_{[← README](../README.md) · **Usage** · [Development](development.md) · [Deployment](deployment.md) · [API Reference](api.md) · [Contributing](../CONTRIBUTING.md)} # Usage Everything you can do once AntennaSim is running: the antenna templates it ships with, the full feature set, and the keyboard shortcuts. ## Table of Contents - [Antenna Templates](#antenna-templates) - [Features](#features) - [Measuring Wire Spacing](#measuring-wire-spacing) - [Keyboard Shortcuts](#keyboard-shortcuts) --- ## Antenna Templates AntennaSim ships with **17 ready-to-simulate templates** organized by category: | Category | Templates | |---|---| | **Wire** | Half-Wave Dipole, Inverted V, End-Fed Half-Wave | | **Vertical** | Ground Plane Vertical, J-Pole, Slim Jim | | **Multiband** | Off-Center Fed Dipole, G5RV, Fan Dipole | | **Loop** | Delta Loop, Horizontal Delta Loop, Cubical Quad, Small Magnetic Loop | | **Directional** | Yagi-Uda (2-6 el.), Moxon Rectangle, Hex Beam, Log-Periodic Dipole Array | Every template includes configurable parameters (frequency, height, element lengths, spacing, wire diameter, etc.) with sensible defaults and validation ranges. --- ## Features

Simulation Engine

- **Full NEC2 pipeline** -- geometry definition to card deck generation to `nec2c` execution to parsed results, all automated - **Frequency sweep** -- simulate across any frequency range with configurable step size - **10 ground models** -- free space, perfect ground, salt water, fresh water, pastoral, average, rocky, city, dry/sandy, and custom (user-defined dielectric constant and conductivity) - **Lumped loads** -- series RLC, parallel RLC, fixed impedance, and wire conductivity (copper, aluminum, steel, stainless steel) - **Transmission lines** -- characteristic impedance, length, velocity factor, and shunt admittance - **GA/GM/GR cards** -- wire arcs, coordinate transformations, and cylindrical symmetry for complex geometries - **Redis caching** -- simulation results cached with SHA-256 keys and zlib compression (1h TTL) - **Rate limiting** -- opt-in, configurable (default: 30/hour, 5 concurrent per IP when enabled) - **Sandboxed execution** -- `subprocess.run(shell=False, timeout=180)`, isolated temp dirs, non-root container

Interactive 3D Viewport

- **Real-time 3D rendering** -- pan, rotate, zoom with orbit controls - **Radiation pattern** -- 3D surface mesh with perceptually uniform colormap (gain in dBi) - **Volumetric shells** -- alternative multi-shell pattern visualization - **Current distribution** -- wire segments colored by current magnitude with hot colormap - **Animated current flow** -- luminous particles traveling along wires proportional to current - **Near-field heatmap** -- E-field magnitude as a semi-transparent plane in 3D - **Pattern slice** -- animated cutting plane sweeping through the radiation pattern - **Ground reflection** -- ghost mirror showing antenna image below ground plane - **Hover measurements** -- tooltip follows cursor over any 3D object showing gain, wire dimensions, current magnitude, or field strength - **Wire measurement tool** -- select any two wires to compare their closest points, farthest endpoints, or a specific endpoint pair, with signed X/Y/Z offsets and a visual angle guide in either viewport - **Auto-framing** -- camera automatically fits to antenna bounding box on load and template change - **3D orientation gizmo** -- interactive axis cube in the viewport corner; click any face/edge/corner to snap to that camera angle - **Compass rose** for spatial orientation

