Customer Reviews

Practical Antenna Handbook

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

 

 

I have read a few of Joe Carr's books and I have a lot of respect for his work, but this book was a bit of a disappointment for me. The bias is toward amateur HF-band antennas, and I was hoping for better coverage of VHF, UHF and radio and television broadcast antennas in a book with such a broad-sounding title. Even some fairly well-known antenna types used by amateurs and scanner enthusiasts receive little or no attention. I have found the ARRL Antenna book to be much more comprehensive.

A fair amount of the material overlaps with Carr's _Secrets of RF Circuit Design_, so bear that in mind if you already own that book. This book is still worth reading, especially if you work the HF and lower bands, but it shouldn't be your ONLY antenna handbook.

Antenna books follow either the practical approach (e.g. Carr's Practical Antenna Handbook) or the mathematical approach (e.g. Kraus's Antennas). To be a true antenna expert, one needs to know both. But for those of us who are not equipped to handle the mathematical approach, the practical approach will do just fine, in which case I would recommend Carr's Practical Antenna Book and ARRL's Antenna Book. Here are some differences between the two:

1. Carr is more readable.
2. ARRL is more comprehensive, with 2.5 times the number of words as Carr.
3. ARRL has more photographs and better looking sketches.
3. ARRL has a multi-author approach (with technical checks and balances) as opposed to Carr's one-man approach. Carr contains few bibliographical references, whereas ARRL has tons of references for further reading.

My opinion: Carr is better for the beginner, but ARRL is better for details and as a reference book. Better yet, get both books, since they serve complementary purposes.

The title gives a very readable overview of antennas, installation and usage. This book contains sufficient information to allow the reader to choose, design, install and maintain antennas for TX/RX over the entire frequency spectrum. Book contains only essential theory.

As a radio operator for an Airborne Infantry (Long-Range Surveillance) unit, this book is indispensable! If you need an HF antenna for a certain wavelength or a specific job, or want an explanation of how long-range 'sky-wave' communications work, then this book is a must have!

A very informative and well presented text on amateur radio antennas. It is the best presentation on grounding the antenna, in contast to other ARRL books. But it could stand more detail about grounding in the next edition. For example why is it not as important to ground a 2 meter antenna. Of course the book does emphasize HF more than VHF since the author is more "into" that band.

NB: This is the fourth edition of Carr's classic handbook on antennas. Carr's handbook had been a very popular reference for those who needed to understand the nuts and bolts of antennas without the requisite 'theoretical' background. I didn't think there would be a 5th edition since Joe Carr passed away shortly after delivering the manuscript for the fourth edition (circa 2000). However, I see that a fifth edition is indeed in the works with George Hippisley carrying on the tradition. The book is scheduled for release in late 2011. So, if time is not of the essence--you may wish to wait for the fifth edition.

With regards to the fourth edition....this is a good reference book on antennas for those who need to have a working knowledge of the basics, but lack the mathematical and theoretical background to seriously dig into antenna theory. The book makes few demands on the reader. If you can cope with a few simple algebraic equations and do a little arithmetic with complex numbers--this volume will be completely accessible. There are some trig functions, a few hyperbolic trig functions and several logarithms. You won't encounter Maxwell's equations, you won't be confronted with vector calculus and you will see very little theory. There is a chapter on electromagnetic fields that is highly intuitive which constitutes virtually all of the 'theory' in the book (this chapter leans heavily on a US Army training manual).

The rest of the book is a 'hands on' guide to various antenna types, their salient properties and practical advice on construction and tuning. The book is abundantly illustrated with figures which are simply drawn but provide great clarity.

Summarizing the contents of the book:

o Basic introductory comments
o Radio-wave propagation
o Transmission lines (very nice discussion with lots of 'scope shots' to illustrate reflections and the effects of an impedance mis-match)
o The Smith Chart
o Fundamentals of antennas (leverages from the US Army training manual)
o Several chapters on every antenna imaginable (dipoles and a litany of dipole variants, verticals, multi-band, longwire, limited space antennas, phased arrays, beam antennas, loop antennas, VHF/UHF antennas, radio astronomy antennas, marine antennas and much more).

There is advice on tuning, picking the feedpoints, etc. The author briefly discusses antenna design software (this was a new topic for the fourth edition). Note that EZNEC (mentioned in the book) is alive and well -- but the software that comes with the book dates to the late 90's--and I couldn't get it to run on my Windows Vista machine (hopefully this will be corrected in the fifth edition).

There are MANY reference books on antenna theory and design. The ARRL alone publishes the Antenna Book (now in its 21st edition), 8 volumes of antenna compendia, a book on small-space antennas, a designer's notebook for antenna design, six volumes on classic antennas (wire, VHF/UHF, verticals, Yagis, etc.) and a book on antenna towers. And then consider all of the other publishers of 'antenna books' and you are faced with an impressive corpora of antenna know-how.

So, who should buy this book? What is the intended audience?

I see two groups that would benefit from this handbook:

1. Those who crammed for the radio propagation and antenna components for any of the amateur radio examinations (elements 2, 3 or 4) and now are interested in gaining a broader knowledge of these topics.

2. Those who need to know some practical basics of antenna construction and tuning but are unprepared to tackle the underlying theory.

For those in category 1--you should find this book very much in line with the material you studied to pass the examination elements--but covered in much more detail. For example, to pass element 4, one needs to understand the 'anatomy' of a Smith Chart. This book demonstrates how to use the Smith chart to match the impedance of a load to the impedance of the transmission line by using a shorted stub.

For those in category 2--you will find a lot of useful information in this volume that is readily accessible to anyone who can work with complex numbers and do a little trigonometry.

Now for the big question: If I could only afford ONE reference on antennas for my home library, would the Practical Antenna Handbook be my choice? Sadly no. If I was limited to a single home reference I would choose the ARRL Antenna Book--more information packed into roughly the same shelf space. Nevertheless, this is a very good reference book with a more remedial approach focusing on the 'practical' aspects of antenna design and construction.

I found this book to be very similar to the arrl's book , but of a better size. more easily handled, with the addition of the included cd, I expect to find it very useful in my experimentation with antennas, as well as of benifit to my general knowledge.

Carr's book is a classic. I don't understand why libraries retire books--you can't go to any local library and find books on vintage electronics any more. But I am even more disappointed that a library would get rid of this book. After all, radio is still around--isn't it? An antenna book may be of little consequence to the urbanite. But if you live in the country as I do, your choice of radio stations is very limited unless you know how to erect a proper outdoor antenna. The library's loss is my gain. And it's awesome that I can buy a used book like this on Amazon. My thanks to Amazon and to the seller. You are improving the curation rate of our society!

An overwhelming text written for the novice and well as the expert in mind. If you want to build an antenna or have looked up curiously at the antenna in your neighbor's yard, then this is the book that will give you the answer as well as anything else you could need to get into the world of communications and RXing.