Proplab- Pro 3 – Part 1
Contents
1. novice user but more than worth learning how to do and interpret it by analysis with knowledge This will be entirely the Part 2 subject So stay tuned 30 Click for Author s Biography antenneX Online Issue No 131 March 2008 Send mail to webmaster antennex com with questions or comments Copyright 1988 2008 All rights reserved worldwide antenneX antenneX Issue No 131 March 2008 Page 82. Hours UTC Fig 5 MUF chart Note FOT Frequency of Optimum Transmission the FOT is usually the most effective frequency for ionospheric reflection of radio waves between two specified points on Earth Synonyms frequency of optimum traffic optimum traffic frequency optimum transmission frequency optimum working frequency Antenna Selection Proplab 3 comes pre built with several standard antenna radiation patterns that can be used to produce more realistic signal analyses The radiation patterns are not completely 3 dimensional the elevation azimuth gain tables are simplified to a two and a half dimension The reason for not using true 3 D patterns is simply computing speed not to mention complexity even with today s fastest home based computer systems Using partly simplified radiation patterns the software is able to render results significantly faster and yet retain a majority of realism in the radiation patterns The simplified pattern means an elevation azimuth gain slide with the maximum gain at that heading of the chosen antenna lt is possible to create or generate antenna radiation patterns yourself not with Proplab 3 itself but with an additional utility program included with the package Fig 6b This utility converts 2 D and 3 D antenna types useable with VOACAP in conjunction with HFANT to antenna patterns useable for Proplab 3 In the Proplab Pro 3 manual is clearly explained how to do such conversions A great help
3. Proplab Pro 3 Part 1 A review by ON5AU At the end of previous year 2007 Propla D Pro had a look on the internet site of STD Solar T Terrestrial Dispatch and was happily the Waar VrAanwcaAatian surprised to find the announcement of their Hl b 60 o pi Opagation latest release Proplab Pro Version 3 a tiny Ee available from December 19 2007 This was the promised Upgrade was expected for many years In the past often used Problab Pro 2 to illustrate and make propagation properties visual in my monthly Propagation column at antennex This software packet was not only a program for classical propagation predictions such as MUF FOT and Reliability but in special also a program to analyze the propagation properties of high frequency signals in the ionosphere This m Version 2 from aoul 1994 is a DOS related program and has some options not too user friendly but nevertheless gave reliable results At the manual of Proplab Pro 2 was mentioned that these less user friendly options should be resolved in a future Version 3 The time has come to try out and study the newest release Installation Installing the software was easy and smooth The minimum system requirements are Windows 2000 XP or Vista 256 MB of memory recommended 512 MB 2 5 GB of free hard disk space 1 GHz microprocessor recommended a 2 GHz Monitor capable of 1024 X 768 pixels recommended 1680 X 1050 pixels did the test compu
4. es Proplab the ability to ray trace through even more realistic simulations of the behavior of the Earth s ionosphere The end result is greater accuracy even during geomagnetically disturbed periods Fig 2 New in Proplab Pro 3 is the option to use the D Region Model permitting SW Stratospheric Warming and WA Winter Anomaly Data for these D Region properties and many other ionospheric informative data can be found at http www swpc noaa gov An in depth understanding of what the various checkboxes enables or disables is beyond the need to know is what the manual says They simply turn on or off various models used by the IRI to calculate ionospheric properties that Proplab Pro 3 uses The manual mentions having an Internet search for lonospheric IRI did some searching and the following links might be of help for a start Perhaps this is a challenge for a future issue to dig a bit deeper into these matters http modelweb gsfc nasa gov ionos iri html http Awww ted isas jaxa jp IRI_ News antenneX Issue No 131 March 2008 Page 2 P Proplab Pro Radio Propagation Laboratory 2008 01 06 10 00 00 Sales Main Options Rayptrace Signals Electron Density Profiles Compute MUFs Global lonospheric Maps Antennas Copyright Map Options IRI Model Options Other Options Transmitter JONSAU Belgium Receiver Corpus Christi TX United States P ti sre V Auto Lookup City a
