To lose a friend is the greatest of all evils,
but endeavour rather to rejoice that you possessed him
than to mourn his loss. (—Seneca 4? B.C. -A.D. 65)

INTRODUCTION
This is one of the most difficult columns I have ever had to write. It is with great sadness to write about the sudden and tragic loss of our friend, Leroy Bruce Cebik, W4RNL (SK) who transcended this world from natural causes on or about the early morning hours of April 18, 2008.

During the past month of April 2008, not hearing from LB for several days was unusual. His extended silence was a departure from our daily routine for more than a decade. On April 21, 2008 after several attempts to reach him, I asked the Knoxville Sheriff’s Office to please go to his home and check on him. Within about 30 minutes, a detective called back. The stunning news was devastating! Our earthly friend was gone!

Known as Roy to some, his pen name of preference was LB Cebik. As his publisher and friend for more than 11 years, I knew him to be a kind, gentle man and highly professional in attending to his writing activities. It was such a joy to work and communicate with him on almost a daily basis over that span of time. Thus, I feel I knew him well and began to feel as he was a member of my extended family. I miss him terribly as do many others whose lives he touched. I have worried about writing this tribute concerned about doing justice to such a kind, gentle and brilliant giant among us no more. I will do my best.

One of our last discussions on a personal level was about the recent death of his 20-year old cat, Leo. We casually discussed the thoughts of a tribute to Leo in this month's issue, but decided against it. Little did I know, this would be the topic of a tribute instead. Essentially, since Leo was LB's predeceased wife's cat, it was a cut to a final thread of their relationship and made floods of memories return. We talked about those feelings I myself had experienced and could relate.

In preparing to write this, I have gathered information from members of the immediate family and others who knew LB intimately. Their contributions are greatly appreciated in the interest of factual correctness about a man who was modest about his deeds and his many awards for so many achievements. Communications were with LB's brother, Ron (and wife), LB's Sister-in-Law, Joan Robeson, LB's Niece, Gina Robeson and Niece, Sarah Cebik (en route from London). I am deeply sorry for their loss of such a wonderful brother, brother-in-law and Uncle.

SOME PERSONAL NOTES
LB was born in Stratford, Connecticut USA in August 1939 and so spent almost 68 years here among us, not nearly enough time. He was the second of three brothers born to James and Ella Cebik. He is survived by his brothers Ronald and James of Connecticut.

The eldest brother, Ronald is a retired clergyman and counselor and younger brother, James Allen was known to be an aircraft engineer with United Aircraft (Sikorsky).

His wife Jean, N4TZP predeceased him in November 2002 after a 13-month bout with cancer. LB had stated Jean's wish was that folks plant a shrub or tree for songbirds and other wildlife. In retirement, she became a licensed and passionate wild songbird rehabilitator.
http://www.antennex.com/Stones/st1202/exists.htm

That year of 2002 was a rough one for LB as his father, James S. Cebik, ex: 1ATG, W1BUK, KA1TXF also passed away earlier that year in June 2002 in his sleep at the age of 96.

He was a mechanical engineer specializing in very large machine tools, one as long as 3 railroad flatcars. He developed electronic controls for his machinery well before they became commonplace.

I made previous reference to an article by James we have in the archives about Loops that dates back to the 1920s.

A BROTHER’S TRIBUTE
I had requested of LB’s brother Ron, any information he would like to contribute toward this tribute. In addition to some of the personal history, Ron wrote a poem "Antennae" dedicated especially to his brother which follows:

Antennae
In memory of L.B. Cebik, 1939 - 2008

Strung between two posts
Like a clothes-line of yesterday,
Wire waits for photons
Carrying cosmic energy
Into waiting ears
Hungering to hear others
Continents away
Showering space with human thoughts
Freed from gravity,
While discs of every size
Adorn the landscape
Keeping us safe from loneliness
And each other

As space is folded between us.
Reaching out is hard
Wired into the human brain
Stalks twitching in search
Of something to sustain the soul
Food for the journey
Into the land of tomorrow
Where the unknown dwells
Awaiting its discovery;
While we grope about
Tentatively touching everything
But reality
Hidden in its closeness to us,

Longing to be told
We are not alone or bereft
Of any meaning
In reaching beyond our small world
To grasp the cosmos
Encompassing our destiny.
Thus we string the world
With wires that end in empty space,
A synaptic void
Hearing a violin singing
The human longing
To touch what lies beyond our reach
But within our dreams,

Filaments reaching to the stars.

