These are great Cal. You give enough to work with, without getting overwhelmed with the program. I know you have a busy schedule, so thanks for taking the time to do these and help some of us, get a better understanding of how things work. 73
The small bite approach to antenna modelling really works! It gives a breather and chance for details to sink in. I know we can pause longer videos...but we don't. Our concentration just drifts off.
OMG, now I know why my antenna for 20m does not perform as expected. It is not half wave above ground (cca. 20m), but 11 meters. So far, I am unable to mount it higher than that. Your video tutorials brings me new knowledge. Thanks!
Thank You, I downloaded the software and did my best to follow along, Mine did not come out exactly to yours but was close (after I fixed some of my errors). It is very interesting indeed!
Yay! A Skyloop! Coming soon to DXCommander! I have an 80 to 10M Skyloop up at 50 feet in the corners, 275 feet of 14G copper wire in as close to a square as my trees allow. What a great DX antenna it is. As you go up in frequency the DX seems to get better in the lobes, but there are some deep NULLS (on the upper bands) as well. At night it holds its own on 40M and 80M for distance. I have mine corner fed with a 5K 4:1 balun, fed with LMR400. Such a quiet antenna on receive. I can actually invoke my rig's AMP1 and AMP2 on the high bands. Not so much on 80m or 40M. SWR is very fine and I use the Palstar HF-Auto tuner. The antenna radiates high power (400 - 900W) very well. In fact Callum we did have a QSO back a few weeks on your Friday Live Stream... cannot wait to see you craft this antenna on MMNANA. Thanks Amigo. 73 Art W1SWL
Look forward to the Sky Loops. That is the antenna I have (sky loop), and have already seen it plotted in MMana and EZNEC, but interested to see what you come up with.
I use a duplexer and triplexer to connect my 2m/70cm radio and my 1.25m radio to my triband omni base antenna. The triplexer is a low pass filter for the 2m band, a bandpass filter for the 1.25m band and a high pass filter for the 70cm band.
OK.. Go back to the first one.. How you model the radials are there.. I go past if quite fast.. See exactly here: ua-cam.com/video/Dxedmw0dfjg/v-deo.html
One question; my dipole antenna (two fishing rods back to back with slightly coiled wire) is at roof. If I calculate elevation from the ground, it is 13 meters. But, what about roof. Should I calculate height above roof, or above any longer metal surface? Or, it is as is - above ground? Thank you in advance for your answer. 73
Hi... can you please guide on how do I translate the calculations from the Geometry page to real world to make the antenna that has been designed using the MMANA?
Yes, add your source (feedpoint) then go to Calculate. Check your numbers and go and build it. You will MOSTLY find that if you make something from software into reality, the elements will probably need to be about 95% of what you think..
Thank you for this. I just want to ask: I am going to make an inverted vee for 11 metres and put it in my attic. The lowest point in the attic to the ground outside is about 6 metres. Is this the height I put into the calculation, or would it be 0 metres from the ground to the ceiling of the house being the artificial ground? Thanks
OK, so I'm not completely sure of the polar pattern of one of those. It's going to be better than a regular dipole but you'll need to keep the antenna perpendicular to the drone (ish). The parameters will be 2 x dipole legs 12.5mm long each (half an inch) or 1-inch / 25mm long in total.
@@DXCommanderHQ Thank you for your replay so I changed my parameter:Y1(m) = 0.0125 Y2(m) = -0.0125 foot point in the middle with a length of 0.0002m. I also set my frequency to 2400Mhz and added 0.05m height for the real ground. The resulting impedance as well as the SWR 50 is quite off by a large amount. I am quite new to this software, so really appreciate for your help
Hi Callum, thanks for teaching MMANA. Did some experiments with your 40 dipole. Gradually decreased the angle between the legs - until ends were at -6.8 meters with the elevation set to 7 meters. This is close to 90 degrees. Found that as the angle increased - and the ends got closer to the 'ground' - I had to shorten the legs by an increasing amount to get low SWR. With feedpoint at 7 meters (add height = 7) and ends at -6.8, optimum length of the legs were down to 7.17 meters - giving and SWR of 2.28. With a flatter angle - I could get much lower in SWR. This very short wire length surprises me - do you belive it is correct ? Regards Mike
OK.. so with most of these models, wires that are less than 1/4 wave above ground can give odd impedance readings BUT in real life, the close an antenna is to the ground, the shorter it can be.
