Book "RF Circuit Design" by Christopher Bowick,  what's your opinion? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: KM4FER
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 01, 2014, 06:05:55 pm
content: Does anybody have this book? If so, what's your opinion?http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0750685182/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=Right now I'm looking for something to help me understand the design of RF filters, matching networks and such as would be pertinent to Amateur Radio. I have the ARRL Handbook and it's a good reference but not-so-good for learning. "Art of Electronics" doesn't cut it either since it's rather weak on RF.Or any other books you might recommend. I can handle simple calculus but diffyQ is a big mystery for me.Thanks...earl...

author: awallin
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 01, 2014, 06:52:03 pm
content: it's quite old by now, but I guess they have updated it with later revisions.IIRC it is quit hands-on and has walk-thru examples of how to design filters using typical Butterworth/Chebyshev etc. tables of coefficients.could be considered a bit old-school with smith charts etc (not just pressing 'run' in matlab filter designerCan't comment on the amplifier chapters - unless they've worked hard at updating this part I'm guessing there are lots of new components and even op-amps that might make the amplifier chapters a bit dated.try-before-you-buy: google "bowick rf design" and see what you get

author: kg4arn
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 01, 2014, 07:54:17 pm
content: If you don't already have it: get Experimental Methods of Radio Frequency Design by W7ZOI Wes Hayward. I would spend my money there first. A very practical book by the the ham wizard W7ZOI.

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 01, 2014, 09:04:26 pm
content: 'Bowick' (as it is known in the RF industry) is a classic book that was considered essential reading by everyone at my place of work when they first started out in RF design.However, there isn't an awful lot of content in it and it is really just aimed at graduates who need to brush up on lumped component behaviour and how to do very basic impedance matching with lumped components. There's a section of RF filter design which is worth reading but for the last two decades or so the usual approach to filter design is to use a PC based filter synthesis tool and a basic linear (and possibly an EM) simulator.From memory there is nothing about transmission line theory in the book and there's loads of other things missing.I think there is a revised edition that is a bit more modern. I bought my copy in about 1990. In my copy the very brief chapters about transistors and power amplifiers are very dated. These sections are still worth a read but they don't deal with the real world issues you will face with real amplifiers. For example the section on stability is very blinkered. These sections are worth reading to get a feel for the fundamentals, but that's about it.There are some minor errors in some of the worked examples but nothing to worry about.I hope I haven't put you off buying it because the sections on lumped components and lumped element impedance matching and the smith chart are classic reading material and this book has been a rite of passage for many RF engineers including myselfIt's definitely worth buying just for this reason but you WILL need to buy other books on RF design to study alongside it

author: KM4FER
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 01, 2014, 09:49:31 pm
content: Thanks everybody.Hmmmmm, maybe I should just go back to school and learn it all methodically from the beginning.earl...

author: XFDDesign
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 01, 2014, 11:35:38 pm
content: Quote from: kg4arn on December 01, 2014, 07:54:17 pmSeconding this.

author: IconicPCB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2014, 12:54:14 am
content: I have a copy of Bowick from 1982.But I also have Zverev's Filter Synthesis. A mainframe between book covers.http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Filter-Synthesis-Anatol-Zverev/dp/0471749427

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2014, 01:17:34 am
content: We have an ancient copy of Zverev at work and it is another classic book. Not for beginners though...Our copy got used so much it fell apart and is now held together with tape and glue. But that was 20 years ago. I bet nobody has read it apart from me in the last 15-20 years because we moved across to using filter synthesis tools and EM modelling with Sonnet. IMO you have to be a bit of a diehard filter theorist to want to use Zverev for most modern filter designs. It is still useful for a few niche things but I really wouldn't recommend it to a beginner.The Wes Hayward RF design books are also classics. My only (minor) criticism is that Hayward covers a LOT of topics in his books but rarely goes into a lot of design detail or rarely gives much background to a topic. However, they are still brilliant books and I recommend them highly for beginners and more experienced users as well

author: edavid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2014, 06:08:47 am
content: The second edition of Bowick hasnotbeen revised or updated. For some strange reason, the publisher pasted in 2 vague chapters of irrelevant fluff. They don't add anything, but I guess they don't hurt the book either (as long as you don't try to read them).Anyway, I think it's a worthwhile book if you can get a copy of the first edition for a reasonable price.

author: talespa
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 20, 2017, 04:38:43 am
content: I found some errors in examples like in 6-7 the author calculate rs1=10(136.6°) but after exhaustive revision i found a value shifted 180° degree , the correct value are rs1=9.909(-43.34°).Some other minor errors still present even in second edition of this book, like our friend above said "second edition is not a revised version of the first", the author only add chapters 8 and 9I put all exemples in a excel sheet to exercises my brain and in some situations "like this" i burn some neurons

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2017, 09:02:28 am
content: Even just poking around in RDH4 (Radiotron Designer's Handbook 4th ed., which is free of copyright nowadays) you'll find excellent -- simplified and easy to use -- design methods.The most important thing to realize is that:1. Everything has an impedance.2. Only resistors create or destroy power.For a system impedance Zo, you will be picking inductors and capacitors which are some ratio to Zo, at Fo (the cutoff frequency). The ratios depend on where the poles should be placed (what filter prototype).The impedance, along a filter, can also be graded, allowing termination into other impedances. This does NOT provide a transformation/power match, but does what it says on the tin: it preserves the filter response, despite the mismatched resistances. In the extreme, a filter can be fully unterminated (open or short) on one end, in which case all the damping is provided by the resistor at the other end.A typical use case for this type of filter is most any amplifier, where the output impedance is very high. Example: for a common-emitter amplifier, the collector output impedance is limited only by resistive losses, Miller feedback and phase shifts, and Early effect. An MPSH10 might be ~10kohms at 100MHz. You load it with a filter that presents a load of, say, 200 ohms impedance, and use a 50:1 or "infinite" filter design.Just an example of tricks you can play with impedance and networks.Tim

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2017, 05:39:12 pm
content: I have the first edition and have no complaints about it.