RF — Antennas, Matching & Transmission Lines
Curated: learn how RF energy actually travels — down a transmission line, through a matching network, and off an antenna — from a top-rated free course, prove it in Forge, and get certified. Intermediate RF, building on the wireless fundamentals.
Microwave Engineering and Antennas
Coursera — Eindhoven University of Technology · video · ~20h · Free · English
Why we picked it: The highest-rated free course that covers all three of our topics in one place — 4.6/5 from 150+ reviews, taught by the antenna group at Eindhoven University of Technology. It builds from transmission lines to Smith-chart impedance matching to real antennas (dipoles, microstrip, phased arrays), which is exactly the intermediate RF path we want. Audit (watch) it for free; the certificate is optional and paid.
- transmission lines: characteristic impedance, reflection, standing waves (VSWR)
- the 50 ohm convention and why mismatch wastes power
- return loss & VSWR as mismatch metrics
- the Smith chart as a matching tool
- L-networks and lumped-element matching
- quarter-wave transformers and stub matching
- antenna fundamentals: radiation, gain, the quarter-wave monopole/dipole
- microstrip antennas and phased arrays
Study guide
Open the study guide →1 study section · what to focus on + prove it in Forge, then take the check.
Forge practical
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