Here are a set of books that will be helpful for every ham, but especially useful for new hams.
ARRL
I can not talk about radio books unless I talk about the offerings from the ARRL. You will find a book for any amatuer radio operator. Anything from satellite operation, HF contesting, moonbounce, antenna building, experimentation, product reviews
ARRL Handbook – $69.99
This book is fantastic! It covers nearly every topic within amateur radio and is helpful for anyone who has questions. If you are looking for a bargain, try the local swapmeets and hamfests. Since radio theory doesn’t change, these books don’t really go out of date. The ARRL publishes new editions every year.
LINK
ARRL Licensing Manuals – $32.99
The ARRL is famous for providing a fantastic balance between passing the exam and providing important background for all radio topics. True, these manuals are to help you pass the test. But every hamshack should have a copy of them. I have kept my extra license manual, and I have looked up important details.
Just be warned, the FCC changes and updates the questions every 3 years. The questions may be close but may not cover everything on the new exam.
LINK
ARRL Antenna Book – $70
This book is esiential for amatuer radio operators. Since everything we do needs an antenna, this should be obvious why it is so useful. This book will give the in depth theory and construction of nearly every antenna type. I personnally used this book to build my ultra-compromise 160M end fed antenna. The concepts inside can be very daunting for a new ham, but will provide expert opinions and performence of the most common amatuer antennas. You can usually find a discount copy of this book at hamfests. An alternative book is the Rothammel’s Antenna Book. This is typically more expensive and harder to find in the US, but it is far more advanced.
ARRL Periodicals (QST, QEX, National Contest Journal, Get on the Air)
These are great ways to fuel your radio interests. QST is the best well rounded – geared for all interests and skill levels. You will find a mix of product reviews, EMCOMM articles, and technical articles.
If you are new, Get on the Air is a great magazine to learn more about what you can do with your license. Most articles are geared to those with Technician licenses.
Whatever your interests and experience level, there is an ARRL managzine that will fit your interests.
Because the ARRL is a prolific publisher, there are many more books that I don’t have listed.
You can see the full list of ARRL books HERE
Nifty Guides – $36
Let’s face it, our $30 baofengs are full of menus and options. While you should have a full manufactores manual for every radio you own, not every page is needed to reference. Menu options are vast, and sometimes the limited character displays are hard to understand. The Nifty guides are very handy, espicially for those that are operating portable and away from cell service. This is not a mandatory book for a ll hams, but it would be very helpful for someone trying to utilitze all features of their radios.
Wall Reference
While this is not technically a book, you should have this on the wall of your ham shack.
Ham Radio Freuency Allocations
LINK
Map
Depending on your interests, this can be a local, regional or world map. Since I am a DXer, I have a few different maps on the wall. I have a map of all the states and gridsqares in the US. I also have a world map with ham radio callsign prefixes. I also have an azimuth map, for pointing my beam antenna in a spefici direction.
Tuner settings
If you have a manual tuner, it would be best to have a cheat sheet of tuner settings for your antennas. This will save time when you are switching bands. And less time tuning is more time operating.
License
Though it is not required to display your license, it is highly recomended for others that visit your shack. This will show that you have a real license to operate the radio.
Clock
Every ham shack needs a clock. It doesn’t need to be fancy. Many events on radio use UTC time. If you can get a clock with UTC time, that would be helpful.
Ham Radio HUD
This is optional, but can be very handy. Geochron has a very nice unit. HamClock/OpenHamClock are also other options. These are usually connected to a display and will show an massive list of radio info. Including weather, space weather, band conditions, current stations on the air, upcmoming satelitte passes, local fire info, local/regional/world maps. This can be everything you need on your shack wall.
Photo Frame
Now this one is more for QSL collectors. But I like to show off my ultra rare DX contacts. I can do this by getting photos of my QSL cards and loading them onto a photo frame. Great way for showing off club photos and antennas. Visitors