Please, note that I experimentally confirmed -once again- that
NASA does not infinitely support direct linking to its
Technical Reports Server (NTRS) contents. Therefore, the link
given in article:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
| Sent......: Thursday, August 19, 2010 7:32 PM
| Newsgroups: sci.physics.electromag,rec.radio.amateur.antenna
| Subject...: vemsa3d 1.1 - a floss visual em simulator for
| 3d antennas
| From......:
|
| ...
| J. H. Richmond, Radiation and Scattering by Thin-Wire
| Structures in the Complex Frequency Domain, (15), p.6
| http://tinyurl.com/24zwycy
| ...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
is not a valid one anymore. One has to firstly connect to
NTRS:
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp

and search for:
"Radiation and scattering by thin-wire structures in the
complex frequency domain"

or some adequate part of it, e.g. like the following one,
which it seems that currently holds:
"Radiation and scattering by thin-wire"

to get the Richmond's report item first and after two
more steps the full-text through "View PDF File".

Petros Zimourtopoulos

| "John Smith" wrote in message
| ...
| On 8/23/2010 12:42 PM, wrote:
|
| ...
|
| Well, as you have seen, a concept such as "free" can mean
| many things to many different people, splitting hairs on that
| is only a waste of time some can engage in here ...
| However, I have downloaded the source, in C++, and have been
| making notes and stub testing various parts. One aspect of
| the source which really strikes me in the face, it is
| un-commented! Ya' just gotta luv that software engineer!
| ROFLOL
|
| Regards,
| JS
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Dear JS,

Thank you for pointed out this issue too!

As I already said, VEMSA3D is open source code, which is
distributed as free-libre; not free-gratis. Therefore, we
keep the right to publish full-comments about our source
code sometime in the future, as everybody else of course.
Please, see GNU GPL 3.0:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html

Free-gratis is the MS Windows application VEMSA3D, which
*everyone* can enjoy the production of it by simply following
the fully-commented instructions we already gave at the third
page, right column, of our paper:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1006.0031

Best regards,

pez, SV7BAX

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
| From......: "Bill Miller"
| Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.antenna,sci.physics.electromag
| Sent......: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 1:00 AM
| Subject...: vemsa3d 1.1 - a floss visual em simulator
| ..........: for 3d antennas
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
| wrote in message ...
|| "John Smith" wrote in message
|| ...
|| On 8/22/2010 11:55 PM, wrote:
||
|| ...
|| Well, after all, it seems that we only forgot to mention the
|| name of that elephant in the room -perhpas because its
|| advantageous name is /F/L/O/S/S/.
||
|| Best regards,
||
|| pez
| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
| |
| | Yes, the free, as in free beer is one great advantage, but an
| | advantage not all will be able to take advantage of. Since
| | MMANA-GAL and EZNEC have visual interfaces so similar, being
| | able to use one is effectively being able to immediately use
| | the other. The learning curve into your interface takes just
| | a bit longer ... but, as you say, the availability of the
| | source makes it highly desirable to at least one group.
| |
| | Thanks for the swift reply,
| | JS
| |
| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|
| You're very welcome!
|
| But please take into account that our software is not free,
| as in free beer or free gratis; is free, as in liberty, in
| free speech or free libre*. Therefore, we don't support
| license brokers, promote illegal code use or propagandize
| software piracy.
|
| Thank you very much for the chances you gave me to clearly
| express our group point of view!
|
| Kind regards,
|
| pez
|
|* Gratis versus Lib
| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratis_versus_Libre
|
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|
| FYI I'll be posting information and links on your software on
| antenneX.com's user group.
|
| Antennex.com is, perhaps, the largest and most diverse
| website devoted exclusively to antennas and related items.
| The website has both free (no charge) and fee (charge for
| subscription) sections.
|
| The user group is no charge and there are particiapnts from
| close to 100 countries with skill levels from enthusiastic
| amateur to world recognized experts.
|
| Bill
|
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Thank you very much, Bill, I really appreciate your offer.
Please try to do so -if you are an unmoderated user of the
magazine list, of course- since our accounts to magazine
e-list are about to expire, while, after 7 years or so, our
group members' subscriptions to the magazine, have been
recently expired -the last one today:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
| Sent...: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 7:03 AM
| Subject: Your antenneX Paid Subscription Account has Expired
| From...: antenneX Online Magazine listmgr-at-antennex.com
| To.....: Petros Zimourtopoulos ...-at-antennas.gr
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Petros

Petros ...

