At 03:12 PM 5/11/03 +0000, Robert Peterson - W3YY wrote:
>Sounds like Pete is very much aware of the terrain issue and has also either
>developed tools or found existing ones to do the analysis.
Good heavens -- no invention claims here. I am a beta tester for HFTA (HF
Terrain Analysis) by Dean Straw, N6BV. It will come bundled with the 20th
edition of the ARRL Antenna Book, to be released this fall. HFTA is the
Windows evolution of YT, which Dean developed and which was bundled with
the last previous editions of the Antenna Book. HFTA computes a figure of
merit (weighted average gain) for each antenna setup and terrain profile;
those are the numbers I was quoting to quantify the effect of changes in
height. I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of it, but my article
on "Scoring Your Antenna system" in NCJ a couple of years ago (Jan/Feb
2001, corrections in Sept/Oct) seems to have been the first ham publication
describing this technique.
That's not important -- what IS important is that Dean has done the work to
collect the statistical arrival angle data and write a really nice piece of
software.
With Dean's blessing, I'm giving a talk featuring HFTA and other
innovative, low-cost modeling software for hams at the Dayton Hamvention's
Antenna Forum next weekend. See you there?
73, Pete N4ZR
The World HF Contest Station Database was updated 9 May 03.
Are you current? www.pvrc.org/wcsd/wcsdsearch.htm
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