Best book for RF

[Flick]

Hi guys!

I want to start designing RF circuits and I want to know wich is the best books about it?
I do have some experience with 8bit PIC's and AVR's, but nothing with RF.

I've heard that there are some changes in the PCB specs(something about the thickness and material)

Thanks

[Whuffo]

Start with the ARRL Radio Amateurs Handbook. It's got a wealth of information about RF circuits and their construction. When you've plumbed the depths of what's in that book, come back and we'll point you towards something more advanced.

If you haven't studied (and mastered) "complex numbers for AC circuits" yet, then some math study is indicated. Conversions from polar to rectangular coordinates (and back again) are almost mandatory to do any RF design work.

It'll be a whole new world for you.

[klox]

I don't know your background so this might be a bit outside your range, but Pozar's Microwave Engineering is a classic text.

[Alexei.Polkhanov]

I don't know your background so this might be a bit outside your range, but Pozar's Microwave Engineering is a classic text.

Awesome book, I double that.

[Conrad Hoffman]

IMO, the ARRL handbook is an essential but weird book. It seems every discipline of electronics has their own style and vocabulary and RF is no different. I've always found it a bit random in its organization. Everybody should have a copy of the classic Terman radio and electronic reference texts. Sometimes I think all the later texts were just copied from Terman. As technology advanced some of the fundamental stuff in the very early books was eliminated to make room for the new, so take your pick depending on your interests. For something very basic and practical, the late Joe Carr wrote many introductory RF books that clarify things like toroid transformers and oscillator circuits. If you get into baluns and ununs, look up Jerry Sevick. Finally, there are also some other ARRL books on specific topics, like antennas, that are very good.

[awallin]

Bowick, "RF Circuit Design"
It's quite basic, but a good understanding of the fundamentals is essential for anything more advanced.
The 1997 edition is a bit outdated, but there seems to be a newer 2007 edition.

[vk3yedotcom]

Experimental Methods for RF Design from the ARRL. 

Continues where the ARRL Handbook leaves off.

[Whuffo]

I'll agree that the ARRL Radio Amateur's Handbook is a bit strange and oddly structured. But it's the most approachable book I know of for someone who is just getting started with RF. There's enough in there to get you to where you could design and build RF circuitry; moving past this means specializing a bit and it's hard to tell which way you might be going until you get there.

Components and construction techniques vary; not just with frequency, but also with power. You're always thinking about power in these circuits; the small input capacitances and parasitic capacitances have significantly low Xc at higher frequencies, so it takes more "oomph" to get the signal to where it needs to go. And every component (even the PC board and wiring) has L, C, and R - in varying ratios depending on the component.

Tips: the speed of signal propagation in conductors is NOT the speed of light; 66% is good for rough figuring. And watch out for the way Xc and Xl mount up - for example, a .001uf ceramic disc capacitor with 1/4" leads (typical through hole lead dress) is a resonant tank circuit somewhere around 150 MHz. If you look inside commercial RF gear you'll see some strange looking boards and components - this isn't style, it's what was needed to make it work. You'll need to know those tricks, too.

[edavid]

Bowick, "RF Circuit Design"
It's quite basic, but a good understanding of the fundamentals is essential for anything more advanced.
The 1997 edition is a bit outdated, but there seems to be a newer 2007 edition.

The stuff that was added to the 2007 edition is just annoying fluff - no value whatsoever.  Stick with the 1997 edition.

However, the OP seems to have skipped over the step where he learns something about analog electronics, instead of jumping directly from microcontrollers to RF... so I think the ARRL Handbook would be a great choice for him (her? it?).

[Rory]

Tips: the speed of signal propagation in conductors is NOT the speed of light; 66% is good for rough figuring.

66%? Perhaps with certain kinds of coaxial cable, but not in general. Knowing the velocity factor of the conductor makes the calculations so much more accurate. 

Really, a beginner to RF with access to a SA/TG or impedance bridge, or even a dip meter should consider spending a good amount of time learning about and experimenting with different kinds of conductors with varying insulation materials - make shorted and open stubs with coax, open wire line, PCB and open air strip lines, etc.

Compare measured and calculated lengths to get the understanding of the relationship between dielectric constant and velocity factor.  Circuit bandwidth to copper and dielectric losses (Q). This is fun stuff to do, isn't complicated, and helps to understand some of the "black magic" of RF.

[Alexei.Polkhanov]

When we are talking about RF in general I think it is important to understand that RF technologies may vary dramatically with range of frequencies.

1. Everything from 100kHz to 300MHz. Coils, RF transformers, regular MOSFET devices used in many designs.
2. Everything from 300MHz to 4GHz, microstrips are used and have reasonable sizes, using RF substrates (Rogers 4004 etc...) is beneficial
3. Everything from 4GHz - 25GHZ and up,  RF substrates are must, microstrips, wave guides, exotic components ...