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 Previous: Hams Respond to Midwest Power Outages |  Next: Hams Assist Ailing Sailboat Passengers |
 L. B. Cebik, W4RNL. [ARRL Photo] |
NEWINGTON, CT, Feb 6, 2002--The ARRL Certification and Continuing Education Program will offer its first technical course--Antenna Modeling--starting later this month. Written by the well-known author and historian L.B. Cebik, W4RNL, and edited by ARRL Senior Assistant Technical Editor--and antenna guru--Dean Straw, N6BV, the course offers students a hands-on tutorial. Registration for Antenna Modeling (EC-004) will open Monday, February 11.
The course has been through extensive beta testing during the past several weeks, and even the experts found they'd picked up some new knowledge on the subject. "I've been modeling antennas using a computer for about 15 years, and I certainly learned a great many things in this course," Straw commented. "LB, you're an amazing guy!"
ARRL
Certification and Continuing Education Program Coordinator Dan Miller, K3UFG,
said the experts agreed that the best method to master the art and science of
antenna design and analysis was to become familiar with the basic concepts of
computerized antenna modeling and modeling software. "Using computer
simulations--models--you will study the performance of a wide variety of
antennas, without having to invest in a test range or a room full of test
equipment," he said. "In this course, students will learn to master the basic
techniques of constructing good models."
 ARRL's Dean Straw, N6BV. [ARRL Photo] |
Several excellent and affordable antenna modeling software packages are available. The course will illustrate the elements of modeling antennas using two of the most popular packages based on the NEC-2 core--EZNEC 3.0 by Roy Lewallen, W7EL and NEC-Win Plus by Nittany-Scientific. Since each commercial software package has its own proprietary file system, the course will make available sample models in each program's format. "The course presumes that you have one of these packages or that you are willing and able to adapt the ideas presented in the course to another package you use," Miller said.
A number of the beta testers offered positive feedback after completing the course. "What a gold mine of information!" said Dan Maguire, AC6LA. "I found myself looking forward to taking the next lesson just to see what new things I could learn."
Former ARRL staff member Chuck Hutchinson, K8CH, also took a crack at the program. "Wow, I sure learned a lot about antenna modeling!" was his reaction.
A sample lesson based on the actual Antenna Modeling course is available on the ARRL Web site. "This is intended to provide only a taste of what the actual course has to offer," Miller said. For best results, set computer screen resolution to at least 800x600 pixels (or 1024x768 pixels if available), so that tables, equations and graphics display properly.
Registration for the new Antenna Modeling course opens Monday, February 11, at 4 PM Eastern Time on the ARRL Course Registration page. The registration fee is $85 for ARRL members and $115 for nonmembers. Miller explained that members receive a discount because part of their membership dues help to offset a portion of the cost of course development.
Students will have up to 12 weeks to complete the course material. "There are 31 lessons, and you should plan to spend one to two hours per lesson," Miller advised. The first class begins Tuesday, February 26 and ends Tuesday, May 21.
Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are available for this and for all ARRL Certification and Continuing Education courses.
Answers to most questions are available on
the ARRL Certification and Continuing Education home page and
the associated C-CE links. To learn more, contact ARRL Certification and
Continuing Education Coordinator Dan Miller, K3UFG, cce@arrl.org.
| Previous: Hams Respond to Midwest Power Outages | Next: Hams Assist Ailing Sailboat Passengers |
