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Author Topic: Reflections I and II - Walter Maxwell W2DU  (Read 14916 times)
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W1UJR
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« on: August 31, 2007, 10:08:07 AM »

Reflections I and II
Worldradio Books
Walter Maxwell W2DU
2001 and later

What Terman's classic work "Radio Engineering" is to radio technology, so Maxwell's "Reflections" series (I, II and soon III) is to antenna and feedline theory. Written in a format which takes the reader from the most basic concepts of SWR, and impedance matching, to the often misunderstood theory of conjugate matching, this is "THE" antenna book.

First licensed as W8KHK in 1933, and continuously since, Maxwell has a passion for educating other amateurs in antenna theory and design. His books have now become classics, and his website, listed below, has plenty of information for the inquiring radio amateur. An accomplished musician, Maxwell has also enjoyed a most distinguished career, in commercial broadcasting, at the FCC building antenna farms for monitoring stations in the 1940s, and then at RCA Space Systems where he worked until his retirement in 1980. At RCA Walt worked with and had a hand in the design of the early satellite antenna and data systems, and even the communication system later used on the Apollo "moon buggy". Yet, despite the impressive resume, I find Maxwell writes in a most unpretentious manner, is slow and patient to explain concepts, and always supports his work with both empirical results and mathematical proofs.

Still an active ham from his home in Florida, Walt is an ARRL Technical Adviser (TA) in the specialty field of antennas and transmission lines.
I should mention that some of his work, particularly conjugate matching, has not been received without controversy. There was a time when the ARRL removed some of Maxwell's work on this topic from its publications, but I believe that has since been resolved. Walt has several published rebuttals on the matter, which can be viewed from the link below. In closing, I highly recommend his works, and find myself referring to them again and again as my knowledge and understanding grows.

Reflections website -> http://w2du.com/


Reflections Book



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Steve - WB3HUZ
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« Reply #1 on: September 01, 2007, 11:12:20 AM »

Let me second Bruce's thoughts. These books debunk a ton of myths and inaccuracies that seem to abound within ham radio. I'd put these in the category of required reading.
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Bacon, WA3WDR
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« Reply #2 on: September 01, 2007, 12:14:43 PM »

Walt showed up on 75 meter AM back around 1970, talking about SWR and antenna matching.  He reversed his modulator grid caps for proper voice polarity too!

His discussions of SWR, load matching, and the losses to be expected are correct and accurate.  I don't know how the ARRL got bamboozled against him by some bogus arguments, but that was wrong.

Back before FCC regulations against music, Walt used to play upright bass on one end of 160 meters while another musician was playing something on the other end of the band, and they could hear each other because of the frequency split.  He went on to build satellites back in the early days.  Cool dude.
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Truth can be stranger than fiction.  But fiction can be pretty strange, too!
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