The Radio Amateurs Handbook

In presenting for 1941 the eighteenth edition of The Radio Amateur*s Handbook the publishers again express the hope that it will be found as helpful as previous editions and will enjoy as whole-hearted a reception at the hands of the amateur fraternity. From modest beginnings in 1926 the Handbook has had an inspiring success, running now to eighteen editions in thirty printings and a total distribution well over six hundred thousand copies. Its fame has echoed around the world. Schools and technical classes have adopted it as a text; quantity orders have come from many a foreign land. But most important of all, it is the right-hand guide of practical amateurs in every country of the globe. This success derives in considerable measure from the splendid cooperation we have always re¬ceived from practicing amateurs everywhere, for which we remain grateful. Devoted to a fast-moving and progressive science, it is only natural that throughout its life the Handbook should have required sweeping and virtually continuous modification. Since the very beginning a strenuous attempt has been made to keep the book as up to date, as accurate and as reliable as is humanly possible. A studious effort has been made to restrict the material to modern, sound and well-tried practice. Having always had somewhat the character of an annual review of time-tried and proven methods in apparatus construction and operation, the Handbook has never provided a place for freaky circuits or methods. As any practicing amateur is well aware, there is an almost infinite number of ways of accomplishing a given result in his station — some good, some poor, many indifferent. Our editorial task has therefore been basically one of selecting. It has been necessary to eliminate from the enormous wealth of ideas on technique, methods and procedure, all those that have not proved themselves by successful application in practice.