Radio Builder's Book

Radio frequency (RF) technology is one of the areas which still allows putting your own ideas into practice. Countless circuit variants with special objectives allow space for meaningful experiments and projects. Many things simply aren't available off the shelf. Crystal detector radios without their own power source, simple tube receivers with a touch of nostalgia, the first reception attempts at Software Defined Radio, special receivers for amateur radio, all this can be realized with little effort and as a perfect introduction to RF electronics.



For a long time, radio construction was the first step into electronics. Meanwhile, there are other ways, especially via computers, microcontrollers, and digital technology. However, the analog roots of electronics are often neglected. Elementary radio technology and easy-to-do experiments are particularly well suited as a learning field for electronics because you can start with the simplest basics here.



But the connection to modern digital technology is also obvious, for example, when it comes to modern tuning methods such as PLL and DDS or modern DSP radios.



This book aims to give an overview and present a collection of simple RF projects. I would like to support you to develop your own ideas, to design your own receivers and to test them.



Burkhard Kainka (1953) — ham radio operator with the callsign DK7JD, worked for many years as a physics teacher. Since 1996 he is an independent developer and author in the fields of electronics and microcontrollers. Burkhard runs the websites www.elektronik-labor. de and www.b-kainka.de, with his contributions to the Hobby Corner and a general fondness for the basics of electronics.