5. es included in the database A minimum of 3 characters and waiting 3 seconds after typing your last character is enough to find the location s Simply choose the city that matches what you are looking for and click on it The corresponding city latitude and longitude will then be displayed into the appropriated input boxes Miscellaneous items 1 Centering the map on a particular latitude longitude to your convenience 2 The bearing and distance for the communication circuit is displayed 3 Buttons for Redraw Map display Great Circle Path and Clear Patch 4 Set Time mode Where you have the options Use Current Real Time or Set UTC Time Manually In case of use current real time you can define the Map Refresh Interval in minutes and a countdown counter is displaying how many minutes seconds left for the map refresh 5 The sun position is shown on the map The 2007 International Reference lonosphere Proplab Pro 3 comes integrated with the 2007 IRI International Reference lonosphere data Many different versions of the IRI were released throughout the years This is the latest and greatest version of data to describe the Earth s ionosphere in mathematical terms For those without a good grasp this is truly significant since IRI 2007 is without question one of the most elaborate and useful versions that the IRI working group has ever produced It generates more accurate ionospheric electron density profiles than ever before and giv
6. for creating the antennas patterns you need to represent your station antenna farm is the extra collection of 3D type 13 files available at antennexX compiled by L B Cebik 16 collections representing more then 1700 antenna models Yagi s quads various doublets inverted V s monopoles ground planes loops etc At the antenna selection window screen it is possible to define the Transmitter Power in watt Fig 6a It is not clearly explained in the manual if this power is supposed to be at the transmitter antenneX Issue No 131 March 2008 Page 6 output or at the feedpoint of the antenna itself suppose the latter because feedline losses can substantially change from station to station and feedline type and length When using fixed azimuth directional antennas it is possible to change the azimuthal bearing to its real beaming direction With rotatable antennas both TX RX antennas are pointed toward each other automatically P Proplab Pro Radio Propagation Laboratory 2008 02 13 12 49 01 Transmitter Antenna File to Open Receiver Antenna File to Open 3 element yagi 55 feet high X A S ro 3 element yagi 55 feet high X TEN 5 ntenna Selection pane m Transmitter Azimuth 1225 Receiver Azimuth 45 3 element yagi 55 feet high PETE ed E i 000 3 element yagi 55 feet high M Limit gain plots to 0 dBi Transmitter Antenna Elevation Pattern Receiver Antenna Elevation Pattern Antenna Gain dBi 13 3 Antenna Gain dBi 13 3 Azim
7. fter gt 3 letters typed None Lookup Transmitter Lookup Receiver Mercator C Lambert Transmitter Receiver Galls Lat 51 Lat 27 800583 Ortho N Lon 3 93 Lon 97 396378 C Othos Lat 865763_ Lon 76 2353 C Equidist N C Equidist Clear Paths C EqlAreaN EqlAreaS Bearing 296 22 Distance 8369 5 Km C Stereo N Set Time Mode C Use Current Real Time Peters NN cert Tie Mannan Oblique Az Year Month Day Hour Min Sec Path Type 2008 fi 5 fio oo o0 Short Path C LongPath Map Refresh Interval 5 minutes xx xx Grayline Angle E 20 Redraw Map Map Center CenterLat Center Lon 0 00000 0 00000 3 webpage ONSAU Mi cuy Proplab3 Microsoft Fig 1 The Map location settings window P Proplab Pro version 3 0 5 naamloos Paint weg Graphic Workshop K z lt j 10 59 P Proplab Pro Radio Propagation Laboratory 2008 02703 09 24 05 Map Options RI Model Options Other Options 2007 International Reference lonosphere Model Options Running 12 Month Mean Sunspot Number a5 IG Index Eff SSN a7 10 7cm Solar Flux Go 4 Apia Indes 7 6 Uneheck bases to use features in brackets Otherwise check the box iv Electron density based on the CEIR Model URS Modell IV Bottom Thickness BO computed using table Gulpaeva 1987 10 7cm flus saturates at 188 no saturation W Mag Field uses IGAF POGO68 10 for 1973 Spread F probability model ba
