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OT: Antenna Pattern Software
Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 2:53 pm
by KI4M
Does anyone on here have or know where I can get a copy of the old Decibel PatPlot software that was available on their website years ago. Can't find a copy anywhere and it would be nice to have so I can test antenna patterns on the computer versus in the air on the tower.. Thanks ahead of time
Shane KI4M
Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 9:20 pm
by AEC
I never trusted software to properly pattern RF signals as they rarely take actual terrain into account.
You have Fesnel zones to deal with as well as unseen difficulties such as valleys and small hills that a lot of signal pattern software does not take into account unless you can assimilate actual terrain into the plotting from GPS coordinates or a topo map as an overlay.
Personally, I prefer to do drive tests using an HT in the vehicle and a choice of gain and quarter waves on the roof to switch back and forth to.
This gives a far better result due to actual patterning of the usable signals over plotting with software that can't take air temperature, local terrain or buildings/obstructions into account.
MRT used to have an advertisement from a company or two that sold propagation software, but they have not been seen for a quite some time as an advertiser in that magazine, I have no idea as to where or how one can acquire the software now.
I'd love to compare actual drive-outs with the computer's modellinf and compare the results myself.
Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 4:13 am
by KI4M
What I am needing is software to show the pattern of the antenna mounted on the tower... I need to know what the interaction with the tower is going to do to my patterns.. We already have a 2M repeater at this same location and know the pattern on that antenna. HAAT is 800' at the site so terrain is not an issue. I need to know where the tower is going to cause nulls in my pattern and point those toward the proper azimuth heading.. I do not want to cover a certain part of the county here and the nulls need to be in that direction...
Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 6:47 am
by MSS-Dave
KI4M wrote:What I am needing is software to show the pattern of the antenna mounted on the tower... I need to know what the interaction with the tower is going to do to my patterns.. We already have a 2M repeater at this same location and know the pattern on that antenna. HAAT is 800' at the site so terrain is not an issue. I need to know where the tower is going to cause nulls in my pattern and point those toward the proper azimuth heading.. I do not want to cover a certain part of the county here and the nulls need to be in that direction...
I have it at home... a guy from Antenna Specialists wrote it years ago, then he went to TX/RX. You might try looking at the TX/RX web site and see if it's still there. ASP is now part of Andrew (I think..) Shoot me your e-mail in a PM and I'll send it to you tonight from home.
Dave
Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 12:37 pm
by Will
There is some interesting antenna software here:
http://www.ac6v.com/antsoftware.htm