(Version 1.9I released May 1997)
 
                   Welcome to NEC4WIN v1.9 evaluation
                A user-friendly implementation of MININEC  
                        running under WINDOWS  
                ------------------------------------------  

For the latest information about NEC4WIN and  accompanying files. Read 
this file with NOTEPAD (maximize the window for clarity). 
  

Important Note:		
                The free evaluation version is fully functional
EXCEPT ON ONE POINT: you cannot reload the projects you created
and saved. Only our "demo" projects files can be loaded. You can
however enter antenna, simulate them, save the project, print all 
diagrams, etc. Projects are saved in ASCII and easily re-entered.

Distribute this version freely as long as you follow the rules
outlined in the Help file.

------------
REGISTRATION
------------

To get a full version you can register via mail or compuserve.
On Compuserve:

     GO SWREG,  SWREG# 13216

If you don't have access to Compuserve, click on "Order Info"
when you run NEC4WIN, then "Order Form" to print an order form
and follow the instructions.

Registered users will get full help and technical support.

-----------------  
TABLE OF CONTENTS  
-----------------  
1.  What's new
2.  Installation
3.  Running the program
4.  How to Get Help
5.  Limitations



-----------------------------
1. What's new in this version
-----------------------------
Corrected BUGS
==============

. Small antennas were not always displayed correctly in 2D.
. Small heights were not saved correctly in the project file.
. In Log file Radius replaced by Diameter.
. Non linearity of Far Field printouts in graphic mode
. Strange values in .INI created overflow problem at startup

Additions, improvements
=======================
A. Pattern info saved in Log
----------------------------
 
Text outputs from the Far Field plot are now saved in the log.
This will allow you to keep track of Gain, Take off Angle, etc,
changes in relations to modifications made to the antenna or
height.

B. Floating point entries
-------------------------

We added a Fixed/Float Format option in the Options menu to 
allow floating point inputs, and made the following additions
or modifications:

- Fixed format can display up to 4 decimals instead of 3
- Addition of a Floating point mode to allow float entries in
  scientific format. The internal numbers are stored as before
  in float format. In float format entries are not truncated and
  will keep the number of decimal that was entered. Columns width
  can in some cases grow too wide and you will have to adjust them
  manually using Shift < and Shift >
- Horizontal scroll bar in geometry grid.

- In the Geometry grid entries can be typed now as
   +/-xxxE+/-yy
  and this in both formats

C. Colors in 2D and 3D Display
------------------------------
Background, text, wire, current, source and load colors
are now selectable and saved in the .INI

When you are in the 2D or 3D display the following keys will
change the corresponding color:


  B	Background		C	Positive current
  F	Text, Axis		N	Negative current	
  W	Wires			S	Sources
  P	Pulses			L 	Loads

The same colors are applied to 2D and 3D.

D. Mouse control of 3D display
------------------------------

This function was partially available in previous versions
but not fully documented. In 3D display you can rotate and
pan (shift) the antenna by using the Mouse.

   Mouse Left button and drag slowly	Rotate Antenna
   Mouse Left & Right + move		Shift up/down

E. Graphic printout margins
---------------------------
Graphic printouts of Far Field patterns are normally printed
centered in the page with 1 inch margins.

These margins cannot be changed from inside the program but
you can edit the NEC4WIN.INI the value of PrinterX and PrinterY
in the [Default] section to change these margins.

F. Save/Load Far Field Patterns BMP
-----------------------------------

In the Far Field window plot you can save the pattern in a BMP,
or load a BMP as a BACKGROUND image by using

 RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON

A small floating popup menu will appear with "Save", "Load".

When you load a BMP it is loaded as a BACKROUND image and you
can overlay new patterns on top of it. But DONT RESIZE the
window after saving the BMP or grid won't overlay exactly.

Clear the background loaded image with "Clear".

Note: You can load any BMP as a background image.

Warning
=======

This feature is added on an "experimental" basis and may be
removed in the future if it creates too many problems. It has 
the following "limitations":

 1. It may crash the program if you are in TrueColor Video and 
    don't have enough memory. BMP files are uncompressed and
    use Megabytes of RAM and disk according to screen definition
    and Color setting. In TrueColor (24 bits per pixel) and
    800 x 600 this is a minimum of 1.4 Mb per picture. Temporary
    memory used during the save operation can be twice as high.

 2. If you save a pattern in a file, change the window size and
    reload the same pattern the window WILL NOT READJUST TO THE
    old size. This means that if you start a new plot calculation
    the old and new grids will be shifted.