©Ron Cebik 2008

A PRODUCTIVE LIFE
During his adult life, LB made good use of his time and talents. After serving as an air traffic controller in the Air Force (1957-1961) and continuing with the FAA through 1963 in West Texas, he attended Texas Tech University, graduating with both B.A. and B.S. degrees (English and Philosophy). He received his M.A. Philosophy in 1965 and Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Nebraska in 1967.

His Doctoral Dissertation was "Colligation and History: A Study in the Relation of the Use of Concepts to Problems in the Philosophy of History" following a Master’s Thesis: "Nietzsche’s Portrait of Socrates."

After his graduate education, LB’s academic positions followed. My thanks to LB’s friend and previous associate Richard E. Aquila, Department of Philosophy University of Tennessee Knoxville for preparing an extensive Vita of LB’s academic activities too numerous to repeat here. Anyone desiring a copy of this 11-page Vita, send your request via email here.

LB retired in 1999 as Professor Emeritus and pursued his love of radio and writing about antenna technology. He was probably best known around the globe for these life-long activities. LB continued to live on a high hilltop in Knoxville and is probably the most widely published and read author of Amateur Radio antenna articles on the subject of antennas and modeling them.

LB LIVES ON THROUGH NEW WORKS TO COME!
Licensed since 1954, Cebik served with the antenneX Technical Journal as Technical Editor and regular monthly contributor to his Antenna Modeling Column and a feature article every month for most of the past 11 years.

It comes as a pleasant surprise to many that antenneX has in storage a stock of new articles covering the next two years for each of the monthly modeling columns plus feature articles on antenna topics. A further surprise is that we have two more of his new antenna books scheduled for release in the months ahead for 2008! Thus, LB shall continue to live on at least spiritually in his new works yet to be released! More on this as the books are made ready for release as his publications continue to grow. We are all lucky to look forward to benefiting from his prolific writing abilities and continue to learn from his vast base of knowledge.

Moreover, as his publisher, antenneX has some 2 dozen of his previously released books on the subject of antennas, plus ~1000 modeling files for NEC and EZNEC. Those popular works of LB’s are available in the BookShelf and Software sections of the Shopping Shack. His last 2 books, “2-Element Horizontal Beams Volumes 1 & 2” were released less than a week before his death.

LB’s WEB SITE
LB had maintained a web site http://www.cebik.com , considered a virtual treasure trove to anyone interested in antennas. Besides a few notes on the history of radio work and other bits that he called "semi-technical oddities," the collection contains information of interest to radio amateurs and professionals interested in antennas, antenna modeling and related subjects, such as antenna tuners and impedance matching. LB said his notes were "geared to helping other radio amateurs and antenna enthusiasts discover what I have managed to uncover over the years — and then to go well beyond."

His web site also contains information on antenna modeling. His book, "Basic Antenna Modeling: A Hands-On Tutorial" for NEC-2 antenna modeling software, contains models in .NEC format for over 150 exercises. Since the principles in the book apply to any modeling software, LB also created the same exercise models in the .EZ format. For more advanced modelers using either NEC-2 or NEC-4, LB produced an additional volume, Intermediate Antenna Modeling: A Hands-On Tutorial. The volume includes hundreds of antenna models used in the text to demonstrate virtually the complete command set (along with similarities and differences) used. Both of the tutorials are found among the 2 dozen books in the Shopping Shack.

The antenna modeling articles are from the monthly column produced for antenneX. It was agreed between LB and antenneX that his modeling column articles could be shared with his web site being delayed by one month from the publication in antenneX. A number of the features in his site are shared from antenneX publications. antenneX retained the copyright on these as well.

Many expressed concern about the perpetuation of LB’s web site and its content. Fortunately, the site domain was registered/sponsored and hosted by Sage-American an associated company of antenneX and the intent is to continue to preserve and protect the site. Nothing had to be changed in that regard since the site resides on one of Sage-American’s servers. Funding, for most of the past 11 years, has been provided by antenneX since we shared a common interest to serve the same worldwide audience. The only change was to implement a login system to protect the content against a stampede of efforts to mass download the entire site instead of reading it an article at an online session as it was designed for. LB had phrased his wishes about the use of the content this way on the site:

LB has a further caveat to remind folks that the content is for personal use only and not for reproduction or republication in any form without permission. Copyright applies and all rights are reserved.

