Schelkunoff S.A., Friis H.T. Antennas Theory And Practice

New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1952. — 639 p.This is an outstanding textbook on antenna theory and design, written by the dynamic duo who between them discovered or developed much of the theory of modern antenna and propagation practice. A good grounding in electromagnetic theory at the undergrad level is helpful to understand the sometimes esoteric turns taken by the authors. This work is a nice antidote for the standardized texts that all seem to present more-or-less the same material in more-or-less the same way.
The contents of this book express our idea of what a college textbook on antennas should contain. It is not a book of descriptive type, nor is it concerned with engineering details. Such details are learned best on the job, and college time should not be consumed by studying books that can be read at any time, and with profit, without the instructor's assistance. But a serious study of fundamental ideas and theory requires time and often the help that only college can provide. Good understanding of fundamental theory will enable the student to acquire confidence in himself, and will develop his ability to evaluate what he finds in technical periodicals. Thus he will be prepared to make full and appropriate use of available information. To make the book more usable as a reference book, an extensive index and a list of symbols have been added.
We have not evaded derivations of important formulas and proofs of important conclusions. The student should know them. He has a right to know them. But we have made a serious effort to make them as simple as possible. Anyone who has a working knowledge of general physics and calculus is adequately prepared for this book provided he possesses scientific courage. He should not be intimidated by a partial differential equation simply because he has never had a course in such equations. We do not use vector analysis because in the type of problems with which we are concerned it impedes rather than promotes understanding. We use the vector concept and, in a very few cases, shorthand notations for scalar and vector products; but these notations are normally acquired in studying physics and do not really constitute vector analysis.