Great videos, one question: it it’s possible to generate a balun in this sw? I’m starting to design a fan dipole 40/20 . , so maybe I can reach you in the air, Saludos XE2GRC
Hi Cal, thank you so much for teaching us IT computer struggling Hams to understand how to ues this great amntenna program. I am wanting to make aup a Half Square configuration and try various feed methods to review performance, radiation patterns etc. Can you help with a basic end fed 20m Half Sqaure design in this program and how to make the horizontal and vertical lefs? Cheers and thank you again for all your work on You Tube 73's Greg VK3KV
Greg.. I just tried this and failed but I think all you actually need to do is apply a 49:1 transformer on one end. I tried to model it and ran out of time.
@@DXCommanderHQ Thanks for responding. I should have been more elaborate. I mean an antenna created with PCB traces. The issue with PCB trace antennas is that they have a length, width and thickness. However, E2NEC permits the trace to only have a radius. So I take it that MMANA-GAL permits me to specify a metal trace with length, width, Thickness, metal conductivity and the dielectric constant of the underlying medium? And this is this the free version we are talking about?
Yes, a 300 ohm match to the environment.. From Calculate Tab: Optimisation > Advanced > Environement: Lower table where it says 50 Ohms. Change to 300 (equiv of 6:1).
More questions -- What is the difference between your method - going from 0 to negative for the Inverted V - and what I better understand, setting: W1 Z1 = 0.2 W1 Z2 = 7 W2 Z1 = 7 W2 Z2 = 7 W3 Z1 = 7 W3 Z2 = 0.2 Giving an inverted V that starts 0.2 meters above ground, feeds at 7 meters and returns to 0.2 meters .. This way I am not having to dig nearly 7 meter deep trenches 🙂
love your channel, my question to you is how long dose a wire have to been for a 11 meter dipole and is there any chance you showing that for me. regards dave (charlie tango 4484)
Hiya Dave. Grab your calculator and follow this slowly.. Type in 300. The hit / (divide button) and type your frequency.. Let's say 27.4. The answer should be about 10.95. That's the wavelength.. Now if we divide that again by 2 answer is 5.47. So each side of your dipole is.. But wait! Depending on the wire we use, it's probably a tiny bit smaller.. Suggest we MULTIPLY by 0.95 (that's effectively 95% of the number we had. That means you should see on your calculator, 5.2. That's the measurement in feet. You can THEN adjust it if you don't like it by searching google for "swr calculator m0mcx" and there's a spreadsheet. Basically, if you CUT 1cm, you would change the the frequency from say 27.4 to 27.5. I hope that helps..
@DXCommander Callum, 300/27.4 will give the length of a full wave. A 1/2 wave dipole which is what matches best has just 1/4 wavelength of wire each side of the feed point; about 2.7m before adjusting for the velocity factor. 73 de M3KXZ
It's been in one of the other newer ones where he is in his man-cave, one of the acutally new ones, not the re-uploads. Sounds like a data line (ethernet, usb, display) near a pre.
You going wayyyyyy to fast. We are NOT all rocket scientist's please bud. We know you are intelligent. Don't showoff by racing through your explanations on how to ,,,,,
@@DXCommanderHQ Thank you. I will scratch around and see what I can figure out. Maybe you can teach us these finer tricks which 90% of us don't know about.
These are great Cal. You give enough to work with, without getting overwhelmed with the program. I know you have a busy schedule, so thanks for taking the time to do these and help some of us, get a better understanding of how things work. 73
I really enjoy sorting this out. No worries.
Thanks for the tutorial. I just installed mmana and used your vid to get me started.
Great to hear!
The small bite approach to antenna modelling really works! It gives a breather and chance for details to sink in. I know we can pause longer videos...but we don't. Our concentration just drifts off.
Very true!
great software to test theories without breaking a sweat👍
Indeed!
I'm totally digging these videos! Thanks Callum!
My pleasure!
OMG, now I know why my antenna for 20m does not perform as expected. It is not half wave above ground (cca. 20m), but 11 meters. So far, I am unable to mount it higher than that. Your video tutorials brings me new knowledge. Thanks!
I'm sure you will be fine :)
Thank You, I downloaded the software and did my best to follow along, Mine did not come out exactly to yours but was close (after I fixed some of my errors). It is very interesting indeed!
You're welcome!
Yay! A Skyloop! Coming soon to DXCommander! I have an 80 to 10M Skyloop up at 50 feet in the corners, 275 feet of 14G copper wire in as close to a square as my trees allow. What a great DX antenna it is. As you go up in frequency the DX seems to get better in the lobes, but there are some deep NULLS (on the upper bands) as well. At night it holds its own on 40M and 80M for distance. I have mine corner fed with a 5K 4:1 balun, fed with LMR400. Such a quiet antenna on receive. I can actually invoke my rig's AMP1 and AMP2 on the high bands. Not so much on 80m or 40M. SWR is very fine and I use the Palstar HF-Auto tuner. The antenna radiates high power (400 - 900W) very well. In fact Callum we did have a QSO back a few weeks on your Friday Live Stream... cannot wait to see you craft this antenna on MMNANA. Thanks Amigo. 73 Art W1SWL
OK, so I filmed the basic small square loop today.. Next in the pot is the BIG one :)
Thanks Cal, really appreciate these tutorials, as currently trying to get to grips with mmana and dipole design. 73’s M7DFH
Glad you like them!
