Antenna Books

[EscapeVelocity]

I have these 3 books, they are all first rate.

Pracitcal Antenna Handbook, by Josef Carr, is a fantastic first book for those interested in antenna theory, terminology, design, concepts, and issues. More oriented towards ham radio communications, but great primer on antennas all around....gets technical with heavy math in places but you can skim that and still follow along if that floats your boat.

Radio Shacks 2 books are good too, and less technical, I prefer the older one Introduction to Antennas, by Louis Dezettal, but the newer one is alright too....Antennas Selection and Installation (TV, FM, CB, Cellular, Satellite and Shortwave). Good basics!


I just got this one and this is the one I wanted to talk about. Its particularly concerned with TV antennas and their installation. Fantastic book.....TV Antennas, by Samuel L. Marshall, 1955.

Anybody read it?

It covers antenna design and theory very well without getting ultra ultra deep, as well as other system components like transmission wires (RG6, twinlead) and mounting. And it sticks to TV frequencies and antenna designs suited to and commonly found for those frequencies and wide bands, both UHF and VHF.

 

[Jason Fritz]

Awesome thread EV. I've been to 4 Barnes and Nobles in the past 2 months looking for any kind of book that has to do with OTA and antennas. There's nothing in stock.

I may just order online now. Thanks for the recommendations.

 

[EscapeVelocity]

Just wanted to say that the Practical Antennas book is not an extremely heavy math book. Its written by a fellow with the purpose of teaching beginners. I dont want to scare people away from that book. Its very friendly and easy to understand....but it does get a bit mathy in places....but not like some other heavy tombs Ive perused. You can get the older printings as well, which dont cover fractal and newer fancier antenna designs, but give you quite a bit of antenna knowledge, types and theory.

 

[EscapeVelocity]

Not necessarily an Antenna Book, but an interesting looking book, I just spotted....here is a preview for free....

Television in the Antenna Age: A Concise History

 

[EscapeVelocity]

Here is a preview of Carr's Book, however you spell his first name.


Practical antenna handbook By Joseph J. Carr

 

[EscapeVelocity]

I meant to ask in the OP for others recommendations, as well.

Anybody else with an antenna book recommendation?

 

[EscapeVelocity]

I missed this today, Im really interested in that 7 element folded dipole V from around that time. Id like to purchase one.

Radio & TV News 1959

But I do have this 1957 Popular Science on the way.

 

[Piggie]

Also see the whisker bowtie antenna has been around a long time. My Grandparents had one back in the late 1950's to pick up WSUN out of St. Pete, FL. My uncle paid for to be installed to watch sports on Sunday afternoons at the big Italian Sunday dinners we used to have. My uncles would spend the afternoon watching sports. When WSUN picked up ABC it was then a must have station.

Her antenna looked just like CM4220

 

[EscapeVelocity]

Yeah, the book I have has old bowties and lots of great old antennas in it.

Here is an old Finco Ad. Check out the diameter of those elements! And the front end of that one (in front of the Vees) it looks like the Nitro 3000.

 

[Piggie]

I have never seen anything written on it but from what I know the double directors above on the UVF24, the nitro and the X-directors of the Black and XG19, I believe add to broad band the antenna. They are so close together I can't see them adding much gain, as normal vertical stacking for UHF gain is 20 inches. Then again look at the standard bowtie, they are stacked about 8 inches vertically.

I have heard the X-directors do add bandwidth, being something like folded dipoles but with the ends open. But the one above and nitro, I am not sure.

 

[EscapeVelocity]

This came up on ebay last month. He had 2 P5 's and a P7, he still has one P5 left. I almost went for the P7 but backed out. The Antennacraft antenna that I have the 4 Bay G1483 Gray Hoverman is of lower quality build. Im sure these arent as well built as the CM 4251s. But interesting none the less. But if anybody is interested, he probably still has 1 P5 left if you are interested.

 

[Aaron62]

Just wanted to say that the Practical Antennas book is not an extremely heavy math book. Its written by a fellow with the purpose of teaching beginners. I dont want to scare people away from that book. Its very friendly and easy to understand....but it does get a bit mathy in places....but not like some other heavy tombs Ive perused. You can get the older printings as well, which dont cover fractal and newer fancier antenna designs, but give you quite a bit of antenna knowledge, types and theory.

So, for the complete amateur with limited math, Practical Antennas would be a great place to start? All I know about antennas is how to connect the coax from the TV to the antenna.

 

[EscapeVelocity]

Yeah, the Practical Antenna Handbook by Joseph Carr is a great place to begin for beginners motivated to understand antennas.

The Radio Shack books are kindof light on the theory....really basic.

That book, "TV Antennas" by Samuel Marshall is the bomb, and does theory but not as heavy as Carr's book, and focuses on TV wideband antennas, with lots of pictures. Its rather short and concise too, but it is focussed on the VHF and UHF television bands. Highly recommended.

 

[Aaron62]

Yeah, the Practical Antenna Handbook by Joseph Carr is a great place to begin for beginners motivated to understand antennas.

The Radio Shack books are kindof light on the theory....really basic.

That book, "TV Antennas" by Samuel Marshall is the bomb, and does theory and focuses on TV wideband antennas. Highly recommended.

It seems weird to me that more of this information isn't available on the internet. I mean, I could probably learn more here and at AVS than anything else offered by any other website.

 

[EscapeVelocity]

Youd be surprised.....there is a ton of stuff on the internet. The hams are constantly talking about antennas. I saw Piggie post up a great primer on antenna theory in another thread but I cant remember which one.

KYES site and HDTVprimer are 2 good sites. I havent been into the ham sites too deeply yet, but some. They generally are the champs at antennas.

 

[EscapeVelocity]

The Practical Antenna Handbook by Joseph Carr can commonly be found at libraries, too.

 

[Thomas G]

This came up on ebay last month. He had 2 P5 's and a P7, he still has one P5 left. I almost went for the P7 but backed out. The Antennacraft antenna that I have the 4 Bay G1483 Gray Hoverman is of lower quality build. Im sure these arent as well built as the CM 4251s. But interesting none the less. But if anybody is interested, he probably still has 1 P5 left if you are interested.

Snap open assembly. That looks easy to install which is a must for me. I ordered an antenna years ago from Ebay with Chinese instructions and about 80 pieces of parts, nuts, and bolts. It took me hours to put together.

 

[EscapeVelocity]

I guess we should mention the reference standard antenna book, the ARRL Antenna Book. Older printings are good too, some prefer them.

 

[EscapeVelocity]

Here is another gem I found....

Salvati, M.J. : "TV Antennas And Signal Distribution Systems" (1979, Howard Sams and Co.)

 

[EscapeVelocity]

Ive noticed that often older printings of similar kinds of books and indeed the same book in revisions with regards to antennas tend to be easier to follow for the beginner. Anyone else notice this.

This holds more broadly but Ive noticed this with the ARRL Antenna Handbooks and Carr's Practical Antenna Handbook.

Fascinating.