Additions to 1.9D/E/F/G
=======================
Standard Editing keys in Geometry
---------------------------------
Microsoft standard editing keys are now supported in the
geometry grid:

        CTRL-X for Delete/delete block
        CTRL-C for Copy/copy block  (and save internally)
        CTRL-V for Insert/Insert Block (paste last saved block)

Connect wires button
--------------------
This is a new button. When pressed the last X2, Y2 and Z2
coordinates are used as X1, Y1 and Z1 when inserting new
wire. This allows rapid entry of interconnected wires and
you just need to enter X2, Y2 and Z2 each time.

Addition of Height button in the geometry grid
----------------------------------------------
A height button in the geometry grid allows direct
adjustement of the height.


Detection of Zero length wires
------------------------------
Zero length wires are now detected and a warning displayed
from inside the Wire grid when you type OK or try to display 
the antenna (calculations are performed transparently to 
generate the pulses and you will have to correct that.

Detection of incorrect wires
----------------------------
When you are in the grid and press on "View" or "OK" a check
is performed on the defined wires. In addition to zero length
the new will detect and display wires that are laying on the
ground and duplicate wires.

New menu item in Options: Direct Print/Graphic Print
----------------------------------------------------
There was a printing problem related to 24 bits graphic cards 
in TrueColor mode (16M colors). The program has been modified
to support these video cards. 

In case you have problems printing Far Field patterns set
the "Direct Printing" found in "Options" which should work
in any configuration.

Direct printing works as in 3DPlot. When Checked you are 
in Direct Print. In Direct Print the printed document is 
proportional to your screen and not rescaled and you may 
have to maximize the window before printing..

By opposition when you are not in "Direct Print", graphic
routines will stretch the Far Field picture to fit the page
on the printer. If it works and you print in Landscape the
printout will be rescaled to fit the width of the page.

WARNING:
There is a problem with definitions of 800 x 600 with more than
256 colors. That bug is caused mainly by Microsoft who recommends
to run graphics programs in 800 x 600 256 colors (See Microsoft
Knowledge base http://www.microsoft.com/kb/articles/q108/4/70.htm).

Tips
----
     Tips are the small yellow windows that are displayed when
the mouse cursor stopped long enough on buttons. The text gives
you some information and tips on the button or control. 

Tips can be a nuisance to some and can be turned off by going to
<Help><Tips on>.
  
---------------  
2. INSTALLATION  
---------------  
  
Installing NEC4WIN on your hard disk:  
--------------------------------------
  
From distribution floppy disks:  
-------------------------------  
   
   1.  Select File|Run from Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.1x,  
       or Windows NT.  
   2.  Enter A:SETUP (or B:SETUP) on the input line.  
   4.  Fill in the directory field, and SETUP will create the Windows  
       groups and install NEC4WIN.  
  
 Alternative installation is:
  
   1.  From the Windows File manager, select the distribution floppy.  
   2.  Click on SETUP.EXE.  
   3.  Specify the drive and directory for the target.  
  
Installing from ZIP files:
-------------------------
A. Full Version
---------------
  
 1.  Decompress in a temporary directory the N4WZIP.ZIP (or execute
     autoextract N4WZIP.EXE). You end up with a number of files as
     listed below. the .XX_ are windows compressed files used by
     the program SETUP.
 2.  Perform the installation as explained above
 3.  Remove all setup files from the temporary directory.

B. Upgrade
----------

Unzip the file and copy the files to your NEC4WIN directory.
You can rename the old NEC4WIN.EXE to NEC4OLD.EXE or anything
else if you want to keep the old version.

Save any demo project that you modified.