I posted some information on your VEMSA3D on Antennex's discussion group,
but your email bounced. May I have a correct email for you, please? PM me if
you'd like.

Bill Miller
kt4yeatyahoo.com

On 8/24/2010 1:05 AM, wrote:

...
Dear JS,

Thank you for pointed out this issue too!

As I already said, VEMSA3D is open source code, which is
distributed as free-libre; not free-gratis. Therefore, we
keep the right to publish full-comments about our source
code sometime in the future, as everybody else of course.
Please, see GNU GPL 3.0:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html

Free-gratis is the MS Windows application VEMSA3D, which
*everyone* can enjoy the production of it by simply following
the fully-commented instructions we already gave at the third
page, right column, of our paper:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1006.0031

Best regards,

pez, SV7BAX


Again, I would never look a gift horse in the mouth ... I don't find the
lack of comments an surmountable problem. If you have a basic
understanding of the concepts which a piece of software source deals
with, it is relatively easy to locate them and comment/document them
yourself. For example, when looking in software for routines and
statements dealing with a circle, you would simple search for constructs
dealing with area, circumference, diameter, etc. It is just a logical
progression to look for those dealing with the implementation of the
moment method. NEC source used in conjunction with these efforts makes
it a tolerable exercise in reverse engineering the task ...

I see nothing wrong with expecting someone to do a bit of work to get
something for "free", LOL.

Regards,
JS

| "Bill Miller" wrote in message
| ...
|
| Petros ...
|
| I posted some information on your VEMSA3D on Antennex's
| discussion group, but your email bounced. May I have a correct
| email for you, please? PM me if you'd like.
|
| Bill Miller
| kt4yeatyahoo.com

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Bill,

Yes, indeed! I just saw your appreciative message for vemsa3d
along with the comments of other [Antenna-discussion] list
members, just a little before, when I unsubscribed from that
list:

-
| Sent...: Wednesday, August 25, 2010 8:43 AM
| Subject: You have been unsubscribed from the Antenna-discussion
| : mailing list
| To.....: ...-at-gmail.com
| From...:
|

| Thanks for your stay with us!
|
| Regards, Listmgr
-

as well as of that one founded by ever memorable Cebik:

-
| Sent...: Wednesday, August 25, 2010 8:50 AM
| Subject: You have been unsubscribed from the Cebiksite
| mailing list
| To.....: ...-at-gmail.com
| From...: cebiksite-bounces-at-cebik.com
-

As of this email address, unfortunately, I have to use it in
USENET against e-mail robot-reapers. I already sent you this
e-mail from my real e-mail address too.

Thank you very much,

Petros Zimourtopoulos

| wrote in message ...
| ...
| Free-gratis is the MS Windows application VEMSA3D, which
| *everyone* can enjoy the production of it by simply following
| the fully-commented instructions we already gave at the third
| page, right column, of our paper:
| http://arxiv.org/abs/1006.0031
| ...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A clarification is needed he This is version 1.0 info,
which has to be seen in parallell with that of file
[install.txt] included in version 1.1 zip at:
http://code.google.com/p/rga/downloads/list

pez, SV7BAX

| "John Smith" wrote in message
| ...
| ...
| Again, I would never look a gift horse in the mouth ... I don't
| find the lack of comments an surmountable problem. If you have
| a basic understanding of the concepts which a piece of software
| source deals with, it is relatively easy to locate them and
| comment/document them yourself. For example, when looking in
| software for routines and statements dealing with a circle, you
| would simple search for constructs dealing with area,
| circumference, diameter, etc. It is just a logical progression
| to look for those dealing with the implementation of the
| moment method. NEC source used in conjunction with these
| efforts makes it a tolerable exercise in reverse engineering
| the task ...
|
| I see nothing wrong with expecting someone to do a bit of work
| to get something for "free", LOL.
|
| Regards,
| JS

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

That's right! Since -as you already said- there are various
aspects of "free". Therefore, there is no field of application
of term 'reverse engineering' especially under the licenses
'Free Libre Source Code' and 'Public Domain Source Code',
since there is nothing there to disassembly it.

