The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them"
-Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (1879-1955)

MORE MEAT, PLEASE
By Jack L. Stone, Publisher

INTRODUCTION
or those readers who enjoy the “meat ‘n potatoes” type of articles, we’ve got some good ones for you this month, although we have a dash of theory as well in the mix. I've singled out a couple of the articles below for particular reasons, but I am proud of all of the articles in this month's line-up—a very solid group of articles and authors indeed!

One particular reason for a spotlight and fanfare is that one of our columnist, Marcel H. De Canck, ON5AU has just completed his 36th monthly propagation column with this March 2005 issue. Congratulations to Marcel, who never seems to run out of ideas. He really makes propagation a popular and interesting column with his unique use of animation to demonstrate movement of our ever-changing environment and affects on the signals. His creative presentations really help us to better understand a complex subject. I'm glad our paths crossed some three years ago.

Marcel's full 3 years of his column may be found at: HERE and a taste of the column for non-subscribers is found HERE

Last month, LB Cebik celebrated the 7th year of his Antenna Modeling column. However, even before that, LB's articles appeared in our monthly feature section, the Library of New Issues. Later, LB became our Technical Editor.

In January 2005, Joel Hungerford marked his 5-1/2+ years of writing monthly articles in his section "LAB NOTES." Unfortunately, Joel's poor health has caused him to curtail many of his outside activities. Although he is no longer very active, Joel will always be a charter member of the GARDS. He has made many friends throughout the world through his writings.

INTERNATIONAL VOICES
Of particular note is that this month's issue is really a global one comprised of three (3) authors involved from Belgium (Marcel de Canck, Pascal Veeckmans and Jef Verborgt), two (2) authors from Italy (Anselmo Stiffan and Claudio Re), one (1) from Russia (Vadim Demidov) and five (5) from the USA (LB Cebik, [Tennessee] Fred Griffee [Virginia], Fred Ellis [Texas] and yours truly [Texas]). This makes a fairly equal amount of contributions from countries outside the USA—a very satisfying aspect in this issue for a worldwide view of this technical field.

CW PADDLES
One of our regular contributors, Pascal Veeckmans, ON4CFC is back with his second article of a series on making homebrew CW paddles. As we all noted from the February 2005 issue (article #54 in Archive VII), his workmanship is on the CW Homebrew Paddle is without question, a work of beauty. A manufacturer would be envious, and should strive for such excellence. I’d like to have one just sitting on my desktop just to spruce up my office space and as a conversation piece!

In this month’s issue for March 2005, Pascal has a mobile version that he presents in his article “The ON4CFC Mobile Paddle,” a much smaller version equipped with a strap for attachment to the leg thigh for stable lap operation. If you are a CW buff, don’t miss this one. If not, you can admire and appreciate the craftsmanship.

Pascal is an active member of the GARDS as is Jef Verborgt who kindly does the translations to English for Pascal’s articles.

FOR THE WORKSHOP
Another great piece of craftsmanship is offered this month from retired professor of physics, Fred E. Ellis, AC5SO (PhD). Following his first article for antenneX back in October 2004 (#30 Archive VII) “Stop Blaming Displacement Current on Maxwell,” which was a highly theoretical article filled with complex math, I was caught by surprise by Fred’s equally fine talents as a skilled craftsman as well. He attention to detail was quite evident in the highly detailed drawings and perfection of the photography. One almost doesn’t need to refer to the text to duplicate this project.

I’m referring to Fred’s article “Tidy with Tote-Um-Tool” in which he describes how he builds a portable bench top mini-table for use in his workshop to help organize the multitude of tools used when building/repairing his electronic or antenna projects. This is one that should be of interest to everyone who likes to build things—talk about “applied physics!”

SOME THEORY TOO
Not to leave out those that enjoy some theory, we have one from a fine author, Vadim Demidov. A native Russian, Vadim has incredible command of the English language as demonstrated in this second article of his for antenneX. The article is entitled “Wideband Matching: Approaching a Theoretical Limit.”

This is an excellent article and gives the reader a close view of careful engineering thinking that proceeds in careful steps of both analysis and calculation (using the best tools), and cross-checking along the way to ensure no drift from the intended design path.  So even a reader not conversant with the math involved gets an good view of how to think about these kinds of problems.

Those “tools” I refer to above are: MathCAD, MATLAB, SPICE, and NEC2, all of which are employed by Vadim in this article to produce examples. Not only does Vadim discuss the use of those tools, this article is accompanied with a pile of example files produced from the programs.

So, if the reader wants to do more than just read text and look at drawings, those pre-fab files can add even more fun by loading them up on your own PC and playing with them right along with the article. The article also contains many well-presented illustrations too. This article is an outstanding effort by Vadim and should appeal to a wide spectrum of our readership.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
~ Breaking News!! ~
From time-to-time, we issue announcements for new products, issues, events, etc. We try to hold down the times we send out the mailings so the list does not get emails too frequently. The only items we cannot control the frequency of occurrence is that of any breaking news that may be of interest. Otherwise, two to three announcements per month would be normal—sometimes less. February was busier with a total of four announcement messages.

Another thing we have done is try to cut down on the amount of text content in the email announcement itself. Instead, we have set up an "Announcement Section" at our website to contain the bulk of the information, plus any illustrations and other links that may be relative. Therefore, the email sent out will only contain a only few sentences that is adequate enough to describe the subject(s) involved. A quick scan is all it takes to see if the email is of interest and keep the distraction and annoyance factor down. If more info is desired, a link to the announcements page is provided so it is just a click away.