Look forward to the Sky Loops. That is the antenna I have (sky loop), and have already seen it plotted in MMana and EZNEC, but interested to see what you come up with.
Yes, that's cool!
I use a duplexer and triplexer to connect my 2m/70cm radio and my 1.25m radio to my triband omni base antenna. The triplexer is a low pass filter for the 2m band, a bandpass filter for the 1.25m band and a high pass filter for the 70cm band.
Nice.
@@DXCommanderHQ Oops... Sorry for off-topic post. I got crossed between your channel and Mike's channel... 😳
You're a bit of a "road runner!: beep beep zip bang!" while demonstrating the software. QRS!
Good video as usual!😃
Great Cal, ty.
I am waiting for you to model a vertical like your DX Commander.
I need help with modelling the Radials.
👍 your are a very good teacher
OK.. Go back to the first one.. How you model the radials are there.. I go past if quite fast.. See exactly here: ua-cam.com/video/Dxedmw0dfjg/v-deo.html
Hi Ape! How to create a custom ground structure in mmana? (grounded balcony rails) If not possible, which softwarw to use for it? Thanks!
It's not Ape here.. BUT anyway.. Just draw the structure best yoiu can and elevate it off the ground at the right height.
@@DXCommanderHQ I am so sorry, CAL! I watched so many vids in a row. Thanks for your response.
One question; my dipole antenna (two fishing rods back to back with slightly coiled wire) is at roof. If I calculate elevation from the ground, it is 13 meters. But, what about roof. Should I calculate height above roof, or above any longer metal surface? Or, it is as is - above ground? Thank you in advance for your answer. 73
Ignore the roof..
Hi... can you please guide on how do I translate the calculations from the Geometry page to real world to make the antenna that has been designed using the MMANA?
Yes, add your source (feedpoint) then go to Calculate. Check your numbers and go and build it. You will MOSTLY find that if you make something from software into reality, the elements will probably need to be about 95% of what you think..
Thank you for this. I just want to ask: I am going to make an inverted vee for 11 metres and put it in my attic. The lowest point in the attic to the ground outside is about 6 metres. Is this the height I put into the calculation, or would it be 0 metres from the ground to the ceiling of the house being the artificial ground? Thanks
Yes.. Ground is the actual ground. Good man.
@@DXCommanderHQthank you 👍
Hi, I want to simulate a ELRS 70mm antenna in a FOV drone application what is correct parameter to do this correctly
The frequency it operates is 2.4Ghz
OK, so I'm not completely sure of the polar pattern of one of those. It's going to be better than a regular dipole but you'll need to keep the antenna perpendicular to the drone (ish). The parameters will be 2 x dipole legs 12.5mm long each (half an inch) or 1-inch / 25mm long in total.
@@DXCommanderHQ Thank you for your replay so I changed my parameter:Y1(m) = 0.0125 Y2(m) = -0.0125 foot point in the middle with a length of 0.0002m. I also set my frequency to 2400Mhz and added 0.05m height for the real ground. The resulting impedance as well as the SWR 50 is quite off by a large amount. I am quite new to this software, so really appreciate for your help
Hi Callum, thanks for teaching MMANA. Did some experiments with your 40 dipole. Gradually decreased the angle between the legs - until ends were at -6.8 meters with the elevation set to 7 meters. This is close to 90 degrees. Found that as the angle increased - and the ends got closer to the 'ground' - I had to shorten the legs by an increasing amount to get low SWR.
With feedpoint at 7 meters (add height = 7) and ends at -6.8, optimum length of the legs were down to 7.17 meters - giving and SWR of 2.28. With a flatter angle - I could get much lower in SWR.
This very short wire length surprises me - do you belive it is correct ?
Regards
Mike
OK.. so with most of these models, wires that are less than 1/4 wave above ground can give odd impedance readings BUT in real life, the close an antenna is to the ground, the shorter it can be.
Great Video What is the best "Safe" link to download the software ?
Yes, finding safe is important.. Go to their site at gal-ana.de/basicmm/en/ and scroll down to the 4th yellow section where is has the download link.
Tell me, in the Mmana settings "Tools - RF components - boom correction" there is no save button
Correct! I ask you to write to the developers..??
@@DXCommanderHQ Yes, I will write.
Awesome, thanks!
