Overview

In instructional materials, the term simple is often tossed around loosely. Sometimes it may mean that fewer equations are used than in a typical textbook or paper. Other times, it may mean that the subject is easily understood by the author. But what does simple really mean? If you looked up the term in a dictionary, you might find this definition: "not complex or complicated; easily understood; intelligible, clear."

For a subject, especially a technical subject like microwaves, to be made truly simple, it must satisfy all the properties listed in the foregoing definition. That is what this book sets about to do, in down-to-earth, understandable language. And it does so with absolutely no mathematics or formulas of any kind. Now, that is really simple.

The topics of microwaves, in general, and wireless technology, in particular, generally are thought of as having a certain air of mystery to them. It is thought that to completely understand the phenomenon of high-frequency circuits it is necessary to have a large mathematical background. That is not the case. Microwaves can be understood by anyone who wants to learn about the subject. The only prerequisite is the desire to learn.

The first step in learning about microwaves is being able to define the word microwave in very easily understood terms, that is: "A radiowave operating in the frequency range of 500 MHz to 20 GHz that requires printed circuit components be used instead of conventional lumped components."

That definition shows that microwaves...