Customer Reviews

Introduction to Radio Frequency Design (Radio Amateur's Library, Publication No. 191.)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This classic book provides a well presented introduction to RF circuit design, focused on giving the reader a thorough grounding in the basic concepts needed to become a professional RF circuit designer. There is sufficient mathematical rigor to convince the pros, but not so much as to make the book inaccessable to students and more advanced amateurs. The author is an experienced state of the art RF designer and a life long "RF guy"--I've been reading his articles in QST magazine for 25 years. This experience and his devotion to the field come through strongly in his book. Though first published in the early 1980's, most of the material is basically timeless. I do hope Wes will someday revise it to include newer RF IC design as well. The book deserves to be in the library of every professional, and especially those just starting in the field.

I bought this book based on a recommendation at a web site that contained basic electronics-tutorials, but it is really too advanced for a beginner. I found it too hard to follow. (I also bought "RF Circuit Design" by Chris Bowick, which I found easier to follow, though it still helped that there are some things I know about electronics that weren't covered in the tutorials where I found the recommendation.)

To be fair, the introduction to this edition says it is for "the working engineer" and "ADVANCED radio amateur" (emphasis mine). People in those classes may find it more useful. I wish I knew that before I ordered it.

I don't think I should say how many stars this book deserves because I am not in the intended audience, but Amazon insists that I select a number of stars, so I picked 3.

What can you say about Wes Hayward that hasn't been said already? This book should be required reading for RF/Microwave designers. It covers all the basic and fundamental subjects of RF design with insight and clarity. I particularly liked the chapter on filter theory and design, crystal filters especially. The coverage of resonant circuits in general is very good. This is a staple in my brief case and rarely spends much time on the shelf. I recommend it highly to anyone in need of a good RF design reference text.

I bought "Introduction to Radio Frequency Design" because thats exactly what I was looking for. I'm your average electronics hobbyist looking for an introduction to things like oscillators, frequency synthesis, RF filters, modulation techniques and other basics that relate to designing RF circuits. What I got was a book that focuses heavily (almost exclusively) on modeling RF circuits mathematically which makes the book almost useless for me and others looking for such "introductory" material. This book assumes that you've have all the mathematical and physics training that comes with something like an electrical engineering degree, so if that describes you and your interested in maximizing your RF circuits, then this may be the book for you. But if your interested in actual introductory material to basic RF design I'd suggest you find something else.

Yes, as others have mentioned, don't let the word "Introduction" fool you. The book is full of mathematics. Maybe not very advanced mathematics, but unless you are very familiar with calculus and complex numbers, you will be lost.

My gripe with this book, is that the author doesn't seem to want to expend any effort in explaining what he's talking about. He lays out the material as if he's talking to his fellow experienced RF engineer friend. The mathemtical derivation don't have the same rigor that you would find in an academic text. The notation is confusing. Sometimes the same symbol is used to mean totally different things, sometimes in equations a few lines apart, and sometimes in the same equation!!!

I mean comon, the guy is a genius RF engineer and very well known, but if you are going to name your book an Introduction, act accordingly. So, unless you are very familiar with RF engineering, you will have a hard time following and you will find yourself going very slowly through the book in order to convince yourself of what the author is claiming.

Not to say that the experience can't be rewarding. You will definitely learn a lot. But as I said, if you are not familiar with the concepts, it will take you a long time to follow through, and that may put you off unless you have chosen RF engineering to be your career and willing to spend a great amount of time on the topic. The flow of text is also horrible at times. Transitioning from one topic to another without warning. Use headlines for God's sake.

The final gripe is: THE BOOK HAS NO EXAMPLES. No solved problems nothing. Not even unsolved problems. So after all this struggle there's no way that you can actually confirm if you understand.

I found Chris Bowick's book a lot more approachable and more entertaining. Bowick's book is lacking in mathematical rigor but that's fine as a REAL introduction.

So the conclusion is: Don't assume this can be your first and only Intro. to RF design. If you are a beginner you will spend a lot of time. Suggestion is: Don't make it your first book, or: get it with one or more other RF books.

This is a book I should have bought long ago. I tried to buy one for my Son also, but it apparently is no longer published.

Technically, those pages I've read and absorbed so far are very good. It covers a broad spectrum of Ham Radio circuits.

Is there a revised edition coming?

This book was recommended by a fellow employee. The book is easy to read without excessive mathematics as found in a school text. It is not exhaustive but does cover some RF subject matters. This is a good book for someone that needs to learn more about the RF side of electronics.

While involved in circuit design, including communication circuit design for nearly 50 years, I find a wealth of information to refresh my memory and add new knowlege in this book. While "acedemic" texts present the basic math and information, this text covers the relavent information in a fashion that directly relates to actual hardware that makes it all meaningful.
This is not a watered down "begining electricity" text, and requires an engineering background or understanding to follow it, but yet is much more readable than many books I've read.
I also have an additional book that this author contributed on, Experimental Methods in RF Design, that is also an excellent referance book.
I highly recommend this book!

I am a junior studying electrical engineering and this book is at the perfect level. I especially like his discussions on non-linear circuit analysis because my class text book didn't talk at all about the large signal model of the transistor. Also, the section on transmission line theory was useful. I would suggest this book to anyone who has a good grasp on basic circuit analysis.

If you want to know the intricate details of how RF circuits work and how to design them to work the way you want, this is the book for you. The math is heavy where it has to be without line after line of equations thrown in for no good reason. If you aren't comfortable with calculus, vectors, and complex numbers this book will be very tough. If you are, the book is a pleasure and will make a lot of the black art of RF circuits crystal clear.