Hi guys,

Many time here we've heard plaudits for "Experimental Methods in RF
Design" and no one to my recollection has derided it. But Hayward also
wrote "Introduction to Radio Frequency Design" which never seems to
get a mention. Does anyone have a copy of this other book and/or an
opinion on it? I've been offered a copy and would value the Panel's
view on it.

p.
--

"What is now proved was once only imagin'd." - William Blake, 1793.

Many time here we've heard plaudits for "Experimental Methods in RF
Design" and no one to my recollection has derided it. But Hayward also
wrote "Introduction to Radio Frequency Design" which never seems to
get a mention. Does anyone have a copy of this other book and/or an
opinion on it? I've been offered a copy and would value the Panel's
view on it.

Absolutely! Both hard cover and soft. It ought to be in your library. Look
at page 216 in the soft cover, my personal favorite. If you're too young for
it, there was an earlier one that was an all time classic, "Solid State
Design for the Radio Amateur" by DeMaw and Hayward. Called SSD by those who
slept with it, the latest is often referred to as SSSD, "Son of Solid State
Design".

W4ZCB

I've had a copy since it was first published in 1982. It's intended to
be more of an engineering textbook than the more cookbook-like
_Experimental Methods. . _ and its predecessor _Solid State Design for
the Radio Amateur_. (Although those books are much more than
cookbooks.) Now published in a second edition by the ARRL, it's an
excellent reference. It also contains insights into the fundamental
workings of circuits that you'll find in few other texts. As just one of
many examples, the discussion of oscillators presents some unique
insights into the similarities between oscillator types and an
understanding of the fundamentals requirements of oscillators.

I highly recommend it for anyone interested in understanding electronic
circuits on a more basic level. It nicely complements his other books,
and it's a bargain at the price.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Paul Burridge wrote:
Hi guys,

Many time here we've heard plaudits for "Experimental Methods in RF
Design" and no one to my recollection has derided it. But Hayward also
wrote "Introduction to Radio Frequency Design" which never seems to
get a mention. Does anyone have a copy of this other book and/or an
opinion on it? I've been offered a copy and would value the Panel's
view on it.

p.

"Paul Burridge" wrote in message
...
Many time here we've heard plaudits for "Experimental Methods in RF
Design" and no one to my recollection has derided it. But Hayward also
wrote "Introduction to Radio Frequency Design" which never seems to
get a mention. Does anyone have a copy of this other book and/or an
opinion on it? I've been offered a copy and would value the Panel's
view on it.

It's great; definitely get a hold of a copy if you're interested in radio
design.

"Introduction to Radio Frequency Design" is somewhat unique in that the
level it's written at is sort of inbetween the "cookbook" approach and the
"highly theoretical, filled with math" approach. It's aimed at individuals
who have something of a formal background in engineering but who (1) don't
want to get bogged down in the math just to get some results and (2)
appreciate having the references to the hard core material so they can
investigate further if need be. This is unlike, say, Joe Carr who seems to
want to target a similar audience, but usually his 'reference' list is
non-existant or pretty generic; Wes will direct you right back to Zverev,
Matthei, Rhea, etc. if you're so inclined. (And whereas someone who only
reads Zverev is probably a LONG way from actually being able to build
anything outside of a SPICE simulator.)

Check out Wes's web page he http://users.easystreet.com/w7zoi/books.html
.... for information on all of his books. His books are also still quite
reasonably priced. (It's not out of line, but I'm still surprised that in
ten years the ARRL handbook has gone from $25 to $55... essentially from 'a
real bargin' to 'about the usual price' for such books.)

---Joel Kolstad

Paul Burridge wrote:

Hi guys,

Many time here we've heard plaudits for "Experimental Methods in RF
Design" and no one to my recollection has derided it. But Hayward also
wrote "Introduction to Radio Frequency Design" which never seems to
get a mention. Does anyone have a copy of this other book and/or an
opinion on it? I've been offered a copy and would value the Panel's
view on it.

p.

Buy it, it's worth it.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 11:39:27 -0700, Roy Lewallen
wrote:

I've had a copy since it was first published in 1982. It's intended to
be more of an engineering textbook than the more cookbook-like
_Experimental Methods. . _ and its predecessor _Solid State Design for
the Radio Amateur_. (Although those books are much more than
cookbooks.) Now published in a second edition by the ARRL, it's an
excellent reference. It also contains insights into the fundamental
workings of circuits that you'll find in few other texts. As just one of
many examples, the discussion of oscillators presents some unique
insights into the similarities between oscillator types and an
understanding of the fundamentals requirements of oscillators.

I highly recommend it for anyone interested in understanding electronic
circuits on a more basic level. It nicely complements his other books,
and it's a bargain at the price.

Oh, blast! You were doing so well there for a while, Roy. Now you've
gone and spoilt it all by using that word "basic." I was hoping for
something at least "intermediate" and I don't really see how "basic"
and "RF design" sit easily together in a single description. Please
tell me it's useful for more advanced stuff too!
--

"What is now proved was once only imagin'd." - William Blake, 1793.

