagating through space and electric currents moving in metal conductors, used with a transmitter or receiver. You may have to twist and turn the radio, and move it closer or farther away, but stations that were weak and scratchy will leap out at you. The theoretically perfect antenna can never be built because theory itself is not perfect. The arrl antenna book is very good, and its a good deal more accurate. Just as the proper number of radials for a given antenna is up for debate, so, too is the length of those radials. Fancasee am fm antenna dipole 75 ohm f male plug fm antenna with pal 3. Theres very likely to be a copy at your local library. The antenna is very important if long range is important a quarter wave antenna is an easy and good solution, but it is not small 433 mhz. The overall block diagram of most am radio receivers is detailed below. The best am antenna is like the attic ones described, technically termed a longwire antenna. Basic radio builds upon knowledge of elementary electronic concepts as presented in arrls understanding basic electronics or a similar course. A collection of books and text derived from the efforts of volunteers to make information as widely available as possible.
Sep 22, 2017 back in the good old days, when the fcc was still issuing the coveted first class radio telephone licenses, the exam question set at least as i recall after a half century or so only included one or two antenna theory related questions that dealt with voltage and current distribution across a dipole element. In my life, i have found that once i thoroughly understand a subject, i am amazed at how simple it seems, despite the initial complexity. The limited scope of this lesson on alternating current does not permit full exploration of the concept, some of the basic principles will be covered. Find the top 100 most popular items in amazon books best sellers.
Actually, i am of the opinion that the commonly used vector potentials. The origin of the word antenna relative to wireless apparatus is attributed to italian radio pioneer guglielmo marconi. The are antenna theory by balanis, stuzman, and kraus and an antenna handbook. A lot goes into designing antennas but with a little bit of guidance and explanation, antenna users network designers, systems integrators, end users can read through the antenna specifications and choose the right antenna style for their wireless network design. Radio theory the basics l differences between very high frequency vhf and ultra high frequency uhf.
I am a licensed amateur radio operator kd9dyn, and i want to design and build my own antennas. Radio propagation is the behavior of radio waves as they travel, or are propagated, from one. Beginners guide to ham radio, make your own eagle blog. Actual antennas radiate real world signals data from the internet over wifi, speech signals, etc etc etc. The following list covers the major differences in performance parameters between eh and conventional hertz. For instance, the wavelength at the center of the am radio band is about 300m. An optimum antenna for the bottom end of the am broadcast band might be metres long, while an optimum antenna for topoffm broadcast band might be 0. An example is the ferrite loopstick antenna used in most am broadcast radios. It was with surprise and delight that i noted that clerks in one radio.
Radio waves are just another form of light that travels at the same speed. Stutzman and thieles antenna theory and design is another popular antenna book. Ictpituursi school on wireless networking for development the abdus salam international centre for theoretical physics. The arrl antenna book is very good, and its a good deal more accurate than many other beginners books. I am a licensed amateur radio operator kd9dyn, and i want to design and. This book is about common medium wave and high frequency short wave. Am broadcasting stations use ground waves to cover their listening areas. The radio waves you sent flow through the metal antenna and cause. Thats unfortunate, because for many radio systems the antenna is one of the most important elements, one that can make the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful system. This is often a good solution since it utilizes unused volume for a product. In chapter 5, you will learn how am radio is broadcast, from a radio station to a receiver in your home, and how to build your own trf or tuned radio frequency am radio receiver. Clerks in radio stores told me that this book was outselling other titles 2.
The theory of operation for each section, or stage, should be read before the assembly is started. These are preliminary notes, intended only for distribution among the participants. What is the best book for antennas and wave propagation. Hence, for all of antenna theory, we will frequency be discussing wavelength of frequency. Mcrp 3403b radio operators handbook training command. An am radio transmitting tower of a quarter wave length erected for say 810 khz in the am band would have a length of nearly 88 metres 288 in height. Kraus 1988 is a great theoretical book on antennas, considered the bible of. Demodulation is often done with a diode detector and the final stage is amplified with some sort of audio amplifier. The large selfresonant loop antenna has a circumference close to one wavelength of the operating frequency and so is resonant at that frequency.
This would increase the maximum coverage distance away from the router, allowing. Fortify your existing antenna or build your own with highquality brackets, clamps, tubing and supports from dx engineering. Antenna physics illuminates fundamentals in 160 pages. Arrl antenna book ham arrl antenna compendiums ham arrl antenna designers notebook ham arrl antenna physics.
Say you have 500feet of wire to use for radials for your new 40m vertical. This is an unusual book that discloses unusual characteristics of an unusual and new concept in antenna theory. There are 242 pages and the book has maps covering 530 through 1700 kilo hertz depicting the lower usa, canada and mexico. In the language of communications theory, the carrier frequency refers to the frequency of a radio frequency rf sinusoid thats responsible for carrying the communicators information or message from the transmitter to the receiver the 535 to 1,705khz frequency band, which broadcast am occupies, is classified as a medium frequency mf radio band. Understanding antennas for the nontechnical ham by n4ja an. So keep this in mind when deciding on your purchase. Thus, any obstruction between the transmitting antenna transmitter and the receiving antenna receiver will. Antenna theory types of propagation in this chapter, let us go through different interesting topics such as the properties of radio waves, the propagation of radio waves and their types. Thanks to some comments on my monday post, i got thinking about collecting some thoughts on antennas. It doesnt take very much wire to pick up an adequate signal for anything but the crudest shortwave receiver. But if i could keep only one book, i would definitely choose balanis because, in my nonexpert opinion, it is more coherent, more systematic, and has a stronger emphasis on principles.