We did receive a few complain about having to login, but these were less than 4-5 compared to the thousands that have visited and created a login. It takes less than one minute to create the login, a small price to pay to access LB's legacy of educational material. Another concern was that some would have to repair some links to the site. It is something to be expected when operating a web site on the Internet. It is not a static environment and URLs vanish or change constantly. In fact, this is not the first time a radical change of the directory structure was made on LB's site. Only a couple of years ago, LB changed his directory structure that moved and affected 99% of the content and thus would have broken any links at that time. One who manages a large web site will find a need to make such restructures from time to time and it is up to all of the webmasters to police their links for such changes — and to expect them to change. This is a common issue to deal with should a web site publish a links page on their site.

The login system was already scheduled for implementation before LB's sudden departure. This followed many other tools already in to slow down those who would misuse the site with attempts to mass download. The stampede to do mass downloads shortly after we announced the loss of LB caused this login plan to be accelerated. It is the same login system that antenneX implemented a year or so ago. The Internet is not the friendly place it was a few years ago and login systems have become the trend to protect web site content from misuse.

IN CONCLUSION
While sad at the sudden tragic loss of my brother in common, I shall never forget him or how fortunate it was to have worked so closely with him for more than a decade. There are many out there who know what I mean from the impressions they experienced when crossing paths with LB, a kind, gentle giant among us. (see the quote of the month at top)

Finally, I draw your attention to another editorial in this month’s issue by Robert Cerreto, WA1FXT who co-authored some articles with LB following the development of an antenna article. Bob had the good fortune of working with LB over a protracted period of time and made several trips to visit LB on his hilltop place in Knoxville. Bob’s editorial describes what it was like to work with LB and his lament at this tragic loss. Click here for editorial

THE PURPOSE OF THIS JOURNAL
In an earlier column, “The antenneX Mission,” I wrote about a subject close to my heart — the purpose of this journal. It had been quite some time since I had reminded our readers of our original purpose when we set out some 20 years ago.

More than anything else, this journal has always been a “labor of love” for me. It is the reason I founded the antenneX magazine 20 years ago, knowing that running a magazine is a tough business and especially so since I planned to do it without the traditional revenue support from advertisers or outside investors. I wanted this magazine to always be able to write about any issue without concerns of losing the support from any of those type revenues. I am pleased to say, we have never steered from that course one iota. And, as a consequence, we have covered some very controversial developments throughout the past two decades. In the process, we have provided valuable factual information to more than 200 countries, even to the most remote regions of the globe. Hence, our readers are much more informed about the truth about all of the “new” devices as their stories unfolded in the antenna and antenna-related field. For more details, you are encouraged to read my column from September 2006.

Additionally, we were pleased to receive and publish in the October 2006 issue, a very special editorial reaction to my column written by one of our long-term readers and contributors, Dr. Jef Verborgt. Those two articles are located by the following links below:

VISIT THE GUEST ROOMS
The relentless attacks on our web site by pirates, hackers and the like has made it necessary to add more security to protect our material against such piracy. It's only fair that we know who enters the House of antenneX, so our guests will need to provide some minimal information in the process of obtaining a login. This includes using your real active email address without which a login cannot be received. Do not confuse this login with a paid subscription login. They are not the same and your subscriber login will NOT work in the Guest Room areas unless you create it that way. You may choose to create your own login to the Guest Rooms using the same login as your subscription—you have full control over your logins here.

Along with the continuing fight against spam/virii junk, protecting our material and valuable bandwidth against piracy takes up a great amount of our time—time we can't really spare. The Internet is simply not the friendly neighborhood it used to be in the "old days" and more and more security must be installed to counteract these intruders. Thus, we have made the access to the Guest Rooms as automatic as possible for you to manage your own login.

In view of the above, we have overhauled the numerous free and open-access sections that have always been wide open to all of our friends throughout the many years antenneX has been online. But, we must change with the times as the need dictates. I don't think the Internet will become more friendly in the near future and protected sites with logins are fast becoming the rule rather than the exception. To repeat, most would like to know who they invite into their house. The same applies at the House of antenneX. It's really worth the effort!

We have activated a new login system for access to the above guest rooms — and, the login can be totally managed by our guests. Above is a graphic of what you see as a login page to the new consolidated area, "antenneX Guest Rooms." This new page for logins is at this location now and available for your use:

As a result of this new programming, you will be able to obtain your own login, change it to update your info, change your password and delete membership if & when you desire without our help. Of course, the bottom link on the new page provides help if you still need it.

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 manuscripts at 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.