"Paul Burridge" a écrit dans le message de
...
On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 11:39:27 -0700, Roy Lewallen
wrote:

I've had a copy since it was first published in 1982. It's intended to
be more of an engineering textbook than the more cookbook-like
_Experimental Methods. . _ and its predecessor _Solid State Design for
the Radio Amateur_. (Although those books are much more than
cookbooks.) Now published in a second edition by the ARRL, it's an
excellent reference. It also contains insights into the fundamental
workings of circuits that you'll find in few other texts. As just one of
many examples, the discussion of oscillators presents some unique
insights into the similarities between oscillator types and an
understanding of the fundamentals requirements of oscillators.

I highly recommend it for anyone interested in understanding electronic
circuits on a more basic level. It nicely complements his other books,
and it's a bargain at the price.

Oh, blast! You were doing so well there for a while, Roy. Now you've
gone and spoilt it all by using that word "basic." I was hoping for
something at least "intermediate" and I don't really see how "basic"
and "RF design" sit easily together in a single description. Please
tell me it's useful for more advanced stuff too!

Maybe is it that someone's basic level is someone else' intermediate level ?
;-)


--
Thanks,
Fred.

"Paul Burridge" wrote in message
...

Oh, blast! You were doing so well there for a while, Roy. Now you've
gone and spoilt it all by using that word "basic." I was hoping for

You guys must be reading a different IRFD than me, or maybe I'm just dumber
than I thought. That book has more math in it than my college EE text. OK,
admittedly the math isn't as weird, but I wouldn't call it "basic".

...

On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 15:31:40 +0100, Paul Burridge
wrote:

On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 11:39:27 -0700, Roy Lewallen
wrote:

I've had a copy since it was first published in 1982. It's intended to
be more of an engineering textbook than the more cookbook-like
_Experimental Methods. . _ and its predecessor _Solid State Design for
the Radio Amateur_. (Although those books are much more than
cookbooks.) Now published in a second edition by the ARRL, it's an
excellent reference. It also contains insights into the fundamental
workings of circuits that you'll find in few other texts. As just one of
many examples, the discussion of oscillators presents some unique
insights into the similarities between oscillator types and an
understanding of the fundamentals requirements of oscillators.

I highly recommend it for anyone interested in understanding electronic
circuits on a more basic level. It nicely complements his other books,
and it's a bargain at the price.

Oh, blast! You were doing so well there for a while, Roy. Now you've
gone and spoilt it all by using that word "basic." I was hoping for
something at least "intermediate" and I don't really see how "basic"
and "RF design" sit easily together in a single description. Please
tell me it's useful for more advanced stuff too!

Paul, maybe you should stay away from it because apparently you can't
read.

At the beginning, Roy said, "It's intended to be more of an engineering
textbook than the more cookbook-like _Experimental Methods. . _"

At the end he said, "I highly recommend it for anyone interested in
understanding electronic circuits on a more basic level." This is
apparently where you got confused. Oh, and he never specifically
mentioned "RF design".

English can be tricky. In the context of the rest of the message, I take
Roy's, "understanding electronic circuits on a more basic level," to
mean at the level of the basic principles that define the circuit's
functions, not less than advanced. As Roy and others have said it is
MORE rigorous and mathematical than the other books.

If you were trying to make a joke, you should have ended with a happy
face.

Rex ) writes:

At the beginning, Roy said, "It's intended to be more of an engineering
textbook than the more cookbook-like _Experimental Methods. . _"

And of course, it was published as a text book. It came out in 1982 from
a text book publisher, Prentice Hall. I seem to recall it carrying a
text book price. I think the only reason many of us took note of it
was because it was by Wes Hayward. I seem to recall it getting coverage
in the ham magazines at the time. I'm not so sure ARRL would have published
a second printing but for the fact that Wes Hayward is well known to hams,
and has had a book or two published by the ARRL.

It covers what it does well, and yes it is a much more involved explanation
than ham books. But it's field is quite limited. It's not so practical,
You can get very detailed explanation of the Colpitts oscillator, but
little about oscillators beyond that.

It's not cutting edge. It wasn't back in 1982, it was supposed to give
a grounding so one could take up other books and get the latest, and it's not
now; I gather there was very minimal changes in the ARRL printing.

This book came up in the other newsgroup in the context of someone wanting
to design a wideband VHF amplifier for his tv set. And no, he was not
advanced in his technical knowledge. It was indeed a lousy suggestion for
his purpose, because not only would he be better off with a cookbook type
book, but Intro to RF Design isn't about a lot of specifics.

On the other hand, the ARRL priting came with a flopppy disk of some basic
programs for designing circuits. I've really only glanced at them, but they
are a bonus for those buying the book.

Michael VE2BVW