Radio Books

An excellent book. It explains the basic physic and electronic of Radio as it was understood around 1930. It can be read by any person with
highschool education. I recommend it to people interested in
old radios based on electronics tubes.

I had just read George O. Smith's The Complete Venus Equilateral. I was so intrigued by the pseudoscience, that I wanted to understand the science behind it. As a mechanical engineer and a licensed electrician, I can understand a little bit of electronics, but it just doesn't 'stick'. When I read this 1933 textbook, I felt like - just for a minute - I actually UNDERSTOOD vacuum tubes!

The Radio Prefessor is perfect for anyone thinking about a future in the wonderful world of radio broadcasting. You might be just graduating high school, or simply looking for a career change, whatever the case my be do yourself and your career path a favor and grab The Radio Professor today!

I recieved The Radio Professor DVD and immediatley was impressed with this program. Very professional and easy to navagate. The instructional menu is exactly what I was hoping for because I can go back to a segment to refresh a lesson at any time. I'm learning alot from this dvd and getting phone consultation at the same time if I need it. Wish me luck on my 1st radio aircheck and job in radio! I highly recommend this if you're like me...trying to break into radio.

This book is excellent. The writing is very easy to understand and practical examples are given to help soidify concepts. Just enough technical calculation detail is given so as to notIconfuse the reader. It's a must have.

By way of full disclaimer, I just received this book. I previously searched for customer reviews but could find none. I took a chance on the rather skimpy reviews and ordered the book. Am I ever pleased!

Having read through just the first chapter, I am impressed with the authors writing style. My sense is that the book is tutorial in nature, delivers an easy-to-read discussion of all the architectural components needed understand a receiver, and is full of specific examples of the topics discussed. The book is not a "cookbook" with specific circuit examples. The book approaches receiver design from the standpoint of architecture at a systems level with discussion of the specification, considerations, and other characteristics needed to understand good receiver design.

Chapter 1 "introduces many of the basic concepts". I found that chapter one was a good review of the basic concepts more so than an introduction. Review of dB math, standard use of dBHz, dbK, etc. Following topics include frequency, propagation, and wavelength, transmission lines, two-port networks, matching and power transfer, modulation theory (AM, FM, PM) in the time and frequency domain, and noise theory. Each topic is short in the sense that a 140+ page chapter cannot do justice to a complete coverage of each topic. That written, the authors provide clear explanations with great examples of each topic of discussion. I found the discussion of transmission line theory very well written, did not overwhelm the reader excessive high-level math, and covered the key transmission line concepts that a receiver designer needs to master. The authors tell "war stories" to discuss real-life issues illustrating why mastering each topic is important in practice. A discussion of transmission line propagation using "bounce diagrams" was as clear as I've ever read.

More to follow as I read through the book...

Note: The copy I am reading has many errors. There is no email address to reach the authors and Noble does not appear to monitor (or respond) to email. It would be nice to provide corrections or have an errata sheet of known errors. So, Kevin and Tom, if you read this and plan on revising the book...

This is an extremely useful reference book for the practicing communications enginner. It provides insightful and simple examples.

Freeman is perhaps my favorite technical author. He presents the subject clearly, backing it up with equations and examples that may be quickly applied to the problem at hand.

His derivations of equations are explicit, without the immense dropouts that require hours of puzzlement to finally see how intuitively obvious it was. The propagation section shows the profound effects of rainfall on higher frequencies (especially important to Floridians). Low angle propagation paths is part of the System Approach chapter, an important consideration.

This book offers a creditable insight into the mysteries of space. The author writes with some authority on the subject. I would highly recomend this book.

This book offers a fascinating insight into the radio universe. The writer obviously knows what he is talking about. I would recommend it to anyone who wishes to discover the secrets of space.

Radio Userland is a wonderful program for creating and maintaining individual blogs. It is accessible to beginners with little computer knowledge, but also offers amazing flexibility and control to those users willing to learn more about its features. This book is a great introduction both to Radio's basic features and the more advanced capabilities. I was at a sort of advanced beginner stage when I found this book, and it helped me move to the point where I could write simple scripts to automate various features of my weblog, and, I hope, to do even more yet.

