I intend to purchase either of both of the following books.? I do have an extensive collection of notes and articles but figure I need some good bedtime reading.? The candidate books are:
1) Handbook of Microwave Component measurement with Advanced VNA Techniques - (J.P. Dunsmore)
2) Fundamentals of Vector Network Analysis - (M.Heibel)
I would normally tend toward the HP publication as most of my equipment is HP and any examples would be directly relevant
BUT - I find following comments on the HP book and would like to get some comments from the group - PREFERABLY from people who have looked at both books in some detail.
a) Re the HP book
I bought this book on the recommendation of an Agilent application engineer. The author also works for Agilent.
The book is full of errors, typographical but also conceptual. For example the author mentions that the scattering parameter s11 is the input impedance of the network. Even a junior engineer knows that s11 is the reflection coefficient, whose value is always less or equal to 1 for all passive networks, whereas the input impedance can take arbitrary values as long as the real part is positive.
Furthermore the formula for the input impedance of a transmission line is incorrect, perhaps a trivial typographical error, but a strong indication that the author was copying formulas carelessly from other sources. In general, it shows superficial knowledge of the whole subject.
The book is below par for any solid theoretical issues. In contrast the book "Fundamentals of Vector Network Analysis" by M. Hiebel is of very high quality, explaining theoretical as wel as practical aspects of measurements. This is a publication by the Agilent competitor, the German company Rohde & Schwarz, and may be hard to get in this country.
B) Re the HP Book
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..
I find NO 1-4 star ratings for the R&S book, but I also find fewer reviews total.
SO What "enlightenment" can the group give me as to which to pick. - is the HP book really that"buggy"?? The S11 error seems to be a bit gross - could it have been a missed edit in an earlier version?
WHAT SAY? ALL ????
