Antenna Modelling

Royal Air Force Amateur Radio Society

Antenna Modelling for Radio Amateurs Made Easier

These articles were first Published in RSARS Mercury journal Nos 160 &161 and RAFARS is most grateful
for the permission to reproduce them here. For more information and additional articles, see the Royal
Signals Amateur Radio Society website: www.rsars.org.uk

Mario Chomicz
G8ODE RSARS 1691
PART-1 of a two part article
Introduction.
When radio hams are asked to describe a simple HF antenna, most will begin to describe a
dipole, and probably be thinking about a resonant half-wave antenna, rather than a nonresonant dipole. Many radio hams have a limited knowledge of antennas and antenna theory.
In the majority of cases the knowledge is restricted to a basic facts about a few HF antennas,
such as the G5RV, Carolina Windom, inverted L, W3DZZ, but know very little about the
actual performance of the antennas erected at their home location.
Most of us have, at some time, glanced through antenna text books to find far field plots and
formulae to make an antenna and then used 1/4 = 234 / F(MHz) feet or 75/ F(MHz) metres.
The books are likely to mention something about the antennas other properties at certain
heights and orientation. However, there will be scant information concerning the dipole, or any
other antenna, that may have been erected in the back yard of a small terrace house with
properties that differ from the text book model, notably the height, orientation, feeder length
and possibly close to metallic structures.
Even the simple formula for the quarter wave element hides some daunting complex science
and mathematics that most of us are unaware. In fact, if a multi-element antenna is
considered, matters get even more complicated because of interactions between the elements.
The science behind antenna modelling goes back a long way and involved many great people,
so its perhaps a good idea to remind ourselves of some of them.
The TimeLine
Perhaps a good starting point is Andre-Marie Ampere (1775-1836), after whom the unit of
current is named. Others include Garl Freidrich Gauss (1777-1855) for his work on magnetism,
Georg Simon Ohm (1789-1854), whose name is given to the unit of resistance and Michael
Faraday (1791-1867), who studied the magnetic field around a conductor carrying a DC electric
current. While conducting these studies, Faraday established the basis for the electromagnetic
field concept in physics, subsequently enlarged upon by James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879),
whose most prominent achievement was formulating classical electromagnetic theory.
Five other other great Maxwellian scientists increased our understanding of the science
behind the antenna. These men, George Francis FitzGerald (1851-1901), Oliver Heaviside
(1850-1925), Oliver Joseph Lodge (1851-1940), Heinrich Rudolph Hertz (1857-1894) and John
Henry Poynting (1851-1914), developed the mathematics needed to enable the science of radio
antennas to progress.
Great entrepreneurs like Edison, Dolbear, Hertz, Tesla and Marconi all recognised the potential

of radio communications and gave several radiation demonstrations between 1875-87. Did
these great men realise that what they were starting would change our world so much?
Changes such as the development of radio broadcasting, television, radar, radio astronomy,
satellite communications, GSM mobiles and WiFi links to computers to mention just a few
things.
At the turn of the last century others were concentrating on the way to launch radio waves. In
1897 Professor Adolf Slaby and Count von Arco erected the first German antenna system for
wireless communication and OJ Lodge developed the bi-conical dipole, loading coil, tuneable
LC matching network and counterpoises.
Alessandro Artom developed phased array technology between 1889 and 1906, and Marconi
created the fan dipole and polar plots between 1895 and 1901. In 1907 Bellini & Toss
produced the goniometer and steerable array, which led to more sophisticated direction finding
techniques. In the same year Zenneck wrote about ground losses and ground waves. Much
later, in 1926, Uda and Yagi created the antenna that is now commonly as the Yagi, which
proved itself during WWII when airborne radar was developed and deployed by the RAF on
Bristol Beaufighters and other aircraft. When some American documents fell into Japanese
hands they failed to realise that Yagi was not a code word for the antenna but the name of
their own scientist.
All these pioneers inspired future scientists to further develop the science to be able to study
the behaviour of antennas in a variety of configurations and environments. This required an in
depth understanding of how radio frequency currents behave in a linear conductor. Fortunately
Maxwell and his peers laid the foundation stones for further development in this area but the
mathematics was becoming very complicated. This was to be the next big challenge.
A new mathematical approach for the study of antennas was required. The Method of Moments
was conceived by I G Bubnov (1872-1919) and further developed by B G Galerkin (1871-1945)
as the method of statistical moments for nonlinear mechanical systems. In 1959, the paper
Method of Moments was published by AV Kantorovich and GP Akilov and, in 1967, RF
Harrington further simplified the analysis by introducing the Matrix method for Fields
Problems. Soon after this a computer program was written in the FORTRAN programming
language to run on main-frame computers of the day. This, in turn, led to the development of a
US Government Laboratories program called Numerical Electromagnetics Code ( NEC) for
solving general electromagnetic radiation problems.
The Software Programs
NEC is described as a moment method surface integral technique modelling a scatterer or
antenna by wires.
N.B. scatterer refers to the way conducting objects or surfaces reflect radio waves e.g. the
ground under the antenna or even the reflectors & directors on a Yagi antenna
The majority of antenna analysis programs used today are derived from the same NEC
program, which uses a Method of Moments algorithm. The mathematics involved would
discourage most radio amateurs, but the basic principle is simple.
For modeling purposes, an antenna is broken down into a number of straight-line wire
segments and the field resulting from the RF current in each segment is evaluated by itself
and also with respect to other mutually coupled segments. Finally, the field from each
contributing segments vectors are summed - to determine the total field and to generate a
model for any elevation or azimuth angle desired.
It sounds as if this has simplified the study of antennas for the radio amateur , yes, it has, but
not completely! Over the years simplified versions of the NEC software have been improved to
remove some of the limitations imposed by less powerful domestic computers.

