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Published by Noble Publishing Corporation, Atlanta GA 24085. First edition, 2000, 778 pages including the index, hardcover, 9¼ × 6¼ inches, B&W illustrations. ISBN 1-884932-07-X. Available from ARRL, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494, USA. ARRL Order No. RRCD, $89 plus shipping/handling. Order toll-free 1-888-277-5289 or QUICK ORDER online.
This is a book for engineers, written by engineers, and using engineering approach to receiver design with many equations and very clear graphs and illustrations. The authors claim its parentage from Terman, Krause and Schwartz -- the well-known authorities on radio design, antennas and modulation/noise respectively. With parents such as this, the contents are well worth examining for hams!
I look at a book like this as though it was a mystery novel, and as with any good mystery book often you might like to peak at the back (who dunnit?) before you read the beginning. This book has eight chapters, but let's peak at chapter 7 "Cascade I -- Gain Distribution" and chapter 8 "Cascade II -- IF Selection" first.
The authors claim their goal was to present material in a clear way, and certainly their "Description of the Problem" in chapter 7 fulfils this goal. To quote from the text:
"The antenna port presents the receiver with different signals at different frequencies, with varying power levels and different types of modulation. The demodulator expects its input signal to always be centered at one frequency, the intermediate frequency (IF), and that its input signal to be at a particular power level.
The signal of interest is converted from its on-the-air frequency to the IF. Further, the gain of the receiver electronics is adjusted so the demodulator always sees a constant power level. This task is complicated by oscillator drift (both in the transmitter and receiver), phase noise, interfering signals, multipath and other difficulties."
Well, you certainly cannot expect a more succinct statement of what a receiver needs. The chapter itself goes on to describe Minimum Detectable Signal (MDS), dynamic range (including linear dynamic range and gin-controlled dynamic range) and spur-free dynamic range. It's done neatly, clearly and briefly. As you might expect, gain distribution, noise considerations, front-end attenuators and the set of parameters needed to define a receiver are considered.
As you might expect, the question of "how do you get there?" is treated in chapter 8. Up conversion, down conversion, synthesis filter selection and switching and local oscillator frequency selection are all covered.
Now it is time to go back to the beginning of the book. We know where we are going, so how can we get there -- or as the authors put it in an anonymous quote "The theory is beautiful -- but what can you do with it?" Well, you can start by reading chapter 1, Introduction. This has the basic definitions needed, including decibel math, dBm, dBW, bit error rate and even a few pages on transmission lines and VSWR.
Since this is an engineering book, a few brief brush-ups on topics such as 2-port networks, modulation theory, Bessel functions and matching are included.
Since filters are so important, they are the subject of chapter 2. While the theory is well presented with computer generated output plots, unfortunately no computer programs are made available for designers. Most of the references dated from1990 or earlier, so any computer programs available from these references would date from those times.
Chapter 3, Mixers and chapter 4, Oscillators, both present the theory with a mixture of equations and very clear illustrations. The oscillator chapter includes a review of applicable time-based modulation, using Bessel functions. This material is not for the faint of heart -- but when all is said and done the conclusion illustrated in a few figures present clear results.
The noise discussion in chapter 4 ties right in with the noise discussion in the chapter on Amplifiers and Noise (chapter 5). A bunch of examples show how the equations are used and despite some fearsome-looking mathematics, most of the examples break down into simple arithmetic.
The second part of the amplifier coverage is in Linearity (chapter 6). Here too some equations have to be seen to be believed -- equation 6.170 consists of 9 terms, each term occupying an entire line of fine print. At the same time, without going into the equation, the results are again made very clear.
Eight detailed chapters in a book -- each clear, comprehensive and heavily mathematically based. Is it a book for you? Well, despite its title, you cannot design a receiver with this book alone. Circuit models are given, and you will be able to calculate the requirements for most receiver stages and develop the receiver block diagram.
Outside of the oscillator chapter very little is said about digital technology or the complete receiver chips so commonly used today to reduce the cost and increase the performance of receivers. DSP technology is not included in the book, but a good description of most fundament al receiver techniques (the what you want and the why you want it) is included. To complete a receiver design, a second book of circuit design (analog and digital) techniques would be needed.
If you are a home-brewer with a taste for math and the desire to do detailed trades, this book may be what you are looking for.