8. l lonospheric Map Maximum Useable Frequencies Compared to Proplab 2 the Version 3 has two additions with the Hourly MUF Graphs option a ray traced FOT and the elevation angle required for a signal at the MUF to reach the destination Proplap 3 computes two kind of FOT the Normal FOT which is computed as simply 85 of the MUF which differ substantially from the ray traced FOT The ray traced FOT is defined as the highest frequency that permits 85 of the signal to be refracted back to Earth Why is this information useful Because unlike the traditional FOT this ray traced definition of the FOT guaranties that 85 of your antenneX Issue No 131 March 2008 Page 5 radiated power will reach the Earth on the given FOT frequency The same is not true for the Normal FOT computed in the traditional way as the plot Fig 5 clearly illustrates P Proplab Pro Radio Propagation Laboratory 2008 02 13 14 09 00 Main Options Raytrace Signals Electron Density Profiles Compute MUFs Global lonospheric Maps Antennas Copyright MUF Parameter Maximum Usable Frequencies oo Pm From 3 8333E 51 0000 to 97 3964 27 8006H 3000 0 km on 2008 0212 UTC FOT Parameters Starting Angle fo 5 Ending Angle 30 A V Normal FOT WV Elevation k ak WV Display Legend Frequency MHz wo co sooifep ojbuy uone 3 Print Chart 2 Del eae Seay ae Leeman eee 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
9. lab 3 and well documented with colorful illustrations Those who have experience with Proplab Version 2 will encounter no problems to use the new Version 3 contrary it is now less cumbersome and much handier to define all the necessary input parameters For those not familiar with the older Version 2 is the accompanied manual of this version a great help to understand ionospheric behavior and properties and some explanation about the use of the ray tracing engine and different analysis Proplab Pro Version 3 can be ordered and downloaded via Internet or on CD ROM at the STD website Delivered via Internet the package costs 240 USD Perhaps this sound rather high at first glance But taking into account the huge man hours to program and to create the unique worldwide locations and topographical databases plus the much better accuracy of the ray tracing models makes it more than worth its price AS mentioned at the start was looking toward a new release of Proplab Pro since years and am very happy it is finally available More to come One option is not discussed yet the ray tracing of radio signals This option is the one that Proplab Pro distinguishes the most from any other propagation prediction program Proplab Pro 2 was considered by many around the world as the most powerful radio propagation diagnostic tool in the world in spite of some drawbacks which are solved in Proplab Pro 3 This ray tracing is rather complex in particular for the
10. s etc New is compared with Proplab 2 D layer parameters lonospheric Valley Top height lonospheric Valley Thickness Spreaf F Probabilities in X Ray Absorption for a given frequency and a ray traced MUF or FOT These additions are of great help to study the ionospheric behavior and the propagation characteristics in greater detail and more profoundly Also new is the option Map Transparency an attractive feature of Proplab 3 to make the underlying map more or less prominent on the screen P Proplab Pro Radio Propagation Laboratory 2008 01 07 20 50 13 Main Options Raytrace Signals Electron Density Profiles Compute MUFs Global lonospheric Maps Antennas Copyright Plotted Series E MUF at 3 000 km Number of Contours Critical Frequencies of the F2 Layer M3000 Factors Electron Gyrofrequencies kHz WV Use Color Map colska na da is M Height Maximum of the F2 Layer V MUF over 3000 km distances M Spread F Probabilities in WV Include Great Circle F Critical Frequencies of the E Layer Magnetic DIP Angles M Ray traced MUF takes time V Include Gray Circle Map Transparency eo F lonospheric Valley Top Height F Solar Zenith Angles LT Frequency of 85 Reflection WV Display Legend P Critical Frequencies of the D Layer P lonospheric Valley Thickness Total Magnetic Field Strength Height Maximum of the D Layer Modified DIP Latitudes Xray Absorption dB 5 0 MHz Draw Map Print Chart Fig 4 Globa
11. sed on solar zenith angle f f Standard Fl Model Scotto 9 Model with L Option Use the Storm Time Model Don t use Storm Model Obtain Solar and Geomagnetic Data via Internet fis xxx mins MTop 5ide Model C Original AlZ001 Topside Model Corected IRI2001 Model f NeQuick Topside Model TTS Model l D Region Model Permitting SW and WA s below Curent 3 Hour Kp Index 0 667 Stratosphere Warmin f No arming normal Curent Solar ray Flus 373 Minor Warming in progress f Major Warming in progress stay Satelite Prefie 57 case sensitive winter nomaly Ho anomaly normal f Weak anomaly in progress f Strong anomaly in progress Strat arn and inter Anomaly information can Usually be found at wii soc noaa gow Enabling this D Reman model causes a more complex electron density profile m the lower ionosphere and i hielp to cause slower 3D yap iracings Fig 2 The IRI model Options window giving you control over many IRI2007 model features antenneX Issue No 131 March 2008 Page 3 Electron Density Profile Once you have defined a communication circuit Proplab computes several ionospheric properties displayed by the Electron Density Profile option This option displays a window consisting of individual parts Lat TA The main part of the Electron Density Profile window displays a 51 F356 Ba 3507 world map showing the circ
