Monday, January 27, 2020

Australia's own ham handbook available from Jaycar

(a post just for my Australian readers)

Quite a few people have asked about paperback copies of my books. Especially Australians. They're dearer to buy here as Amazon publishing here is ebook only. This has been a particular issue with my Australian Ham Radio Handbook due to its targeted audience. 

Anyway I've got some good news. Australia's own ham radio handbook is now locally available in paperback. So there's no expensive postage from overseas to pay. It's all thanks to Jaycar who now make the book available via their website (Cat No BM2492). 

You can order here, along with any other bits and pieces you need. 

Where does the Australian Ham Radio Handbook fit if you wanted to assemble reasonable collection of books? 

Right at the start is the WIA Foundation Manual. That gets you started. Enough to pass the basic Foundation test. But it's a slim volume limited to the licence syllabus. 

Then there's Ron Bertrand's amateur radio theory handbook. You need that for Standard and Advanced. Solid for knowing more about how electronics and radio work. But not so much a practical manual. Ditto for Fred Swainston's theory book. 

The ARRL Handbook covers a bit of everything with lots of theory and a bit of operating. But the latter is (understandably) US-based. Not so useful for Australia where our licence conditions and frequencies are different. You should buy one anyway (doesn't have to be the latest) especially if you can find them going cheap at a hamfest etc. Also get at least one of their antenna handbooks if you can. 

The gap (for us in VK) is locally relevant practical and operating information. That's where my Australian Ham Radio Handbook comes in. Especially if you're starting out you'd rather it in an easy to refer to paperback as you'll be using it all the time. So this is why I think this book is so significant. 

It's not in the stores yet - that is probably a few weeks away. But there's stocks at their warehouse so an online order will get it to you fastest. 



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