Handbook of Microwave Component Measurements: with Advanced VNA Techniques

Starts out with easier topics and tries to limit the math while still explaining microwave behaviors.

If you've ever seen posts by "drjoel" on the Agilent customer support forum, you already know the author of this book. Joel Dunsmore has been one of the forum's most helpful participants for years. He rarely fails to enlighten, even when peppered with obscure questions about network analyzers that he developed 25+ years ago at Hewlett Packard.As the book and its table of contents are browsable online, I won't post a detailed breakdown of the individual topics it covers. It's safe to say I'd recommend the book to RF engineers and technicians who need to get the most out of their network analyzers and related test equipment. Don't be put off by the "Microwave" in the title -- if your work (or hobby) involves network analysis between 60 Hz and daylight, much of the book's contents will be relevant to you. Joel's concise yet conversational style should appeal to Math Guys/Gals and diehard empiricists alike, and his knowledge of the subject matter is clearly second to no one else in the field.In short, if you want to be the "bearded guru" at your workplace, this book belongs on your shelf -- or better yet, open and dog-eared on your desk, as my copy is.

This is the single best book available on Network Analyzer measurements. This book has the right mix of theory and practical examples taken from the authors years of experience. The book is well organized and should be read from beginning to end.

I found some things I could use in here, but:I bought the book in an effort to divine a clear understanding of what's going on in a 3-port balun measurement on my VNA. I didn't get all that I'd hoped for. The text doesn't seem to "take you all the way". I felt at times that some of it was more like those teaser technical articles that promise details, but deliver generalities; as if perhaps Mr. Dunsmore was using this to attract consulting gigs, rather than impart useful, complete "how-to" information.

As a Keysight Technologies Field Applications Engineer, I often go into a customer site or lab and present information to the audience of engineers and technicians who recently bought a Keysight VNA. The idea is to help them get started using their investment. I take this book with me to every engagement. I often find that many of the methods and techniques covered in Dr. Joel's book are not well understood by customers, and this book is invaluable to supplement the material I cover. It is always well received, and I have sold numerous copies everywhere I travel.Dr. Joel's book is thorough without being tedious. The writing style makes a pleasure out of some rather heavy material. If you ever need to learn about modern VNA measurements, or you are a veteran upgrading from an older VNA to a modern one, I cannot overstate the value of this book.

This is a slightly updated version of a review I posted on amazon.co.uk.The author, Joel Dunsmore works for Agilent developing the latest vector network analyzers, and knows his subject very well. The book is not a light read. It is very thorough, but avoids unnecessarily complicated maths. There is plenty of detail - it does not skip over difficult concepts. The 652 pages contain 652 pages of useful material - not hundreds of pages of waffle which some books have. There are lots of diagrams and graphs.The chapter on the time-domain method goes into a lot of detail. I used to think the price to add the TDR option to Agilent VNAs was excessive, given I thought it was just an inverse Fourier Transform of the frequency domain data. But how wrong I was!The title of the book says "advanced" and some of the techniques are certainly advanced - like for example vector corrected noise figure measurements. As such, some of the material is not very relevant to users of older, less advanced VNAs like my 20 GHz HP 8720D.The author is a regular contributor to the Agilent Network Analyzer forums (his username is Dr_Joel). So if you buy the book, and get stuck on something, you can easily ask on the Agilent VNA forums. Joel is a very helpful guy, as are all the Agilent staff on the Agilent RF & Microwave Network Analyzer Forums.I'm sure a lot of the information in the book would be useful to users of Rohde and Schwarz, Anritsu and possibly the cheap (<$500) VNAs, but it has an Agilent bias, which is understandable.I feel the diagrams and equations could often benefit from being larger. A graph is often shown, but it is not always too easy to read what the scales are. One page in particular (page 503) has 16 graphs shown on half a page! That is an extreme example, and often a single graph will occupy the full width of the page and sometimes one graph fills half a page of the book. There's a lot of information in this book!This is one of the best technical books I have bought - and I have a lot. Highly recommended if you want to really understand how VNAs work, and how to use them best.Dr. David Kirkby BSc MSc PhD. C.Eng MIET.

This was a great book for advanced users of VNAs describing the latest techniques for optimizing VNA measurements.The book contains just the right balance of theory and practical methods. Many of the advanced techniques that are discussed are not readily found in other sources.The user manuals of many VNAs describe how to make a measurement. This book goes beyond the procedure and describes how to optimize the measurements beyond what is documented in application notes and user manuals.

The author, Joel Dunsmore works for Agilent developing the latest vector network analyzers, and knows his subject very well. The book is not a light read. It is very thorough, but avoids unnecessarily complicated maths. There is plenty of detail - it does not skip over difficult concepts. The 652 pages contain 652 pages of useful material - not hundreds of pages of waffle which some books have. There are lots of diagrams and graphs.The chapter on the time-domain method goes into a lot of detail. I used to think the price to add the TDR option to Agilent VNAs was excessive, given I thought it was just an inverse Fourier Transform of the frequency domain data. But how wrong I was!The title of the book says "advanced" and some of the techniques are certainly advanced - like for example vector corrected noise figure measurements. As such, some of the material is not very relevant to users of older, less advanced VNAs like my 20 GHz HP 8720D.The author is a regular contributor to the Agilent Network Analyzer forums (his username is Dr_Joel). So if you buy the book, and get stuck on something, you can easily ask on the Agilent VNA forums. Joel is a very helpful guy.I'm sure a lot of the information in the book would be useful to users of Rohde and Schwarz, Anritsu and possibly the cheap (<$500) VNAs, but it has an Agilent bias, which is understandable.This is one of the best technical books I have bought - and I have a lot. Highly recommended if you want to really understand how VNAs work, and how to use them best.Dr. David Kirkby BSc MSc PhD. C.Eng MIET.

Fantastic book for anyone who needs to make precision measurements of RF and microwave components using a vector network analyzer. A great all-round book which covers the basics of what's inside that very expensive box that sits on the bench, right the way through to some more advanced material on fixture removal and noise measurement. Written in an easy to read style with an injection of the author's gentle humour. In addition to rigorously covering key material such as error correction (aka calibration) there's also a wealth of practical information regarding connectors and cables. In short, this is an excellent book which I keep within arms reach as a definitive reference. Recommended for advanced undergraduate study through to practising professional. Dr Dunsmore works for Keysight (and formerly Agilent and Hewlett Packard), so while examples are drawn from their equipment stable this doesn't come across as a sales pitch. So useful is this book that I would suggest that Keysight include a free copy with every VNA purchased!

Good informative bookArrived quickly from suopliers

Highly satisfactory.

This book contains a lot of information. If you are interested in how a VNA works, this book is for you. The book has a fair share of mathematics, but you can read it without going into all these details.