These external resources are things that I have found personally
helpful in my adventures in Amateur Radio and hobby projects. Some
of them are free, some are not. For those that are not, I believe
they're worth the price — but maybe the used price. In
particular, many of the books and periodicals below can be purchased
second hand at a steep discount. Check the
Amazon
Books
Quite a few of my radio books are out of print, and some of them will make this list. You're going to have to go used, in those cases! All of them are readily available, however.
-
The Art of Electronics
: This is an excellent all-around text on electrical engineering and designing circuits that work. In particular, it has a very clear discussion of transistor bias and impedance calculations. It's a bit pricey, but worth the cost.
-
Experimental Methods in RF Design
: "EMRFD", as you will often see it referenced, is the quintessential modern homebrewer's handbook. It covers everything from construction techniques during development (the authors are partial to "ugly", or dead bug over a ground plane, construction — and have some good things to say about Manhattan style as well) to selection of components to spectral purity concerns. Every chapter includes several buildable projects with enough information to both build your own and do some experimenting with the result.
-
Radio Handbook
Periodicals
Periodicals are hard to recommend, because there are so many out there. There are a couple that I think are truly excellent, however, and here they are:
- Electric Radio: Electric Radio is the vintage enthusiast's best friend. Every issue is packed front to back with restorations, rare radio teardowns, tips for improving performance and repairing failures, ways to get around parts that have become unobtainium, and the like. There's also a fair amount of flavor: one of my favorite articles is the story of tracking down the original owner and travels of the Central Electronics 20-A exciter, serial number 2. (#205, June 2006, pp. 16-26)
- QEX: The ARRL's flagship experimenter's rag, QEX covers experimental radio project design in much deeper detail than you find in the typical issue of QST. It is available to members and non-members alike, albeit at a slightly higher price for non-members.
Video
There are some really great video resources available for radio hobbyists these days. Some are radio-centric, and some simply electronics oriented.
- W2AEW: W2AEW works on test equipment for a living, and you can tell by his video feed! There's lots of fantastic information here about how to use test equipment in your building and troubleshooting, as well as some general electronics advice and theory. Theory videos are generally accompanied by practical builds and measurement of the phenomenon at hand, with a clear explanation of what exactly is being demonstrated.
- EEVBlog: Dave Jones hosts the EEVBlog, a great general-purpose electrical engineering series. Some of the videos are very simplistic, some are more in-depth, some are related to radio, and some really aren't — but there are well over 400 videos in the blog, so there's bound to be something for everyone. "Dave's unique non-scripted overly enthusiastic style", as the tag line reads, holds some entertainment value of its own, as well ... particularly when he comes across a particularly poor piece of equipment or design decision. Besides, who doesn't get a kick out of listening to an Aussie?
- Mr Carlson's Lab: Paul Carlson has a series of (mostly vintage) radio and test equipment repair and teardown videos, as well as some other related electronics topics. His explanations are clear and concise, and he covers a lot of traps for beginners and provides good advice on effective techniques for common tasks working with vintage equipment. The videos on this channel spend more time with schematics and theory than many other, similar channels, and provide a lot of extra information in that fashion.
Other Sites
Other sites of particular value or quality that I enjoy or get good information from.
- Boatanchor Pix: The labor of Richard Post, a retired professor at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio (my undergraduate alma mater!), this site has hundreds of photographs of vintage radios. Some are accompanied by history, some include notes on specific radios that have crossed Dr. Post's workbench, and some are repair logs. This collection is a great site both to while away some time and to help identify vintage equipment. repair
.