Further Software Improvements.

NEC-1 (1979) - improved currents accuracy , multiple wire junctions; thick wires.
NEC-2 (1981) Sommerfield-Norton ground interaction for wire structures above lossy ground.
NEC-3 (1985) handling of buried wires
NEC-4 (1992) further improved accuracy for stepped-radius wires, smaller segments
Latterly,
EZNEC is specifically designed to be friendly and easy to use while taking full advantage of
the powerful and versatile NEC-2 calculating engine. EZNEC is completely menu-driven.
WIPL-D (1994) is a New MoM program that represents a generalisation of the MSDOS MoM
program for conducting bodies.
FEKO (c2000)- In order to solve electrically larger structures the MoM has been hybridized
with high frequency techniques such as Physical Optics and the Uniform Theory of Diffraction.
Mini-NEC Is a cut down version of the FORTRAN NEC designed to run on desktop PCs and
enabling more radio amateurs to use the program.
Definition of The Method of Moments
Method of Moment s ; A method for solving integro-differential equations such as Pocklingtons
equations ( 1897) at a given frequency or Hallens (1938) equation.
# Pocklingtons equations (1897)

Fortunately, generous radio amateurs and professionals have given their time freely to write
menu driven software that anyone can use on the Windows desktop PC or laptop, we dont
really need to worry about what the equations mean or how to solve them.
Thats the easy part, well no, perhaps not completely, but this will be explained in Part 2 of this
article.

PART-2 of a two part article

Antenna Modelling For Radio Amateurs Made Easier -Part 2

G8ODE RSARS 1619
Even the simple formula for the quarter wave element hides some daunting complex science
and mathematics, which most of us are unaware of. In fact, if a multi-element antenna is
considered, matters are even more complicated because of the interaction between the
elements. However, this should not put us off from trying to model our antennas, as explained
in the first part of this article, the science behind antenna modelling goes back a long way and

involved many great people. One such person was James Clerk Maxwell who, in 1864,
heralded the beginning of the age of radio with his four very simple looking equations that
explain the way electric and magnetic fields behave.

