NEC-LIST: Calculating NEC or EZNEC models with a MININEC engine

The latest version of the freeware MultiNEC program has an interface to the
"Antenna Model" package by Teri Software (www.antennamodel.com). Antenna
Model (A.M.) uses an enhanced and corrected MININEC type engine. As L.B.
Cebik pointed out in a recent article, there are certain types of models
that cannot be processed accurately by NEC-2 or, to a lesser extent, NEC-4.
See "When MININEC is Superior to NEC" at www.cebik.com/amod/amod56.html.
And even for models that don't fit this criteria, A.M. offers some pretty
impressive graphics capabilities. See, for example,
www.qsl.net/ac6la/adhoc/am3d.gif (18 KB).

Being MININEC-based A.M. of course does not support Sommerfeld type ground
or "NEC type" (ideal) transmission lines. Except for those restrictions,
models in any format that is recognized by MultiNEC (EZNEC, NEC, MMANA,
ELNEC, AO, Nec/Wires, A.M., or the Excel-based MultiNEC format itself) may
be calculated using any engine that is supported by MultiNEC (EZNEC
Standard; EZNEC-M Pro; EZNEC/4 Pro; Nittany NEC-2 [NWPlus and NWPro];
Nittany NEC-4 [GNEC]; public domain NEC-2; or corrected MININEC [A.M.]).
You could for example use A.M. to get a "feel" for the 3D radiation pattern
but then use EZNEC or NEC to obtain precise impedance and gain figures with
the use of Sommerfeld ground, all while building the geometry of the model
just once. Or you could use MultiNEC in its more traditional "make multiple
runs while automatically changing variables" mode with A.M.

The latest MultiNEC release has several other enhancements, including the
ability to read and write 2D radiation plots in OpenPF format. These "plot
files" can be exchanged with other programs that use the OpenPF format,
including EZNEC and A.M.

For more details on MultiNEC and a free download file see
www.qsl.net/ac6la/. MultiNEC requires Excel 97 or later.

73,
Dan AC6LA

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