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Re: [Antennaware] Newbie needs help modeling a fan dipole

To: w3idt@comcast.net, antennaware@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [Antennaware] Newbie needs help modeling a fan dipole
From: Kevin Zembower via Antennaware <antennaware@contesting.com>
Reply-to: Kevin Zembower <kzembower@verizon.net>
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2020 08:46:07 -0400
List-post: <mailto:antennaware@contesting.com>
Hi, Bob, thank for responding again. I have some comments on your responses in-line, below.

On 7/22/20 2:03 PM, Bob, W3IDT wrote:
Kevin,

[I sent you a copy of a 4NEC2 input file a while ago as an example, but now realize that 4NEC2 has capabilities well beyond xnec2c.]

I am NOT an expert on NEC2 control "cards". [Not the issue of "cards" themselves - I am a very old hand at computing, started programming in 1957 with punched paper tape, then punched cards.]
I let 4NEC2 generate the NEC2 deck from its pretty nice user front end.

That said, my look at your geometry suggest at least the following problems:

1. NEC2 has inherent problems with closely spaced wires - such as your two dipoles. To get anything resembling good results the segments in the closely spaced wires must match exactly.
So, your 40 meter dipole must consist of (at least) three wires:
- on outer left side,
- a middle section, exactly the same length as your 20m dipole, and
- an outer right side.
And the 40m middle wire and the 20m wire must have exactly the same number of segments.

Thanks. I didn't find this information anywhere I searched. What I did find was a recommendation that all elements of the antenna have the same size segment length. That's why I made the 40M dipole twice as long as the 20M dipole, with almost twice the number of segments. Is getting the exact same segment length critical? I'll try this way next.


2. You have specified .15mm as the RADIUS of the wires.
This is equivalent to about AWG #28 or #29 (DIAMETER of about .3mm).
Probably much to thin for a 40m dipole with a 20m dipole hanging below it. Try a RADIUS of 1mm (equivalent to about #12 wire, DIA of 2mm)


Yeah, I was modeling #28 AWG wire. I'll move up to 1mm wire. Again, I didn't think this would be that significant.

3. The transmission line you have specified (when re-imported into 4NEC2) appears to have
- an impedance .02 ohms ("2.00000E-2")
- a length of 0 ("0.000000E+00")
- an "end 1" of .02 ("2.00000E-02")
- an "end 2" of 50 ("5.00000E+01")
Surely not what you intended.
[4NEC2 offers "open" or"closed" as the options for the ends of a transmission line.]


I was trying for a short length of 50 ohm coax. Since the units are Seimens, I took 1/50 ohms = 0.02 mho. I think I just forgot end 2. In the instruction for the NEC2 TL card, it says if the length was blank, it would use the length between the two attachments points. However, xnec2c won't let you enter 'blanks' so I thought zeros might work.

With changes to the geometry as per (1) and for (3) a 100 ohm transmission line 1 meter long, open at both ends, gives a very nice swr / reflection coefficient at 7.1 and 14.0. Good for a start.


Let me try to implement what you described in xnec2c over the next couple of days, and see what I get.

Thanks so much, again, for all your help and advice.

-Kevin
KC3KZ

Changing the wire RADIUS to something more reasonable, say #12 (RAD ~1mm) moves both resonances lower (as expected).

The 4NEC2 generated card deck is attached.

Welcome to the world of antenna modeling.
It can be "all consuming".

Bob, w3idt

............................
. Robert F. Teitel, W3IDT???? .
.???????????????????????????????????????????????????? .
. W3IDT@arrl.net?????????????????????? .
. W3IDT@comcast.net???????????????? .
............................

On 7/22/2020 12:07 PM, Kevin Zembower via Antennaware wrote:
Hello, this is my first post on this list. The folks on TowerTalk suggested I ask my modeling questions here.

I'm using xnec2c on a Ubuntu Linux desktop to perform the modeling. Is anyone here also using this software?

I'm trying to model a 40/20M dipole. My two dipoles are connected by a 6 inch (0.1524m) transmission line. When I use the deck below, I don't get an error, but do produce a VSWR of 999 on all the swept frequencies from 7-14.35MHz.

I have these questions:

1. What am I doing wrong in this model?

2. Using either the xnec2c interface, or the nec2c engine, is it possible to sweep more than one frequency range? I'm only interested in 7-7.3MHz and 14-14.35MHz, and don't care about the frequencies between the bands.

3. Can xnec2c, or the nec2c engine, produce 2D azimuth and elevation charts? The 3D illustrations that xnec2c produces are pretty, but hard to read.

4. Can I eliminate any of the cards in this deck? My starting point was the deck of cards that xnec2c produces when you ask for a new file. Are all of these needed?

5. Do you all have any suggestions for me to improve this model? Is there anything I'm overlooking. As I said, this is my first time trying to model an antenna, and the details can overwhelm me.

Thanks so much for your suggestions and advice. I look forward to hearing from you.

-Kevin
KC3KZ

(Deck also attached, to prevent email formatting errors)

CM --- NEC2 Input File created or edited by xnec2c 3.6.1-beta ---
CM 40/20M fan dipole, 10m elevation over 'normal' ground.
CM Dipoles connected by short transmission lines.
CM Used wire diameter of #28 AWG, 0.0126in, 0.00016002m radius
CM Kevin Zembower, KC3KZ
CE --- End Comments ---
GW???????? 1?????? 41???? 0.00000E+00 -1.01370E+01?? 1.00000E+01?? 0.00000E+00 1.01370E+01?? 1.00000E+01?? 1.50000E-04 GW???????? 2?????? 21???? 0.00000E+00 -5.28700E+00?? 9.84800E+00?? 0.00000E+00 5.28700E+00?? 9.84800E+00?? 1.50000E-04 GE?????? -1???????? 0???? 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00 EX???????? 0???????? 2?????? 11?????????? 0?? 1.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00 TL???????? 1?????? 21???????? 2?????? 11?? 2.00000E-02?? 0.00000E+00?? 2.00000E-02 0.00000E+00?? 5.00000E+01?? 0.00000E+00 FR???????? 0?????? 51???????? 0?????????? 0?? 7.00000E+00?? 1.47000E-01?? 1.43500E+01 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00 NH???????? 1???????? 1???????? 1?????????? 1?? 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00 NE???????? 1???????? 1???????? 1?????????? 1?? 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00 RP???????? 0???????? 9?????? 37???? 1000?? 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00?? 1.00000E+01 1.00000E+01?? 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00 GN???????? 2???????? 0???????? 0?????????? 0?? 1.20000E+01?? 1.00000E-02?? 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00 EN???????? 0???????? 0???????? 0?????????? 0?? 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00?? 0.00000E+00

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