Moreover, under these licenses, ethics impose to give in return
at least as much as you get. This is especially holds in VEMSA3D
case, in which we get the Source Code included in J.H.Richmond's
report:

"Computer program for thin-wire structures in a homogeneous
conducting medium"

or just

"Computer program for thin-wire structures"

from NASA Technical Reports Server at:
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp

in the way already described in message:

| Sent......: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 8:59 AM
| Subject...: vemsa3d 1.1 - a floss visual em simulator
| : for 3d antennas
| Newsgroups: sci.physics.electromag,rec.radio.amateur.antenna
| From......:

Well, this source code has 1,044 lines of code, in 16 routines:

(1,044 = 100 + 61 + 158 + 36 + 9 + 98 + 120 + 104 + 40 + 64 +
+ 45 + 22 + 22 + 40 + 87 + 38)

and in return, we give for now:

* only 3 comment lines less than *

those exist among these 1,044 lines -as one can easily find
them in SGANT routine, at page 22, of the aforementioned
report.

Best regards,

pez, SV7BAX

On 8/25/2010 2:18 AM, wrote:

...
That's right! Since -as you already said- there are various
aspects of "free". Therefore, there is no field of application
of term 'reverse engineering' especially under the licenses
'Free Libre Source Code' and 'Public Domain Source Code',
since there is nothing there to disassembly it.

Moreover, under these licenses, ethics impose to give in return
at least as much as you get. This is especially holds in VEMSA3D
case, in which we get the Source Code included in J.H.Richmond's
report:

"Computer program for thin-wire structures in a homogeneous
conducting medium"

or just

"Computer program for thin-wire structures"

from NASA Technical Reports Server at:
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp

in the way already described in message:
Best regards,
...
pez, SV7BAX

Yes. Well, "reverse engineering", apparently, has many different
meanings to many different people, as "free", also. However, all
reverse engineering, done by engineers, does not involve a disassembler.
Physical devices and concepts lend themselves well to reverse
engineering, also.

I certainly have no interests in implementing any of this in a
business/financial interest. And, since amateur radio itself demands the
concept of "giving back"; It is a well known tradition. I see no
conflicts with my directions, uses and interests.

NASA's contribution has already been paid for. NASA is the beneficiary
of public funds ... I am sure the taxpayers say, "Thank you NASA;" I
know I do.

Regards,
JS

wrote:
Please, note that I experimentally confirmed -once again- that
NASA does not infinitely support direct linking to its
Technical Reports Server (NTRS) contents. Therefore, the link
given in article:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
| Sent......: Thursday, August 19, 2010 7:32 PM
| Newsgroups: sci.physics.electromag,rec.radio.amateur.antenna
| Subject...: vemsa3d 1.1 - a floss visual em simulator for
| 3d antennas
| From......:
|
| ...
| J. H. Richmond, Radiation and Scattering by Thin-Wire
| Structures in the Complex Frequency Domain, (15), p.6
| http://tinyurl.com/24zwycy
| ...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
is not a valid one anymore. One has to firstly connect to
NTRS:
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp


I think the tinyurl got screwed up.. the url it maps to is a search
request, not the actual direct link to the document.
(http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=87...false&or=true&...
qs=Ntt%3DRadiation%2Band%2Bscattering%2Bby%2Bthin-wire%2Bstructures%26...
Ntk%3Dall%26Ntx%3Dmode%2Bmatchall%26Ns%3DHarvestDa te%257c1%26N%3D0)

'
I would think that using the link by the the handle will remain fixed:
http://hdl.handle.net/2060/19740013743

but it's always useful to keep track of the NASA document number (that
won't change).. NASA-CR-2396 or TR-2902-10 and hopefully you can always
search on that, if the handle dies for some reason.