Maxwells Equations.
Maxwells equations should really be seen as the start of the technological revolution that has
lead to the development of radio communication in all its forms we use today, and even for
opening the window to look at the fundamental secrets of the universe using radio astronomy.
These equations just dont give the scientist or engineer insight; they are literally the answer to
everything RF.
The major problem is that the equations can be baffling to work with. Solving Maxwells
Equations even for simple structures like dipole antennas is no easy task especially when real
life situations are factored in. But thanks to clever programmers and the development of fast
home computers all is not lost to the mathematically challenged radio amateur.
As mentioned in part 1 the US Government Laboratories program called Numerical Electromagnetics Code (NEC) for solving general electromagnetic radiation problems, was cut down
and was able to run on home computers as the Mini-NEC versions. The majority of antenna
analysis programs used today are derived from the same NEC program and use a Method of
Moments algorithm. However, the necessary hundreds, if not thousands of computations, if
calculated manually would probably discourage most radio amateurs. Fortunately there are
freeware programs that provide the means for radio amateurs and others interested in antenna
design with an easy to use tools to model even complex stacked Uda-Yagi arrays. Moreover,
many come with extensive antenna libraries that beginners can play with so that the main
functions of the program can be tried out.
A few years ago I discovered MMANA-GAL, a freeware program originally written by Makoto
Mori - JE3HHT in 1999; that later evolved into a multi-language Version 2.01 in 2005, cowritten by Alexander Schewelew DL1PDB and Igor Gontcharenko - DL2KQ. Their latest
version, 3.0.0.31 and is available on the web details at the end. I was amazed at its
capabilities, which gave me a much better insight into the operation of many common antennas
such as the W3DZZ, G5RV, Doublet and G7FEK to name just a few. This is why I decided to
use screen shots from the program for my RSARS eLibrary antenna articles.
It may also be worth pointing out that RSARS members have contributed to the development of
this program in the beta testing of new versions and suggesting improvements. Most significant
was perhaps my nine month involvement to produce the new revised English Help Guide with
considerable help from Alastair Couper NH7O and Barry Short G3YEU. Barry in fact had to
compare English, Russian and German versions of earlier help files to ensure that nothing was
missed in translation. Alastair NH7O was also responsible for producing the much improved
section on antenna optimisation and who also produced a three part article now published on
the Yahoo MMANA user group library. So it will be no surprise that the remaining part of this

article will be dedicated to explaining some of the main features of the program.
This week I saw a request from Adrian MW1LCR on the Yahoo RSGBTECH asking what value
of capacitor he would require to tune his quarter wave 80m antenna elevated at 3m that he
was building. So in the spirit of amateur radio I decided to take up the challenge and model the
antenna for him. He explained that the radiating element was slightly oversize and 20.5 m long
and would employ four horizontal radials. Radials that form a ground plane are usually longer,
so as a starting point I assumed these to be 21m long and a Transmitter with 50 ohms output
impedance.
Using MMANA-GAL the dimensions of the 5 wire elements have to be entered into the
GEOMETRY page using X,Y,Z co-ordinates for each wire. The antenna feed point, known as
PULSE is 0.0.0 as shown towards the bottom left of the screen shot. The nominal RF voltage
applied is 1.0v all the currents and impedances are referenced to this value.
[ FIG -1 Geometry ]

The next step is to calculate the result, and this is done by clicking on the CALCULATE tab at
the top of the GEOMETRY page. Then select the type of Ground and select Ground setup
which pops-up a small window. The default values are for an average ground dielectric of 13
and a conductivity of 5mS/m. Close this window down and simply press START at the bottom
Left.
[ Fig-2 Calculate]

The results in this case appear in line 1 of the Calculate page as shown above. This shows
that the antenna is very close to resonance, since the R ohms value is 36.64 ohms, with little
or no reactance and is very close to the theoretical free space value. The SWR is 1.44:1
reference the 50 ohms of the transmitter. The reference can be changed to one of seven
preset values (28, 50, 75 , 112, 300 , 400, 600 ohms) or any other value if manually set e.g.
200ohms.
N.B. MMANA-GAL has no facility to model balun transformers, so when an OCFD with 200
ohms feed point needs to be modelled you simply change the SWR reference impedance to
200 ohms.
If required, you can go back to the Geometry tab to change the length of a wire element, then
return to the Calculate Tab and press the START button to get a new set of results on a
second line.
At the bottom of the screen there are also some extra useful self-explanatory buttons. The
OPTIMISATION button is very useful in speeding up the tuning of the antenna and getting
the SWR down or maximising the gain. The main optimization controls are sliders that can be
adjusted using the computers mouse. The MMANA-GAL optimization routine checks the
position of these controls and uses the values to affect the way optimisation is calculated. The
five sliders control these values, minimum effect to the left and maximum to the right. Shown
below is the Optimization pop-up window that appears after pressing the OPTIMISATION
button. The smaller pop-up window allows you to select which of the axis, X, Y or Z are to be
optimised. In this case all three are selected since the antenna is in three dimensions. Once
this is decided the START button will be highlighted and can be used to initiate the
optimisation process.
[ Fig-3 Optimization]

