If you haven't yet picked up a copy of Walt Maxwell W2DU's Reflections III book, I'd strongly consider adding it to your library. Once I saw the front cover, with the classic Johnson Matchbox and section of balanced feedline, I knew all was well. I own and have eagerly read and studied Walt's two earlier works in the Reflections series, I say studied but I can't profess to fully comprehend all of the theory inside. This new and updated edition is published by good folks at CQ Communications, and is nicely printed with clear, crisp text and diagrams.
Nevertheless, despite the depth of material covered, one does not need to be a EE or physics major to understand the important concepts, Walt does a superb job laying those out for you in largely plain English.
Topics are arranged in logical chapters, just like any good reference work should be, so if you want to know just about the Smith Chart, see chapter 10, how a transmatch works - see chapter 17. A few hours spent reading this book should more than serve to dispel any of the questions, or scatter brained antenna theories you all too often hear on the air. Walt's own personal anecdotes and vintage photos from his distinguished career are alone worth the price of admission!
Every ham, even those who buy the "store built" antennas, really should have a basic grasp of antenna theory, and understand the simple concepts of impedance, antenna lengths and the conjugate match. At some point, some thing is going to go wrong with your antenna system, or you may want to add another band of operation to your station, just knowing even some of the basics is going to make those tasks so much easier, and in this ham's opinion, a solid understanding of "why" makes amateur radio so much more enjoyable.
I'm not yet done with the book, still reading, but as I've done in the past, will promise a full review in the books section of this website. In the meantime, take a look at what Walt as offer, there's lot of meat there!
More at Walt's website -->>
http://w2du.com/Or at the CQ store -->>
http://store.cq-amateur-radio.com/Detail.bok?no=183-Bruce