I recently had the chance to review the book Radio Userland Kick Start by Rogers Cadenhead. So what's a blogger who doesn't use that software doing reviewing a book like that? It's always good to know what else is out there, and Rogers has done a really good job creating a guide to get you going.

The book is divided into four parts with the following chapters: Tuning in to Radio Userland; Publishing a Weblog; Enhancing a Weblog; Reading RSS Newsfeeds with the News Aggregator; Upstreaming Files to a Web Server; Designing a Weblog Theme; Calling Scripts to Create Weblog Content; Creating Outlines; Backing Up Data; Exploring the Object Database; Creating New Tables and Other Data; Editing a New Script; Writing Statements and Calling Verbs; Reading and Writing to the Database; Using Variables and Arrays; Working with Loops and Conditionals; Developing Web Services with XML-RPC; Sending and Receiving Email; Handling Errors and Debugging Scripts; Creating and Distributing Tools; RSS; OPML; XML; XML-RPC; Index

The book opened my eyes to the fact that Radio Userland isn't just "blogging software", but is in reality a development environment for content management. It edits your content, aggregates news feeds from other sources, and publishes the content to your hosting service. It also does scripting for building specialized tools to work with your content. Rogers' examples are easy to follow, and help you to understand exactly what types of tasks you can build on your own. Regardless of whether you're a blogger who can't program or a techno-guru who wants to start sharing thoughts, you should be able to benefit from this book.

The statement is made that Radio Userland has no official documentation manual and that the author hopes that you'll consider this book the next best thing. Based on what I see here, I would agree with him.

I must say I was very suprised by Joel Rapp's memoir, Radio, TV Mother Earth & Me. I bought it because I was a huge fan of his when he used to appear on Regis Philbin's TV program as the gardening expert, "Mr. Mother Earth". Little did I know that he had previoulsy led a really glamorous and exciting life as a TV and movie writer. Of all the Hollywood memoirs and books on Old Time Radio and Hollywood Trivia, this is certainly as good as any and better than most. Rapp,whose Godmother was Fanny Brice and whose godfather was Eddie Cantor has written the book in anecdotal style,beginning with his birth to comedy legend Phillip Rapp,creator of "The Bickersons" and "Baby Snooks" and his subsequent childhood surrounded by such legends as The Marx Brothers, George Jessel, Milton Berle and many more. The book then segues into Rapp's many years as a sitcom writer - "Gilligan's Island", "McHale's Navy", the Donna Reed Show - over 200 episodes and several movies for his close friend Roger Corman. Then on to his career as Mr. Mother Earth, an inspirational story of an idea and a store that created an indoor plant industry and eneded in something of a bizzare tragedy featuring his ex-wife and a young guru. Anyone who's a fan of Tinseltown trivia dating back into the 1930s radio and really amusing stories about the behind-the-camera life writing TV sitcoms during the "Golden Age of TV" will love this book, I promise. Five stars for sure!

I just finished reading radio tv mother earth and me by joel rapp and i have to say that i grew up in the los angeles of joel rapp. i knew many of the celebs he writes about in this terrific book.
i have read possibly 80% of the books about this era and by far this book is the best. joel writes from a great comedic background and first hand knowledge of the people of whom he writes..he has written for radio and tv and knows the good , the bad and the ugly and it's all portrayed in this book. i highly recommend it to anyone who loves hollywood or just loves gossip and interesting tales.

For the thousands of shortwave listeners and hams who were introduced to the wonder of radio - this is a book that will re-kindle the wonder. For collectors of vintage TV's, BC table radios and military radios, no other reference details these rare products.

Radios by Hallicrafters is logically divided into product prefixes. Most products have one or more pictures, with brief descriptions, production dates and orginal price. A useful index of market values is provided, as well as a history of the company and other Hallicrafters information.

Chuck's love for Hallicrafters products is evident, and his book is well dog-eared by serious Hallicrafters collectors.