The many iterations of the optimization will appear on the CALCULATE Screens scratch pad
area.
[Fig -4 Iterations]

The final result of the optimization is shown in line 2. The antenna is now resonant on
3.65MHz and the reactance has been reduced close to zero, but the SWR is still 1.41:1 since
the transmitter output is 50 ohms. But there is more to see. Clicking on the VIEW button at
the top of the screen enables you to see the magnitude of the currents in the 5 wire elements,
and using the mouse you can rotate the antenna to look at these from different viewing angles.
This is more useful on large Uda-Yagi arrays than in this simple example.
[Fig-5 View]

The slide controls at the bottom of the screen enable you to magnify the currents so that they
can be seen more clearly. This is useful when the amount of current flowing in a wire element
is small as can sometimes be the case. The Zoom control in the middle of the screen will
increase the size of the diagram for easier viewing. The Selected wire control on the right
enables you to select a wire and the coordinate start and finish values will be shown in the
small window on the bottom right.
Returning to the Calculate screen, the other useful button at the bottom is Plots. This pops-up
another window with some more useful options shown at the top. These are Z for an
impedance plot, SWR , Gain /FB and Far Fields and are used in conjunction with the BW
( bandwidth) control on the top right, which is shown set to 40KHz, but can be set from 40
-80,000KHz. To obtain the results use the computer mouse to select either All points or
Detailed.
The screen shot shows that the 80m vertical ground plane antenna is omni-directional with a
fairly low angle of radiation at 22 degrees, and the gain is 0db (n.b. a dipole is 3dB).
[ Fig-6 Plots-Far Field]

Selecting the SWR tab pops-up another window and if the BW is set to 1000KHz, in this case
after selecting Detailed the results at the top left show that the bandwidth of the antenna
between the 2:1 SWR points is 62.6KHz
[Fig-7 Plots -SWR]

The Z (impedance) plot can be useful when looking to see how far off resonance the antenna
might be. At the resonance frequency the reactance will be zero. On the Z Plot the left
vertical axis is the resistance value and the reactance value is shown on the right hand vertical
axis. In the example the upper line crosses the 0.0 reactance point at a frequency of 3.65MHz
as would be expected for an optimization concentrating of minimising the SWR and reactance.
However Adrians original question related to the antenna being cut slightly longer than a
quarter-wave and would therefore need a capacitor to cancel out the inductive reactance. This
answer was easily provided after the Line 1 calculation was made. At the top of the Screen
extra menus are provided by a number of Windows icons.
[Fig-8 Tools Menu]

The crossed spanner & hammer pops-up the tools window shown below. This shows that if
the antenna is to be used on 3.75MHz it will have a reactance of 37.94ohms and would need a
1118.6pF capacitor to cancel the 1.61uH inductance. By drooping the radials Adrian will be
able to improve the SWR as this will move the radiation resistance closer to 50 ohms.
[Fig-9 HF Components]

Hopefully this simple example will have demonstrated how easy it is to model simple antennas.
There is far more to the MMANA-GAL (Basic) program than can be explained in a very short
article e.g. such as features to export data as comma separated variables file (CSV) into a
spreadsheet program like Microsofts Excel, enabling you to manipulate the data plot graphs.
However software modelling is only be a guide, and programs like MMANA-GAL are unable to
model wire insulation or take into account the affect of the ground when the antenna is very
low or when there are other objects in the environment. This means the model will never be as
accurate as an expensive commercial program, but this program is free after all and the results
that it produces are generally pretty good if you take care and follow the MMANA Help Guide
thats available. Its worth downloading the program just to play with the existing models that
come with the MMANA-Gal library. Simply open one of the model files from the CALCULATE
screen as you would with a Windows file and then click Start. Experiment with a few of the
buttons to discover a few things I have not mentioned.
Acknowledgments
My special thanks to the developers of this antenna modelling program for making this
Freeware.
The program can be downloaded from
The program mmanabasic.zip (ver. 3.0.0.31 - 2.6 MB) can be downloaded from;
http://hamsoft.ca/pages/mmana-gal.php
It will be installed as C:\MMANA-GAL_Basic\MMANAGAL_Basic.exe. This is because of the
security restrictions of Microsoft Windows.

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