EETimes has posted chapters 3 and 4 from the book Antennas: Fundamentals, Design, Measurement (Third Edition). There is a little more math than ham radio operators are generally used to, but the material is useful and interesting, if you can plow through it. Here is the available material:
Chapter 3: Antenna Parameters
- Sections 3.1 Antenna Structures; and 3.2 Radiation Pattern.
- Sections 3.3 Directivity and Gain; 3.4 Effective Area and Friis Transmission Equation; 3.5 Beamwidth; 3.6 Minor Lobe; and 3.7 Radiation Resistance and Efficiency.
- Sections 3.8 Input Impedance; 3.9 Bandwidth; 3.10 Polarization; 3.11 Interdependencies of Gain, Beamwidths, and Aperture Dimensions; and References, Problems and Exercises.
Chapter 4:Basic Radiators and Feed Methods
- Section 4.1 Short Dipoles.
- Sections 4.2 Current and Voltage in Longer Antennas; 4.3 The Half-Wave Dipole; and 4.4 Long-Wire Antennas.
- Sections 4.5 Loop Antennas; 4.6 Helical Antennas; and 4.7 Horn Radiators.
- Sections 4.8 Slot Radiators; 4.9 Patch or Microstrip Antennas; 4.10 Surface-Wave and Leaky-Wave Antennas; 4.11 Basic Feed Methods; and References, Problems and Exercises.
Elwood Downey says
Thanks for the reference. I agree, I found the writing to be accurate, to the point and the formulas presented without excessive baggage.
My current favorite antenna read is “Small Antennas” by John Volakis et al. It’s just out and rather more expensive, around $75 on Amazon, but very current including good discussion of reducing antenna sizes by using meta materials. The book begins with an excellent introduction to the classic works of Wheeler and Chu and moves on to a wide variety of more contemporary discussions, all focused on how to shrink antennas. The math is a little more involved but laid out clearly.
Chris@Apple Roof Cleaning Tampa says
This book has a little more theory and math then I care for.
I live near Tampa Bay, and salt water, so vertical antennas work pretty good, especially on my roof with elevated radials.