IN THIS ISSUE
We again include many fine articles by our great writing team from around the globe. Now, allow me to introduce this month's line-up of content:

The Dual-Element Wideband Dipole:
Some Preliminary Notes
By L. B. Cebik, W4RNL
(A Posthumous Publication)

Occasionally, one finds an antenna design with fascinating potentials. Such is the case with the dual-element wideband dipole (DEWD), the first sample of which comes from Nikolay Kudryavchenko, UR0GT. He developed a relatively simple wire antenna that would cover the entire 80-meter band with a 50-Ω SWR of less than 2:1 without the need for special matching systems. How or why the antenna works as it does is subject to some discussion. Our interest will be in better describing the behavior patterns as it works. It is only a dipole, with a typical bi-directional pattern when set horizontally over ground. Still, it has some very unique features.

What Does an AC Voltmeter Measure?
By Kirk T. McDonald, PhD
Joseph Henry Laboratories, Princeton University

An AC voltmeter is a device that measures the oscillating I₀ across a large resistor R₀ that is attached to leads whose tips, 1 and 2 may be connected to some other circuit. The reading of the voltmeter is V_meter = I₀R₀. AC voltmeters typically report the root-mean-square voltage V_rms = I₀R₀/√2 rather than the I₀R₀.

Then, discuss the relation of the meter reading to the different V₁ - V₂ in the scalar potential V between points 1 and 2 in the absence of the voltmeter.

Inverted Amos Antenna as Linear Feed
for Cylindrical Parabolic Reflector
By Dragoslav Dobričić, YU1AW

In this paper I will try to examine the parameters which are leading to the optimum efficiency of a cylindrical parabolic antenna illuminated by collinear dipole array in front of plane reflector. In the article of October 2007 issue of antenneX, there are explanations about different types of parabolic reflectors which are produced by different slicing of surface created by rotation of parabolic curve around its axis.

Another type of parabolic surface reflector can be created by extruding (drawing) parabolic curve along the line which is perpendicular to the plane in which parabolic curve lies in. Because the focus point is also drawing along the line, focus line is created instead of focus point.

As a result we have cylindrical parabolic surface with focus line. This type of reflector surface needs specific linear feed for good illumination efficiency.

Taking AIM: Part III
By Bob Cerreto, WA1FXT

So far, we have discussed hardware descriptions, initial setup, basic scan features, advanced scan features and some of the antenna related Functions available for the AIM 4170. This part of the paper will discuss the remaining antenna and non-antenna related utility functions.

My test antenna continues to be a simple 2M dipole. The test feed line is a 6-foot length of RG58A.

We will show you a crystal filter design application to demonstrate the Measure Crystal function. If you want to design your own crystal filter with us, you will need some crystals (all the same marked frequency), small inductors, capacitors, and a test fixture similar to this one.

Frequency Division and Dividers
By David Jefferies

Most are happy with the idea of harmonic distortion in non-linear circuits, in which multiples of the original frequencies are generated. Fewer people are happy with the idea of subharmonic generation, where the non-linearities produce lower frequencies than those originally applied.

In a system which is sufficiently non-linear there is frequently a route to chaos involving successive period doublings in the response to a sinusoidal drive, as the amplitude of the drive is increased in relation to the non-linearity.

In this article, examples are described, and proposals to exploit this process for the provision of phase locked frequency division are presented, various systems are considered, and it is suggested that a diode having charge storage time of 10 picoseconds an injection voltage of about a volt, and a charge storage capacity of about 10^5 electrons would provide an ideal device to divide a 50GHz signal at a power level of around 10mW.

Experiments are presented which demonstrate, for modulated signals with 100 MHz carriers, phase locked division in which the amplitude and frequency excursions of a carrier are faithfully followed at speeds representing a fractional bandwidth of at least 10%.

Designing a 50-Ohm 2-Element Beam the Hard Way
By Morris Jones, AD6ZH

I was taught to design a beam by picking a constraint such as boom length, front to back ratio, forward gain or number of elements; and then use a table or chart in a reference such as the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) 688 or an antenna engineering handbook to select a compromise configuration that best meets design goals. This often results in an antenna with a feed line impedance mismatch at the end of the design process. A matching network such as a gamma, hairpin, “T”, coax transformer, or L/C network is then attached to the antenna. This experiment's goal was to find a set of design charts where the impedance is picked first, and then the “best” beam is selected within a 50 ohm constraint.

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-

Jack L. Stone, Publisher
jack@antennex.com
May 2008 antenneX Online Issue #133