Customer Reviews

RF Circuit Design

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an excellent practical design guide for RF engineers. It treats the components as lumped elements and covers most of the important issues like impedance transformation, matching networks, and practical amplifier design. You can approach RF either thru the wave or circuit analysis. If you dont have either the patience and curiosity to dwelve into the whys, then this book is for you. A solid understanding of RF requires an in depth knowledge of Maxwell equations and their application to the boundary conditions. For the mathematically inclined I would recommend the Microwave Engineering by David Pozar.
Missing in the book RF circuit Design are topics dealing with distributed elements, microstrip and slot line designs which become very important in the Ghz range where even IC pad's reactance is large, and wavelength can approach 1mm.

An excellent, concise, introduction to RF circuit design. The emphasis is on the practical aspects relating to RF circuit design. The first chapter covers components at RF frequencies, a subject often overlooked by unwary designers. Impedance matching, filters, and an introduction to the Smtih(c) Chart are covered in the text. RF small signal and power amplifier design is also explained. The text does an excellent job of taking the reader from the device data sheet to a practical RF circuit design using concepts developed throughout the book. Technicians and hobbyists as well as engineers may benefit from the book's straight-forward writing style. Bowick has kept the mathematics as simple as possible, one only needs algebra and minimal complex number (covered in appendix) theory understanding to work the many problems and examples. This book is used by several companies specializing in RF circuit design training as a textbook for their introductory classes. A must for anyone who is new to the RF design field and wants to come up-to-speed quickly. I recommend the book highly to all, it has been an invaluable resource for me.

I am amazed at the amount of information packed in these (relatively few) pages. Oscillators and signal generation are not covered, but just about every other aspect of solid-state RF circuit design is here: small- and large-signal amplifiers, impedance matching networks, filters, Smith charts, "nonideal" characteristics of components at radiofrequencies and so on. The presentation is lucid and the information eminently useful. If your job or hobby involves working with RF circuits, don't even THINK about not having this book in your collection.

If you're looking to buy TWO books about RF circuit design, I also recommend Irving Gottlieb's excellent book, which also covers vacuum tube circuits.

The book is outstanding in regards to the layout and information it gives. Explaining in great mathematical detail as to why things have happenned in the past and why the great teacher was right when he said " don't touch the copper wires or even think about changing anything you see". looking at an amplifier or RF circuit now makes sense, you will see all the components layed out and understand what bit does what and what you can expect on the test bench and what calculations have taken you to that point.

After graduating some years ago, I came across this RF Book by bowick. Started reading it in the store ... it was like a novel, didn't want to put it down. As I read through small snippets from each chapter, nostalgic thoughts of my university days came flooding back. Hours spent sitting in lecture theaters wandering WHAT? WHY? HOW? ....

Students, buy this book, easy to read, covers everything (almost), ... wish I had found it years before! .

One thing that really stood out (for me) - why do we have to learn 'Y' and 'S' parameters ? ... he made it clear in one sentance. I've always hated having to learn something without knowning the in's and out's, this book tells you the WHAT! WHY! and HOW!.

I bought Chris Bothwick's book under recommendation from Ian Purdie of Electronics Tutorials. I found it to be a wonderful volume containing everything you need to know to design RF circuits with confidence.

Whether you are a newcomer to electronics or an experienced professional needing a little review, this book is a nice addition to your library. The book contains enough math to satisfy requirements of the serious designer but not enough to bowl over the beginner. It is a great general text on the subject.

This is an excellent beginners book to the RF field. It covers components, filters and matching networks. The only possible flaw is that the author uses transistors that contain S or Y parameters in there data sheets. The regualar hobbies or engineer is interest in how he or she may use a general purpose transistor in a HF situation without Y or S parameters i.e 2N3904. Other than that best book ever written for RF component insight.

Design of RF circuits (>10MHZ or so) is tricky because when the seperation between components becomes large compared to c/Freq capacitors can act like inductors and vice versa. Using a Smith chart these changes can be acounted for and working circuits can be designed. This book is good for learning how to use a smith chart for accurate RF design. I took Propagation and Radiaton in school and was introduced to smith charts but this book makes it easy and has many worked examples while explaining the details of RF amplifier design.

PS Another good book is "High Speed Digital Design: A Handbook of Black Magic" by Johnson and Graham

Contains lots of info about resistors, capacitors, transistors, and inductors that is practical. Lots of examples in the VHF range. Nothing about interconnect. Designs amplifiers with both y-parameters and s-parameters. Includes simple matching. At an intermediate level.

I found this book an excellent introduction to the Smith Chart. Prior to reading this book, I did not appreciate the powerful intuition which can be developed working out designs on the smith chart. I have no prior RF design experience, but a fair amount of small signal experience designing audio frequency circuits.

If you want to quickly learn about what a Smith Chart is, how to use it, and what it can do for you, this is a great hands-on reference book. It is packed with fully detailed examples of each idea, making it an excellent self-study guide.