12. some and mailed Cary about it Cary answered that most were planned and will be included in a next build update All maps charts or plots can be printed by one mouse click Version 2 has the additional possibility to Copy them as a gif file No option to define a Sporadic E layer No Auroral zone border lines projection on the maps The magnetic disturbance Ap index is not possible to configure manually No option to define Polarcap absorption No option to define X ray flare type occurrence Location input of TX RX not possible via Maidenhead grid square locator input also made some suggestions and also these will be taken into account in a next release When you hover the cursor above an input field checkbox etc a legend is displayed about the hovered item You can disable this option at the Other Options screen But the time that the legend is displayed is too short to read properly So proposed to lengthen the display time or to keep it displayed as long as the mouse cursor hovers the item on the screen As mentioned above is a user s discussion group internet page created The proposal is to put a direct clickable link to the user s group discussion page from Proplab Pro 3 directly and not via an additional step the Windows Internet Explorer proposed also to put a direct Tab from within Proplab 3 to start the utility program ITS convert Would be much handier The manual is good explaining the features of Prop
13. spheric parameters and yes you can work with the today s on the spot values antenneX Issue No 131 March 2008 Pagel Map location settings The map option will be used frequently and let you set up several propagation circuit parameters Fig 1 Map projections Thirteen different kinds of map projections are available Mercator spherical hemisphere and oblique Azimuth projections Short long Path This is the classical toggle selection between the two paths Here one note the 3D ray tracing engine is limited to short path only or 20 000 km half way around the globe Gray angle Allows defining the width of the grayzone in degrees after sunset ahead sunrise use a negative value this means the sun below the horizon One degree equals four minutes in time Transmitter and Receiver Locations The same classical methods as with Proplab Pro 2 are available However using the grid location method popular amongst the VHF UHF bands users is not available with Version 3 Perhaps this can be added in a future update to make these people happy A truly great advantage with Version 3 is the enormous database of worldwide locations with their latitude longitude coordinates and even their altitude for the altitude see later Speaking of databases Proplab Pro 3 is equipped with one of the largest city databases in the world nearly 600 000 KB You can easily and quickly look up any of the over 5 million city and place nam
14. ting for this review with Windows XP 512 MB memory 2 GHz Pentium 4 microprocessor and a monitor of 1024 X 768 pixels For almost all of the available options this was more than sufficient However the 3D ray tracing option better needs a much higher microprocessor clock frequency see later A 60 page manual explains all the options and has several colorful illustrations quote from the manual Introduction chapter Problab Pro Version 3 is a state of the art package not for the faint of heart A basic understanding of radio propagation and terms related to radio propagation is presumed This quote is certainly true the package is therefore also accompanied with the user s manual of Version 2 not because it applies in any specific way to the operation of Version 3 it does not but because it has a very nice introduction to radio propagation and ray theory Reading my columns or books should also be of great help to have insight into propagation and ionospheric properties both published by antennex Proplab Pro 3 is a Windows program and a lot easier to use than the DOS Version 2 was With simple mouse clicks the option windows pop up and input parameters are easily chosen with checkboxes radio buttons and simple input fields At first startup the program asks you to fill in your email address This option allows the program to connect to servers and fulfill the requirements for the anonymous FTP protocol to collect certain needed iono
