ABeginnersTutorialfor4NEC,aNEC2Distribution WrittenandTestedby JamesCooper YuxiMaxLiao 1.Gotohttp://home.ict.nl/~arivoors/. 2.Scrolldown,andfindLatest4nec2version(5.8.7)undertheDownloadsheader.(Theversion numbermaybedifferent) 3.Downloadandextractitscontents. 4.Runtheinstallfile.Itshouldbetheonlyfileinsidethezipfileyoudownloaded. 5.Runtheprogram,4nec2. 6.Ifprompted,openoneoftheexamples. Threewindowsshouldnowbeopenonyourdesktop.Thefirstwindow,labeledMaingivesquick accesstoallthecomponentsof4nec2.Italsodisplayscertaininformationaboutyourantenna,including input(series)impedance,inputparallelimpedance,RadiationEfficiency,InputVoltage&Current, operatingfrequencyandwavelengthinfreespaceofthegivenfrequency,etc.

.Themainwindowcanbe broughtupatanytimebyhittingF2. ThesecondwindowisthePatternpage.Thispagedisplaysa2Dpolarplotoftheradiationpatternof yourantenna.Bydefault,thispageshowsthethetaplaneoftheantennasradiationpattern.Itcanbe switchedtothephi(horizontal)planebygoingtoFarField=>HorizontalPlane.Thetaandphicanbe sweptforthephiplaneandthetaplane,respectively,byusingtheleftandrightarrowsonyour keyboard.ThiswindowcanbebroughtupatanytimebyhittingF4. ThethirdwindowistheGeometrywindow.Thiswindowshowsthephysicalrepresentationofyour antenna.Italsoshowswhereyoursourcesarebyrepresentingthemwithpurplecircle.Thiswindowcan bebroughtupatanytimebyhittingF3. Notshown,isthe4nec2Editwindow.ThiswindowcanbebroughtupbyhittingtheEditNECinput filebuttononthemainwindow.Thebuttonlookslikeahandholdingapencilwhilewritingsomething inabook.

Thiswindowisusedforinputtingyourantennadesignandrunningyourtest.Itwillbedescribedin detailinthefollowinginstructions. 7.Openthe4nec2Editwindow. 8.Inthe4nec2Editwindow,clickontheSymbolsTab.Thistabisusedfordefiningvariablesinyour system. 9.ClickintheblankspaceunderneathSymbolsandEquations,andtypeinL=.5. 10.Intheblankspaceundercomment,totherightofwhereyoutypedinL=.5,clickandtype Lengthinmetersoftheantenna.(side:becausethecenterfrequencywillbe299.8MHz,thisisalso thelengthinwavelengths)

11.ClickontheGeometrytab. TheGeometrytabinthe4nec2Editwindowiswhereyouwilldefineyourantennasstructure.In anynec2program,suchas4nec2,youdefineyourantennabyfirstbuildingaseriesoflines.Eachline willbeassignedareferencenumber,anumberofsegments,andaradius.Thereferencenumberisjust areferencenumber.Itspurposeisforyouandtheprogramtobeabletotellthedifferencebetween onelineandanother.Thenumberofsegmentsalineisbrokenintodefineshowaccuratethesimulation is.Atthesametime,themoresegmentsthereare,themoretimeitwilltaketheprogramtorun.Asa ruleofthumb,eachsegmentshouldbebetweenLambda/10andLambda/100.(Forexample,ahalf wavedipolelineshouldhavebetween5and50segments).Theradiusshouldbelessthan1/10the lengthofthesegmentsofaline. Twofinalnotes:Anylinewhichwillbeexcitedfromitscenter,suchasadipoleorHertzianantenna, shouldhaveanoddnumberofsegments.Also,ifatanytimetwolinesoverlap,theiroverlapshould occuratajunctionoftwosegments. 12.ClickthefirstspaceunderType.Adropdownmenushouldappearwhichallowsyoudefinewhat kindofstructureyouarecreating.Selectwire. 13.ClickthefirstspaceunderTagandtypein1.Thisisthereferencenumberofyourwire. 14.ClickthefirstspaceunderSegsandtypein21.Thisisthenumberofsegmentsyourwirewillbe splitinto.

13.ClickthespaceunderX1andtypein0.ThisistheXcoordinateofthestartingpointofyourwire. 14.Repeatstep13forY1,X2andY2. 15.ClickthespaceunderZ1andtypein.5*L. 16.ClickthespaceunderZ2andtypein.5*L. Thestartingandstoppingpointofthewirehavenowbeendefined.i.e.Wire1runsbetweenthepoints (X1,Y1,Z1)and(X2,Y2,Z3).Itisrepresentedby21segmentsstackedendtoendfromthefirstpointto thesecondpoint. 17.ClickthespaceunderRadiusandtypein.01.Atthispointtheantennais.5mlong.So,each segmentisabout.025mlong.Therefore,theradiusis<1/10ofsegmentlength.

18.ClicktheSource/Loadtab.Inthistabyouwilldefineoneofthesegmentsonyourwiretobea sourcefortheantenna. 19.ClickthespaceunderTypeandselectVoltagesrcfromthedropdownmenu.Thisdefinesthe antennasourcetobeavoltagesupply. 20.ClickthespaceunderTagandtypein1.Thisdefineswhatlineasourcewillbeplacedon.We wantitplacedonournumber1wire. 21.ClickthespaceunderSegandtype11.Thiswilldefinewhichsegmentofourwirewillbeexcited. Wewantthemiddleofourantennatobeexcited,sowechoosesegment11. 22.ClickthespaceunderMagnandtypein1.Thisisthemagnitudeofourinputvoltage.

23.ClicktheFreq./Groundtab.Thistaballowsustodefineouroperatingfrequency. 24.ClickthewhitespacebesidetheFrequencylabelintheFrequencygroupandtypein299.8. Thedefaultunitsin4nec2aremeters.Definingthecenterfrequencytobe299.8MHzmakesa wavelength1meter.Therefore,youcandirectlydefineanystructureintermsofwavelengths(whichis otherwisedefinedinmeters).

25.ClicktheRunNECbuttonintheupperrighthandcornerofthe4nec2Editwindow.Thisisthe buttonthatlookslikeacalculator.

26.Selectfarfieldinthewindowthatpopsup.ThenclicktheGeneratebuttoninthebottomleft.

Congratulations.Forsomeofyou,youhavejustrunyourfirstelectromagneticsimulation.Note:Dueto glitchesintheprogram,sometimes4nec2willresetwhilescrollingthroughwindows.Ifatanypointthe datafieldsintheMainwindowgoempty,justrerunthesimulationtopullthedatabackup. 27.PressF4tobringuptheradiationpatterndisplayonthepolarplot.Onthispageyoucanseea2D representationoftheradiationpatternofyourantenna.Toswitchbetweenaverticalandhorizontal planeview,selectFarfield=>Horizontalplaneorpressthespacebar.Tochangetheangleof viewing,usetheup/downarrowsonyourkeyboard. 28.PressF9tobringupthe3Dviewer.Withthethreepulldownmenusinthiswindowyoucan: a. Seeaclearpictureofyourstructureandsource.Thewiresaregrey;thesourceispurple;and theaxisisgreen.Thisshouldbethedefaultdisplay. b. Displaythecurrentdistributionontheline.UsethefirstdragdownmenuandselectCurrents. c. Displaytheradiationpatternineither2Dor3D.Usethesecondpulldowntoshowtheradiation pattern.UsethethirdpulldownmenutochangebetweenDirectivity,Ethetapolarizedfield, andEphipolarizedfield.