Principles of radio basic ac theory electronics textbook. Turn your radio on, select am and set it near the coil. I can follow the book without any issue, but do find it heavy going in a few places. Because the metadata related to these scanned books are often done outside the library or cataloging industries, finding material can be more difficult. If youve never tried it, go sit in your car some night and see how many distant am radio stations you can tune in. There are updated free pdf versions of the book available subject to registration via. In theory, a station can be selected by using a narrow bandpass filter centered at the desired station. This is used at many universities as well, and was the masters or late undergraduate course book on antennas i used as a masters student at stanford.
The data for this comes from the current 39th edition of the am radio log. The first time i made one of these antenna systems, i added a small switch in series with the ground connection. A loop antenna is a radio antenna consisting of a loop or coil of wire, tubing, or other electrical conductor usually fed by a balanced source or feeding a balanced load. Antenna radio news newspapers books scholar jstor january 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message.
Most of the tomes used by the last generation of am consulting engineers date back to the 1940s and are no longer in print. However, the good news is that experimenting with homemade antennas is one of the most accessible and enjoyable aspects of amateur radio. I have two standard textbooks on antennas, namely, antenna theory by balanis and antennas by kraus both third edition. The intelligence of an am signal is contained solely in the side bands. The basic theory and equations behind amplitude modulation are relatively straightforward and can be handled using straightforward trigonometric calculations and manipulation.
Dx engineering, cushcraft, hygain, hustler, comtek systems, diamond antenna, and more. Television, radio, telephone, andradarfrequency spectrums 1095. Scottish physicist james clerk maxwell figured out a theory of radio. Ive been a ham since 1976 and an rf radio frequency engineer but not an antenna designer since 1986, and along the way have used various antennas, both full size and smaller. It is a complete electronic tutorial ranging from the very basics of radio design to the more sophisticated configurations used in short wave radio, ham radio or hobby electronics as a general purpose radio receiver. Showcasing 80 years of antenna knowhow the arrl antenna book for radio communications is a single resource covering antenna theory, design and. If the antenna is a loop, one wire goes to receiver ground and the other to receiver am antenna input.
An interesting article on antennas for apartments and restricted lots. Antenna theory types of propagation tutorialspoint. This book is about common medium wave and high frequency short wave antennas, but the theory presented here relates to antennas of any frequency. The longer they are, the less directional they are, but im talking about 100 feet to be nondirectional. Lineofsight refers to radio waves which travel directly in a line from the transmitting antenna to the receiving. Essentially an amplitude modulated wave consists of a radio frequency carrier a sine wave at one frequency, typically in the radio frequency portion of the spectrum.
Realizing many hams are mathematically challenged, only simple mathematics procedures are used. The earliest radio receiver was simply made with an antenna, a detector and earphones. Ictpituursi school on wireless networking for development the abdus salam international centre for theoretical physics ictp, trieste italy, 5 to 24 february 2007. You have a radio that receives medium wavelength am broadcast, short wavelength shortwave, as well as fm broadcast. A beginners guide to ham radio, and how to make your own in autodesk eagle. The third reason is a desire to teach basic antenna theory to the average ham. Understanding practical antennas and design for something that is often so simple to make, an antenna is remarkably difficult for many people to understand. In radio engineering, an antenna is the interface between radio waves propagating through. The book does not necessarily have to be read in a strictly linear fashion. Horisontal loop antenna for shortwave listening and amateur radio use. Another practical handbook is the arrl antenna book. Back in the day, radios were am only, and if you wanted to listen to your favorite programs you had to have an outside antenna.
Understanding antennas for the nontechnical ham by n4ja. This enables am radio stations to transmit beyond the horizon. After covering basic electronics theory, the book takes you on a romp through radio history, from the earliest crystal sets, to tuned regenerative frequency receivers, superheterodynes, classic radios of the 1930s and 1940s, multiband sets, all the way to complex highend radios such as e. Shop here for antennas, antenna systems, and antenna components from the best. This book is an attempt to show electronics and radio enthusiasts that there is a whole new world out there to explore. Ive found it mostly useful when looking for details and insight into one particular antenna type. One of the more fascinating applications of electricity is in the generation of invisible ripples of energy called radio waves. At the heart of broadcast am is the ability to produce lowcost am radio receivers.
At low frequencies such as am broadcast, arrays of vertical towers are used. I am probably not the only person who listens to am radio, so this might come in handy for somebody else. The groups which follow are taken from signal book. An antenna is a device that provides a transition between electric currents on a conductor and electromagnetic waves in space. Antenna theory and antenna terminology can seem complicated to the uninitiated. Discover the best antenna engineering in best sellers. Once the hard part of tuning in a radio station is done, the rest of the radio is simple. Again, the arrl antenna book has a long discussion on this, and the data are surprising.
Basic antenna theory and application a major qualifying project report. Within this physical description there are two distinct antenna types. Improving am radio reception w external antenna and loop connection i cant recommend enough putting up a decent, outdoor antenna for your portable radio. A tutorial on the principles of am radio receiver design. The success of the three previous editions of practical antenna handbook has been most gratifying. The words antenna and aerial are used interchangeably. They may be used for transmission and reception, although antennas that are very small compared to the wavelength are very inefficient radiators, and so are only used for reception. Improving am radio reception w external antenna and loop. The am broadcast stations use ground wave propagation during the day and. Ham radio antenna books and publications category is a curation of 11 web resources on, electromagnetic waves and antennas, ideas and projects for qrp, p j grimshaw. Miniature hf to vhf am fm receiver using the ne605.
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