"The Practical Antenna Design Handbook" by Joe Car

[ILbandit]

"The Practical Antenna Design Handbook" by Joe Carr


PointMan had mentioned this book in another post, Is this a good book to read if you are just starting out? (not knowing alot about the subject)

The ARRL books have been mentioned also.

I am looking to learn about "home brew" antennas, and antenna theory in general.

Can anyone suggest a good "starter" book on antenna design?

 

[PointMan]

Yea its a great book, it explains all kinds of antennas and actualy tells you how to build them, not just how much wire each one takes. He talks about the basics and works you up to bob tail curtains, quads, yagis stuff like that. Theres some other stuff like HF boat antennas and how to atatch HF counterpoise radials to a parked moble and other stuff. He doesnt spend as much time on VHF/UHF as he does on HF however. It also comes with an antenna design cd, which operates basicly as a cutting chart kind of program, how much wire you need to a 1/16th of an inch for loops, dipoles, colinears, bobtail curtains, quad beams, yagis, inverted vees, end fed half rhombic inverted vees, J poles stuff like that. Couple that book with an aarl antena handbook and your probably set. Some books dedicated to practical VHF or UHF antennas might be in order, since thats where all scanning seems to occur.

 

[ILbandit]

Would it be understandable to a beginner? I have to start out pretty simple, then work up a little.

I'm mostly interested in recieve antennas for sanners. Is there a good beginner book out there for building antennas?

 

[PointMan]

He has a section dedicated to scanners, stuff like dipoles, folded dipoles, drooping dipoles, loop antennas, 1/4 and 1/2 wave antennas and 5/8 wave antennas. There is also a CD included that has a program that takes all the guess work out of making all of the antennas mentioned in the book.

The first chapter or two is too in depth for me, but the rest of the book is outstanding.

 

[N_Jay]

Antenna design is based on a lot of math and wave theory. It is hard to start at the begining for a novice.

You may have to read the book, not fully understanding what you read, then go back and re-read the beginings to see if you have picked up a better understanding as you went along.

A few mis-conceptions can realy get in the way of the right information sinking in.

 

[K5MAR]

I'd heard about this book previously, but hadn't seen a copy anywhere. After reading this, I bought a used copy on Amazon.com, but it says "CD not included". What am I missing by not getting the CD?

Mark S.

 

[N_Jay]

I'd heard about this book previously, but hadn't seen a copy anywhere. After reading this, I bought a used copy on Amazon.com, but it says "CD not included". What am I missing by not getting the CD?

Mark S.

How much did you save?

 

[PointMan]

There is a program that helps you design certain types of antennas, its basicly a "Cut wire this long" program. You dont move elements around or change materials like EZNEC or anything. It just helps people make a butt load of different antennas for any frequency. Off the top of my head, there are loops, dipoles, 1/4 and 5/8 ths wave, basic 4 element yagis, and 4-5 element quads. For the more complex stuff, he has SCV's, bobtail curtains, inverted vees, magnetic loops, moxon rectangles, vertical half rhomics and a bunch of other stuff. You basicly put the frequency in, and it gives you the dimensions.

I know it will draw some condescending "Oh but if you just use Mini NEC... [insert condescending statement] Like I want to blow enough cash to buy a second BC796D on software to eek a marginal difference from my antennas.

As far as Im concerned the CD is nice because you can figure a bunch of antennas, look them up on places like www.cebik.com and decide if the difference between something like 14 AWG and 12 AWG wire for a moxon rectangle makes ANY noticeable difference to you as a scanner hobbyist who is trying to listen to a REMS repeater pumping 50 watts from just over the horizon. For me the cut formulas work fine on the CD and its a nice addition to the book. It helps you build antennas that the book tends to lean twards HAM radio on, so you can adjust it for your needs.

 

[K5MAR]

Don't know about "saved", it was $23.95, inc. shipping. List price was given as around $40, don't remember exactly. A moot point as I didn't see it available new, and figured it was out of print. First time I've used Amazon.

Mark S.

 

[PointMan]

Yea I got mine 'used' off www.BN.com the barnes and knoble site, it was in PERFECT condition, I really lucked out on that one, whoever it was that owned it must have not even opened it, because it was in plastic! The cd wasnt even broken open. It was about 50 bucks with shipping, and I had two 25$ gift certificates, so it worked out good.