----------------
Distribution ZIP
----------------

        SETUP    EXE        19,056 03-10-92  12:00a
        SETUP    LST            42 10-01-96  12:00a
        SETUPKIT DL_         3,657 03-10-92  12:00a
        VBRUN300 DL_       276,684 03-10-92  12:00a
        DDEML    DL_        23,971 03-10-92  12:00a
        COMMDLG  DL_        54,547 03-10-92  12:00a
        VER      DL_         6,714 03-10-92  12:00a
        GRID     VB_        27,975 03-10-92  12:00a
        CMDIALOG VB_        10,865 03-10-92  12:00a
        THREED   VB_        33,489 03-10-92  12:00a
        NEC4WIN  EX_       114,733 02-24-97  12:00a
        N4WSET   EX_        14,638 02-24-97  12:00a
        NEC4WIN  HL_       109,560 02-24-97  12:00a
        N4WDLL   DL_        13,260 02-24-97  12:00a
        NEC4WIN  IN_           542 02-24-97  12:00a
        20DIP    N4_           415 01-01-97  12:00a
        20VERT   N4_           276 01-01-97  12:00a
        21DIP    N4_           391 01-01-97  12:00a
        40INVV   N4_           248 01-01-97  12:00a
        FEEDLINE N4_           420 01-01-97  12:00a
        80DIP    N4_           221 01-01-97  12:00a
        B10M3EL  N4_           382 01-01-97  12:00a
        B10MINCH N4_           350 01-01-97  12:00a
        B40M2EL  N4_           240 01-01-97  12:00a
        BEAM144  N4_           548 01-01-97  12:00a
        DIP10M   N4_           290 01-01-97  12:00a
        DMS      N4_           415 01-01-97  12:00a
        K5RPMAG  N4_           465 01-01-97  12:00a
        QUAD1EL  N4_           324 01-01-97  12:00a
        QUAD1ELX N4_           286 01-01-97  12:00a
        QUAD2EL  N4_           584 01-01-97  12:00a
        SHORT80  N4_           702 01-01-97  12:00a
        DDRR     N4_           669 01-01-97  12:00a
        W8JK     N4_           236 01-01-97  12:00a
        2ELVERT  N4_           245 01-01-97  12:00a
        DELTA40  N4_           249 01-01-97  12:00a
        ZEPP75   N4_           346 01-01-97  12:00a
        4SQUARE  N4_           340 01-01-97  12:00a
        4TOWER   N4_           480 01-01-97  12:00a
        BEACON   N4_           329 01-01-97  12:00a
        ENDFIRE  N4_           366 01-01-97  12:00a
        HRZLOOP  N4_           372 01-01-97  12:00a
        SKYLOOP  N4_           345 01-01-97  12:00a
        SLOPER   N4_           290 01-01-97  12:00a
        UNIPOLE  N4_           534 01-01-97  12:00a
        INVL     N4_           218 01-01-97  12:00a
        LISEZMOI TXT         9,430 02-24-97  12:00a
        README   TXT        12,007 02-24-97  12:00a
               48 file(s)        742,746 bytes
                                 693,760 bytes free



----------------------
4. Running the program
----------------------  
  
Click on the NEC4WIN blue icon. The main window is displayed and you can  
open one of the demo projects found in the NEC4WIN directory or go directly 
to <Plot><Far Field>  You will be prompted for a project name.
  
To see how the antenna looks use <Plot><Antenna> or better <Plot><3D..>
Display wire list and dimensions with <Setup><Geometry>.
  
Unless you want to stare at long lists of numbers use the PLOT command.   
Plot displays the Azimuth (Horizontal) and Zenith(Vertical) fields.   
You can select Logarithmic or Linear display, and print the results.  
  
The "Compute" menu item provides access to far or near fields and currents   
calculations. Results are dumped in a log file which can be printed later.  

Compute is used for compatibility with MININEC. It uses the same angle
description (-90 to +90 for zenith).

  

IMPORTANT  
---------
  
NEC4WIN contains a context sensitive help activated by F1 or by HELP.   
When you do not know what a menu item does, or what buttons do Press F1.  


ERROR DLL Out of Date
=====================

If you get an error message "xxxx Dll Out of date" when you run NEC4WIN
this means that the specified DLL is not loaded correctly, and that the
one you have in \WINDOWS\SYSTEM is older. To solve this problem copy the 
corresponding DLL from the NEC4WIN directory to the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM.
  
------------------  
4. HOW TO GET HELP  
------------------  

Visit our Homepage on Internet at: 

	http://www.cam.org/~mboukri

In addition to the last evaluation version, there will be a FAQ 
available as soon as possible.

You can also contact Madjid BOUKRI, VE2GMI at:

  1. Electronic mail  
  
        Internet:          mboukri@cam.org
                           71061.154@compuserve.com
        CompuServe:        71061,154
  
  2. Phone        Call (514) 626 5002  
  
  3. Mail  

		Madjid BOUKRI
		ORION Microsystems
        197 Cr. JONCAIRE, Ile Bizard
        Quebec, CANADA, H9C 2P7



===============
5. Limitations
===============


NEC4WIN is a Windows version of MININEC. The internal algorithms for
calculating impedance and fields are based on MININEC3 algorithms.

All MININEC limitations apply to NEC4WIN:

Any antenna with horizontal wires lower than 1/4  will give inaccurate
results. This is not dramatic most of the time, but in some specific
cases, results could be quite off the mark especially if the number of
segments is too small.

For more information on MININEC limitations:

  .  MININEC: The other side of the sword, QST, Feb. 1991
  .  Beginner's Guide to computer Antenna modeling programs by
     L.B. Cebik W4RNL, ARRL Antenna compendium #3
  .  Modeling HF antennas with Mininec, John Belrose VE2CV,
     ARRL Antenna compendium #3


Comments, Suggestions?  E-mail to Internet or CompuServe.

TKS, 73's

Madjid BOUKRI VE2GMI

--------------------------------------------------
Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Inc.