Once the reader arrives at the main Announcement Page, it will be noted that links to previous announcements are provided so that if those were missed before because the reader is new to the site, the prior announcements remain for review. This makes sense because most. if not all announcements never go stale. If they do, they will be removed at that time. Otherwise, the announcements may prove to be a useful reference later. It is recommended that you bookmark the main page so you can visit when the urge strikes you.

As a typical example, the following is one of our latest email announcements pertaining to free program and modeling downloads that have just been added to the software download section. It was emailed on February 20, 2005.

To members of the News/Announcement List:

As we promised, more items will be added from time to time in the
Download section.

35 more items have been added in the form of antenna modeling files
for NEC2 & NEC4, and NEC-Win Plus equation-based models (.NWP). For
the utility buffs, we have added more handy utilities too.

For more info, please visit the Announcements Page(s):
http://www.antennex.com/announcements.htm 

Thanks and enjoy!

Jack L. Stone, Publisher
antenneX Online Magazine
http://www.antennex.com

It is expected that we will be adding more and more content to the download section as we have been concentrating on that project lately. So, it is a good idea to be registered on the announcement list especially to learn about the free goodies we find and offer like the above.

To register on the announcement list, just go here.

The new Antenna Discussion List is a infinite fountain of ideas making it a great "watering hole" for exchange of ideas, questions and answers on a wide range of antenna-related subjects.

If you haven’t already joined, you are invited and encouraged to do so. Just click here and follow the instructions on how to join and have fun with the rest of us. If you don't participate—it's a big opportunity lost!

AN INVITATION TO CONTRIBUTORS
antenneX thrives on the contributions of antenna experimenters, ranging from the informal home shop construction project to the theoretical investigation of basic antenna, feedline, and propagation phenomena. Over the years, we have published articles on the use of new or newly adapted materials, known antennas adapted to new circumstances, modifications of antenna structures, basic explorations of both common and unusual antennas, antenna modeling exercises, design improvements, antenna matching techniques from both a physical and mathematical perspective, evaluations of mini-antennas and their underlying theory of operation, new and patentable designs, propagation tutorials, and.... The list goes on, since no antenna-related topic is irrelevant to the readers of antenneX.

At the same time, antenneX has experienced continuous growth in its readership—for which we are appreciative. However, all readers can help us do even better. How? By submitting an article every now and then based on your current antenna work that may be useful at any level to other readers.

Among the engineering and researching readers, there are undoubtedly a number of unclassified and non-proprietary findings that antenneX readers would like to know. Among the practical antenna designers, there are ideas, tests, and numerous other practical findings to benefit our readers. Antenna builders very likely have some techniques to share with other readers. Besides the regular articles, we always have the home work shop column for shorter practical ideas and we always have the invited news and editorial column for information about new technologies, future advances, lost old but good ideas, and personal views on the good to bad things that are happening in the world of antennas and propagation.

If you are uncertain about whether your ideas merit an article, please feel free to send an outline to the general editor/publishers at submissions@antennex.com . Do not feel that you must be ready to be a regular submitter to write for antenneX, because we welcome the individual contribution as much as monthly articles. As well, do not believe that the slots in each issue are already spoken for—we shall always make room for a worthy article.

To see details of our writing guidelines, please look at: Writing for antenneX

Subscribe for the Premium Feature Articles! Enjoy these new concepts with our readership: Be sure your subscription is active so you don't miss these new and exciting concepts and more to follow. If you are thinking about subscribing or renewing, save 21% with the 2-year subscription. Just go to this URL and check on the Subscription option of your choice. http://www.antennex.com/signup.htm Keep the issues coming and stay on the leading edge of antenna technology!

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IN THIS ISSUE
This month is our 95th online issue online! We again include many fine articles by our great writing team. Now, allow me now to introduce this month's line-up of content:

OUR MONTHLY COLUMNS (plus this one by yours truly):

• From the Shack By Claudio Re, I1RFQ
  The Leash Dipole
  This is the story of an idea Claudio had while shopping. His attention was attracted by some cheap dog’s leashes with variable length. The nylon rope of this leash can roll on a wheel driven from a spring. This system easily allows one to vary the length of the leash. The idea I had is to use these leashes to build a dipole with variable length and variable resonance frequency. I bought two leashes and, within a couple of working hours, was able to build the handy device described in this article.

• Antenna Modeling By L. B. Cebik, W4RNL
  Electrical Fields at a Power Level and Distance
  There are occasions on which the modeler needs to know the strength of a radiated electrical field using a specific power level and a specific distance from the antenna. If the antenna structure is centered at the coordinate system origin, that is, where X, Y, and Z equal zero, we can develop this information within NEC in a straightforward manner. However, the task requires more than one step. The exercises this month will develop those steps in two ways, paying special attention to the RP (pattern request) and the EX (excitation) commands.

• Propagation By Marcel H. de Canck, ON5AU
  Propagation Prediction Programs Explained - Part 6
  Numerous readers email Marcel frequently with various questions concerning prediction programs, such as: “What is the meaning of certain input Parameters”, “What impact, good or wrong, has these inputs to the computed output results”, “ How to interpret correctly the various output parameters and/or results”. Many among those readers had questions about “How to use correctly the program VOACAP and VOA-AREA“. This series is planned as a Tutorial and Guide to use the VOACAP packet and a detailed Glossary to the various input and output parameters and terms, also used in various propagation prediction programs.

FEATURE ARTICLES IN THE LIBRARY:

Well, there you have it, folks—thanks for listening and remember, the reading lamp is always on for you in the reading rooms. If I can be of further help, I'm just a Stone's Throw! away.-30-

Best reGARDS, Jack L. Stone, Publisher
jack@antennex.com
March 2005 antenneX Online Issue #95

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Last modified: December 31, 2010