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by rreichel03 1950 days ago
This is an area I've been interested in learning more about for a while (not for prepping, just learning). Are there any good resources for getting started with ham radio? I've been looking for a guide that can explain the math and physics behind it along with the electronics.
2 comments

http://www.arrl.org/shop/Ham-Radio-License-Manual/

This is really all you need to get started. I was 14 when I first got my license - I used an earlier iteration of this book to self study. It’s really straightforward. Feel free to email with any questions! Always glad to help people get started in ham radio.

I will additionally suggest the "ARRL Handbook" (there's a new edition every year - mine was 2001 and I guess there is no need to get the latest one), from which I learned everything about electronics, antennas and radio propagation during my high school years. It not only enabled me to build and experiment with ham radio transceivers, but also gave me quite a head start into my university studies of EE.
ARRL Handbook is great, but I would suggest picking it up after someone has their license. Personally, I found it really frustrating to have a gigantic book full of interesting things that I wasn’t legally allowed to do - it was a much better book after I had my license :)
Ordered! Thanks so much for the suggestion!
The ARRL publishes books that would be of interest.

> I've been looking for a guide that can explain the math and physics behind it along with the electronics.

Interesting. I expect that if the physics in one of their books about, for example, antennas is not oriented towards math and physics enough for your liking, you’ll at least get some direction as to what part of a real physics textbook you need to study.