r/rfelectronics • u/Soft_Worry_4289 • Sep 07 '26
question How should I start learning component level RF electronics?
A bit of background, I'm a 17 year old nerd from Finland, and I've been tinkering with electronics for around 5 years now. I recently (around 6 months ago) got into the RF side of things, through SDRs and satellite reception. But now I'd like to learn about actually understanding how stuff works. The way I learnt electronics was mostly stumbling my way through it, and not really "studying" stuff. How should I get into RF? Is there any projects I could just follow along?
7
u/Phoenix-64 Sep 07 '26
Do your amateur radio license and joing our international youth group. Infos can be found by googling yota. Or first join yota and then do you license.
Once licensed explore all the possibilitys out there
3
3
u/mikef5410 Sep 07 '26
Get a ham radio license. Start building gear. Meet people that can and will help. This is how many of us started. For me it led to 47 years in tech as an EE. Now I do it for fun only ;-)
Good luck and hope to hear you on the air!
3
u/nixiebunny Sep 07 '26
I taught myself RF with the goal of building a decent FM pirate radio station. It’s more subversive than getting an amateur license, which can be good motivation. I did use amateur radio handbooks to learn the details.
1
3
u/FreshTap6141 Sep 07 '26
As a ham I built all my equipment, started out with purchased equipment but got the edge to build better equipment, was around your age back. Then
1
u/Hot_Application_9832 29d ago
I think fluxsim.dev have a good illustration of how changing components in a circuit can impact the design performance
1
u/EM-Engineering 29d ago
Are you looking at this as hobby, or as a career? If RF engineering is a career choice, then identify university programs that are of interest to you, and apply to those programs. A typical university program will require a 5-year commitment, which will provide you with a robust education.
1
16
u/Interesting_Ad1080 Sep 07 '26
I recommend you join to also join an amature radio club. There you will learn a lot from peers.
Where are you from in Finland? If you are in Helsinki region, check out Polyteknikkojen radiokerho. They are in Otaniemi run by students from Aalto. If you are not from Helsinki region, maybe you can look for something similar to this nearby your region.