Radio Monitoring: The How-To Guide

My usage of radios has mostly been limited to turning on the one in my car and hitting one of my preset buttons. For a while, I also used a poorly tuned station to wake up (until, inexplicably, the station was replaced with dead air, which caused me to wake up late!). So, why did I pick up this book on radio monitoring, and why did I read it (virtual) cover to (virtual) cover?

The primary reason was: It was free. The secondary reason: It sounded interesting.

And it was!

Radio Monitoring by T. J. “Skip” Arey not only opened my eyes to all the amazing radio waves that are constantly passing through my body, but broke it all down in a way that any person with little or no radio experience could actually start monitoring radio frequencies show more with hardly any up-front cost (and very little long-term cost, depending on what you want to listen to). The book discusses history, technique, legal issues, as well as pointing the reader to a massive list of resources you might not have ever realized existed. It also provides purpose for visiting Radio Shack for something other than iPod accessories.

I highly recommend this book to any reader who has an interest in radios, or for anybody who has an interest in the way the world works around them. People who don’t care how their radios work, as long as they can listen to the latest track by Lady Gaga, are best avoiding this book (even though it does have somewhat short chapters, so you feel intelligent reading it!). show less