Amateur Radio Handbook Collection

I decided it was time to keep a list of what amateur radio handbooks I’ve ended up collecting. Most of the books in the collection are ARRL Handbooks, but there are a few non-ARRL radio handbooks that have also ended up in the mix.

Here’s my collection.

ARRL Handbook

Like most of the things I’ve started collecting, collecting amateur radio handbooks kind of started by accident. First there was the 2012 ARRL Handbook, and then I picked up the 2014 ARRL Centennial Handbook. A few more from hamfests ended up on the shelf and before I knew it, I had a small collection of them. They provide a nice look at how radio technology has evolved over time.

Then at some point I had the idea that it would be neat to have an ARRL Handbook from each decade and things just went from there. So now the collection has at least one handbook from each decade, starting with the 1st edition 1926 ARRL Handbook, and ending (for now) with the 2023 100th edition ARRL Handbook.

The ARRL Handbook has had a few titles over the years. It started off as “The Radio Amateur’s Handbook” and kept that title for a long time. Then in 1985, it picked up the title “The ARRL Handbook for the Radio Amateur”. Since 2003, it’s been known as “The ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications”. For most people though, it’s just “The ARRL Handbook”.

Radio Handbook (William Orr W7SAI)

The Radio Amateur’s Handbook (A. Frederick Collins)