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I fell in love with electronics and radio, and got my ham license, based on a book that I swiped from my local library (https://www.amazon.com/Elements-radio-Pr

I fell in love with electronics and radio, and got my ham license, based on a book that I swiped from my local library (https://www.amazon.com/Elements-radio-Prentice-Hall-industrial-arts/dp/0132711893/ref=dp_ob_title_bk https://www.amazon.com/Elements-radio-Prentice-Hall-industri...). It took a person step by step up through complexity, saying "this is good but it has this problem and the next step is to fix it with ...". But that was the 70's. Are there any books that take the same approach to today's electronics, and radio in particular? Frankly, the latest stuff, with Q and god-knows what, leave me scratching my head.

amelius 6y ago
Today's electronics is mostly done by big semiconductor companies. The sad reality is that today's hobbyists merely read datasheets and glue together existing ICs. You simply can't make a WiFi transceiver out of discrete components.
- userbinator 6y ago
  You simply can't make a WiFi transceiver out of discrete components. That sounds like a challenge... given that someone has already done something similar with a GPS receiver: http://lea.hamradio.si/~s53mv/navsats/theory.html http://lea.hamradio.si/~s53mv/navsats/theory.html
  - aspenmayer 6y ago
    Not sure if this counts, as these are SoC, but still very high difficulty and very cool: ‘So you think you’re pretty good at soldering really tiny parts onto a PCB? You’re probably not as good as [Shibata] who made a GPS/GLONASS and Geiger counter mashup deadbug-style with tiny 0402-sized parts. ‘The device uses an extremely small GPS/GLONASS receiver, an AVR ATxmega128D3 microcontroller, a standard Nokia phone display and an interesting Geiger tube with a mica window to track its location and the current level of radiation.‘ https://hackaday.com/2015/04/26/a-deadbugged-gpsglonassgeiger-counter/ https://hackaday.com/2015/04/26/a-deadbugged-gpsglonassgeige... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo8qckXgNNw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo8qckXgNNw
  - wl 6y ago
    You could probably do WiFi with an SDR with an FPGA, but that's about as much as a hobbyist could probably pull off.
    - LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
      https://github.com/open-sdr/openwifi https://github.com/open-sdr/openwifi
- kragen 6y ago
  Can you make it from raw silicon via CMP or MOSIS? It seems like a pricey hobby (probably you'll be out US$20k before you have a working chip) but not in the same league of costliness as antique cars or art collecting.
mtreis86 6y ago
I bought The Art of Electronics after I got my Amateur Extra, but I wish I had read it before.

amelius 6y ago

Today's electronics is mostly done by big semiconductor companies. The sad reality is that today's hobbyists merely read datasheets and glue together existing ICs. You simply can't make a WiFi transceiver out of discrete components.

userbinator 6y ago
You simply can't make a WiFi transceiver out of discrete components. That sounds like a challenge... given that someone has already done something similar with a GPS receiver: http://lea.hamradio.si/~s53mv/navsats/theory.html http://lea.hamradio.si/~s53mv/navsats/theory.html
- aspenmayer 6y ago
  Not sure if this counts, as these are SoC, but still very high difficulty and very cool: ‘So you think you’re pretty good at soldering really tiny parts onto a PCB? You’re probably not as good as [Shibata] who made a GPS/GLONASS and Geiger counter mashup deadbug-style with tiny 0402-sized parts. ‘The device uses an extremely small GPS/GLONASS receiver, an AVR ATxmega128D3 microcontroller, a standard Nokia phone display and an interesting Geiger tube with a mica window to track its location and the current level of radiation.‘ https://hackaday.com/2015/04/26/a-deadbugged-gpsglonassgeiger-counter/ https://hackaday.com/2015/04/26/a-deadbugged-gpsglonassgeige... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo8qckXgNNw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo8qckXgNNw
- wl 6y ago
  You could probably do WiFi with an SDR with an FPGA, but that's about as much as a hobbyist could probably pull off.
  - LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
    https://github.com/open-sdr/openwifi https://github.com/open-sdr/openwifi
kragen 6y ago
Can you make it from raw silicon via CMP or MOSIS? It seems like a pricey hobby (probably you'll be out US$20k before you have a working chip) but not in the same league of costliness as antique cars or art collecting.

mtreis86 6y ago

I bought The Art of Electronics after I got my Amateur Extra, but I wish I had read it before.