Charts & Analysis

- **SWR vs. Frequency** -- color-coded zones (green/amber/red), ham band markers, resonance annotation, crosshair tooltips - **Impedance (R + jX)** -- resistance and reactance curves, reference impedance line, resonance crossings where jX=0 - **Smith Chart** -- impedance locus with frequency markers, constant SWR circles (1.5, 2.0, 3.0), click-to-inspect tooltip showing Z, SWR, and reflection coefficient - **Polar Radiation Pattern** -- azimuth (H-plane) and elevation (E-plane) cuts, -3dB beamwidth arc, max gain marker, concentric dBi grid - **Chart popups** -- click any chart to expand to a full-screen modal for detailed analysis - **Legends** -- every chart includes a clear legend explaining all colors, lines, and markers - **Balun/Unun matching** -- client-side impedance transformation with 10 presets (1:1 to 49:1) for viewing SWR relative to transformed impedance - **.s1p overlay** -- import NanoVNA measurement data and overlay on simulation SWR for comparison

Wire Editor

- **Build from scratch** -- click-to-add wires, drag endpoints, snap grid - **Move mode** -- drag endpoints or entire wires; Shift+drag for vertical-only movement - **Undo/Redo** -- full history with Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z - **Wire properties** -- edit coordinates, radius, segments per wire - **Excitations** -- set feed points with magnitude and phase - **Loads & transmission lines** -- add lumped RLC loads and TL models to any segment - **Templates** -- load any built-in template into the editor and modify it - **Import/Export** -- open and save `.nec` (NEC2 card deck) and `.maa` (MMANA-GAL) files

Optimizer

- **Nelder-Mead** algorithm (scipy, adaptive mode) - **5 objective functions** -- minimize SWR (single freq), minimize SWR (band average), maximize gain, maximize front-to-back ratio, weighted combined - **Up to 10 variables** with min/max bounds - **Real-time progress** -- WebSocket streaming of iteration count, current best SWR, convergence chart - **Cancel** -- abort optimization mid-run

Other

- **17 antenna templates** spanning wire, vertical, multiband, loop, and directional categories - **Template library page** -- browse and compare all templates with descriptions and difficulty ratings - **Learn page** -- educational content on NEC2, SWR, impedance, radiation patterns, and simulation tips - **Mobile responsive** -- usable on phones and tablets with touch-friendly controls - **Dark/Light theme** -- system-aware with manual toggle - **Keyboard shortcuts** -- 17 bindings for fast workflow (press `?` to see them all)

--- ## Measuring Wire Spacing The **Measure** button is in the bottom-right corner of both the Simulator and Wire Editor viewports. It works with a mouse or touchscreen: 1. Select **Measure** to enter measurement mode. 2. Click or tap the first wire, shown in amber. 3. Click or tap the second wire, shown in blue. 4. Choose **Closest points**, **Farthest endpoints**, or a specific A/B endpoint pair from **Measure points**. 5. Read the distance, wire angle, and signed NEC2 axis offsets in the measurement panel. X points east, Y north, and Z up. The endpoint labels identify wire 1 as **1A/1B** and wire 2 as **2A/2B**. The white dashed guide connects the active point pair; red, green, and blue guides show its X, Y, and Z components. The dashed amber and blue lines extend the two wire axes through their closest approach, and the white arc marks the smaller angle reported by the panel. This angle guide stays at the shared feed point of a fan antenna even when a different endpoint pair is being measured. An angle of 0° means the axes are parallel and 90° means they are perpendicular. The viewport omits the angle guide when the displayed angle is 0.0° to keep parallel-wire measurements uncluttered. Select another wire to begin a new measurement, use **Clear** to keep measuring from scratch, or select **Measure** again to close the tool. --- ## Keyboard Shortcuts Press `?` anywhere in the app to see the full shortcuts panel. ### Simulator | Key | Action | |---|---| | `Ctrl + Enter` | Run simulation | | `Scroll` | Zoom | | `Left drag` | Rotate | | `Right drag` | Pan | ### Wire Editor | Key | Action | |---|---| | `V` | Select mode | | `A` | Add wire mode | | `M` | Move mode | | `Ctrl + Z` | Undo | | `Ctrl + Shift + Z` | Redo | | `Ctrl + A` | Select all | | `Delete` | Delete selected | | `Escape` | Deselect all |