- The Hallicrafters Collectors Association.

My first shortwave receiver, as a 12 year old, was a Hallicafters S-38. I thought it was a really impressive looking radio then and have always loved the hallicrafters looks and the performance of their top end receivers. Chuck Dachis has clearly wrote the most complete reference for all the products made by Hallicrafters. As a collector and restorer of tube type radios the book has been an invaluable reference. The only down side is I found more models and accessories that I would like to add to my collection. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves old radios.

"This book of postcards pictures extraordinary radios of the thirties, forties, and fifties. Philip Collins's superb collection of the colorful gizmos includes many that are drop-dead beautiful and not a few that are deeply peculiar.

"In only eleven years, between 1930 and 1941, an estimated 71 million home radio receivers were sold in the United States. The designs featured here are a cross section of three decades of radio cabinet aesthetics. Their elegance and occasional whimsy are uniquely American. Vintage-radio collecting has mushroomed in the United States. There are specialists now who enjoy comfortable careers as restorers and manufacturers of replication parts, such as knobs, dial glasses, trims, handles, and cosmetic adornments that time has not treated well.

"Pomegranate's books of postcards contain thirty top-quality reproductions bound together in a handy collection. Easy to remove and produced on heavy card stock, they also make great little books. This convenient compilation offers a wide selection of gorgeous cards to choose from, making it easy to find the perfect postcard to send to any friend, family member, or casual acquaintance. ISBN: 0-7649-2039-1; size: 4 3/4 x 6 7/8". See also: Radios Poster."--© Pomegranate

If you have one of the antique radios shown in this book, you will want to display it open next to your radio. The photos are absolutely stunning. The book also provides some help in identifying rarely seen radios and how they should look if you have one that's not in good condition.

The author includes some resources and contacts, but the beauty of the subject is reason enough to have this now out-of-print classic. A MUST for antique radio collectors.

Is radio doomed by the Internet? When was its golden age? Is it a triumph of capitalist business or government planning?

In the course of telling tale after absorbing tale, Jesse Walker answers these questions and dozens of others in "Rebels on the Air."

Unlike most people who talk on the radio, however, Walker writing about radio doesn't come across as a simpleton. He is a very thoughtful appreciator of excellence as well as a fine diagnostician of failure. He understands the theory of radio as a business enterprise, and is unencumbered by a narrow ideology. He knows what happened; he is a master of fact. And he has insight into what might have happened; he is the master of the counterfactual. Further, being informed and no fool, he is as reliable prophet as any; it pays to listen to what he says.

From the beginnings of radio as point-to-point communication through its strange evolution to broadcasting, winding up in recent dispensations of "piracy," micro radio, community radio, and even the Citizens Band, Walker ushers the reader through a rogue's gallery of fascinating revolutionaries. Radio, it turns out, is not just a humdrum affair. It has featured strange people saying odd, perceptive and occasionally wise things, playing music other than top 40 or classical warhorses, turning listeners on their ears.

To most people, commercial radio and NPR delimit the narrow confines of the medium: to these, Walker's history will come as a revelation. To the knowing few who have heard (or at least heard of) Firesign Theater or Jean Shepherd or The Crazy Cajun Show, Walker is a sensible surveyor of diversity on radio, the ideal defender of both idiosyncratic entertainment and responsible "enlightenment."

Radio may usually be boring, but Walker's book is not. For anyone who cares about the medium or its messages, "Rebels on the Air" is indispensable.

So many other radio 'history' books just tell you all about what programs were on which corporate network and which DJs were indicted for payola -- without bothering to explore how radio broadcasting came about, where the innovations came from, and how and why most of the current spectrum has become so bland in the last twenty years. Jesse Walker gets into all this and more: he gives just about the best and most complete history of radio broadcasting's *true* pioneers, from spark-gap to internet: the underground and alternative radio movement. I thought I knew a lot about the subject (at least regarding pre-1980 radio), but Walker's book has five times more in it than I even knew existed -- and extends right to the end of the 1990s. I highly recommend this book!