15. uit path and its distance and the day grayline night shading This map serves also for giving lonospherc Statistics specific details of ionospheric properties of any chosen Critical F2 Layer Freq location see below Max Laer Height SEE At the left a table with the Height Range May F2 Electron Der various ionospheric computed z values at the path mid point 00 to 500 0 Km Critical F1 Layer Freq Fig 3a Unique with Proplab 3 q Plasma Freq Along Path Max Fl Layer Height 176 72 is the possibility of finding out eas locshon Max F1 Electron Den sls lr Hae A ean Giek Mouse on Map te Sei k at any point of the world map SDS Critical E Layer Freq This option is enabled by un E m Max E Layer Height checking the Path Mid Point D arapa F Max E Layer Density 8 08e 10 box see illustration at the right e Critical D Layer Freg and thereafter by clicking at any point at the map Doing so Max D Laver Height along the circuit path gives you all the information you would Max D Layer Density 4 00e 09 like to know about the ionospheric properties along that path Furthermore you can find out the altitudes at any location on Solar Zenith Angle the Earth with this feature This altitude is simply displayed at Elevation Angle the bottom of the lonospheric Statistics table in the Receiver Height box Simply point and click Note the altitudes displayed are in meters To convert meters to feet multiply by 3 281 and meters to miles multipl
16. uth of Max Gain 0 000 Azimuth of Max Gain 0 000 Max Gain Elevation 16 000 Max Gain Elevation 76 000 Transmitter Antenna Azimuthal Pattern Receiver Antenna Azimuth Pattern Signal Azimuth Angle 225 s Signal Azimuth Angle 45 5 Signal Elevation Angle js gt Signal Elevation Angle 4g Fig 6a The antenna Selection option screen ae Convert between ITS VOACap and STD s Proplab Pro Antenna Formats Seles ITS to Proplab Antenna Converter ITS Antenna Azinuth File Eoo Proplab Antenna File destination PO Be ITS Elevation File 0 Convert File Fig 6b The utility program ITS to Proplab Antenna Converter Discussion Group There is a discussion group established so that owners of Proplab Pro 3 can exchange ideas and findings just navigate to http Wwww spacew com forum and click on the Software Discussion section followed by the Proplab Pro link An easier way should be an inherent tab link in Proplab Pro itself Primary Comments and findings In the introductory chapter of the manual the authors the write Many of the features in Version 3 are not available in Version 2 and there may even be a few things that were present in Version 2 that are not present in Version 3 If anyone can spot a feature that is missing from antenneX Issue No 131 March 2008 Page 7 this latest version by all means let us know We would love nothing more than to debug something else spotted
17. y by 0 00062137 Solar Declination Spread F Prob Magnetic DIP Sunspot Number At the top of the window is a chart showing a profile of the Magnetic Ap Index plasma frequencies along the defined circuit path Fig 3b Transmitter Height Recenter Height Fig 3a The numerical values table 2m meters Un checking the Plasma Freq Along Path checkbox shows the vertical electron density profile chart over the path mid point if the Path mid point checkbox is checked Otherwise the density profile of a chosen location on the map Fig 3c Plasma Freq E 6057 BM 539 Barz B 4054 D 3 366 B 2719 2051 p 1 363 O 0715 O 0047 4 000 5 000 Distance Along Path Fig 3b The circuit plasma frequencies chart For both the transverse plasma frequency chart or the electron density chart you can set the height range and you have the possibility to zoom in or zoom out This interesting Zooming facility is also available at many other map and charts with Proplab 3 antenneX Issue No 131 March 2008 Page 4 100x10 1 00 x10 100 x10 1 00 x10 1 00 x10 100 x10 co Fig 3c The vertical electron density profile chart Global lonospheric Maps Proplab Pro 3 is equipped with a complete suite of ionospheric maps Fig 4 You can plot about anything such as Maximum Useable Frequencies ionospheric layers critical frequencies the layers height maximum magnetic field parameters electron gyro frequencie
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