Great videos, one question: it it’s possible to generate a balun in this sw? I’m starting to design a fan dipole 40/20 . , so maybe I can reach you in the air, Saludos XE2GRC
Yes, absolutely.. Optimisation / Advanced / Environment then second drop down, add say 200 (for 4:1 balun for instance)
Hi Cal, thank you so much for teaching us IT computer struggling Hams to understand how to ues this great amntenna program. I am wanting to make aup a Half Square configuration and try various feed methods to review performance, radiation patterns etc. Can you help with a basic end fed 20m Half Sqaure design in this program and how to make the horizontal and vertical lefs? Cheers and thank you again for all your work on You Tube 73's Greg VK3KV
Greg.. I just tried this and failed but I think all you actually need to do is apply a 49:1 transformer on one end. I tried to model it and ran out of time.
Can MMANA be used to simulate/model PCB antenna?
Should be - although you can't place other components nearby on the board.. But conceptually yes.
@@DXCommanderHQ Thanks for responding. I should have been more elaborate. I mean an antenna created with PCB traces.
The issue with PCB trace antennas is that they have a length, width and thickness. However, E2NEC permits the trace to only have a radius. So I take it that MMANA-GAL permits me to specify a metal trace with length, width, Thickness, metal conductivity and the dielectric constant of the underlying medium?
And this is this the free version we are talking about?
Any way to add a 6:1 UNUN in MMANA-GAL?
Yes, a 300 ohm match to the environment.. From Calculate Tab: Optimisation > Advanced > Environement: Lower table where it says 50 Ohms. Change to 300 (equiv of 6:1).
@@DXCommanderHQ Thanks a lot.
My multi band vertical works best on 20m and now I know why!
More questions --
What is the difference between your method - going from 0 to negative for the Inverted V - and what I better understand, setting:
W1 Z1 = 0.2 W1 Z2 = 7
W2 Z1 = 7 W2 Z2 = 7
W3 Z1 = 7 W3 Z2 = 0.2
Giving an inverted V that starts 0.2 meters above ground, feeds at 7 meters and returns to 0.2 meters .. This way I am not having to dig nearly 7 meter deep trenches 🙂
I think I understand what your question is - there's no difference as long as the end result is X distance between ground and feedpoint.
love your channel, my question to you is how long dose a wire have to been for a 11 meter dipole and is there any chance you showing that for me.
regards
dave (charlie tango 4484)
Hiya Dave. Grab your calculator and follow this slowly.. Type in 300. The hit / (divide button) and type your frequency.. Let's say 27.4. The answer should be about 10.95. That's the wavelength.. Now if we divide that again by 2 answer is 5.47. So each side of your dipole is.. But wait! Depending on the wire we use, it's probably a tiny bit smaller.. Suggest we MULTIPLY by 0.95 (that's effectively 95% of the number we had. That means you should see on your calculator, 5.2. That's the measurement in feet. You can THEN adjust it if you don't like it by searching google for "swr calculator m0mcx" and there's a spreadsheet. Basically, if you CUT 1cm, you would change the the frequency from say 27.4 to 27.5. I hope that helps..
@@DXCommanderHQ thanks Callum ill do it tomorrow
Dave
@DXCommander Callum, 300/27.4 will give the length of a full wave. A 1/2 wave dipole which is what matches best has just 1/4 wavelength of wire each side of the feed point; about 2.7m before adjusting for the velocity factor. 73 de M3KXZ
you have interesting background noise on this video. never noticed it before :D
It's been in one of the other newer ones where he is in his man-cave, one of the acutally new ones, not the re-uploads. Sounds like a data line (ethernet, usb, display) near a pre.
Yeah, finally fixed for future. Sorry. It's all about noise on pre-amps and baloney about audio which I won't bory you with :)
Fixed now Bob.. Next few videos, you'll see..
I downloaded MMana 3.0 and only got German. I did it several times. I am in the USA,
Hiya, you need to change the language, go to: Settings (4th option on the top bar), click on language (Bottom option) and find your language
Well, I never knew that! I'm sorry - I must have the last compiled option!
MEGA LOOOOP
MEGA LOOOOP
MEGA LOOOOOOOOOOP.
73
SOON!
move over Elle McPherson and Heidi Klum… here comes the newest SUPER MODELer Cal McCormick
HAHA!
You going wayyyyyy to fast. We are NOT all rocket scientist's please bud. We know you are intelligent. Don't showoff by racing through your explanations on how to ,,,,,
Use the bloomin Gear Icon and slow the video down! Learn how to use UA-cam. And using a PC? Use the back-button. Hello?
@@DXCommanderHQ Thank you. I will scratch around and see what I can figure out. Maybe you can teach us these finer tricks which 90% of us don't know about.