Q: How can I find an antenna I’m looking for in the TAP antenna library? Can I give an antenna pattern I have created to another TAP user?

A: TAP 4 organizes antenna patterns into multiple libraries. Since hundreds of antennas currently are available for use with TAP, organizing the patterns into various libraries makes finding a particular antenna faster and easier, as well as simplifying updates from manufacturers, sharing antenna between different TAP systems, etc. (Since an antenna pattern you create is considered a work product, there are no restrictions under the SoftWright Software License Agreement regarding the distribution or sharing of the antenna file or library.)

The TAP antenna libraries are contained in .DBF format files, with one set of files for each library. The name of the library always begins with the letters AMS (for antenna manufacture’s specifications, i.e., the general information about the antenna), followed by five characters identifying the library. For example, the default name of the library for the TAP system with serial number 123 would be

AMS00123.DBF

To add or edit or use an antenna from this library, that is the file name you would select in TAP. The program will then open the file and allow you to select the specific antenna you want from that library. (Each library can hold as many antennas as you want, limited only by available disk space.)

For each manufacture’s library the five character identifier consists of a three letter abbreviation and a two-digit version number. For example, the following would be typical antenna library names from various manufacturers:

AMSSCA00.DBF Scala, version 00

AMSDBP03.DBF Decibel, version 03

AMSSRL01.DBF Sinclair, version 01

Furthermore, if you had a project using several antennas that you want to keep in a separate library, you can create any additional libraries you want:

AMSxxxxx.DBF where xxxxx is your project identifier (any five characters that are allowed in file names)

This organization makes the process of sharing an antenna library with another TAP user a simple as copying the antenna library files to the target system. (Obviously, you must be sure you do not copy a library with the same name, since that would overwrite the library on the target system and that library information would be lost.)

All antenna libraries must reside in the ANTENNAS directory immediately below your TAP directory. For example, if TAP 4 is installed on drive C: in a directory named TAP4, the complete path for a typical library would be:

C:\TAP4\ANTENNAS\AMS00123.DBF

When you copy the antenna library files to a different TAP system (as described below) you must be sure to copy all the files to the correct directory.

Whenever you want to open or create an antenna library, the program automatically works only in the ANTENNAS directory as described above, and prompts you for only the five-character library ID (or allows you to browse and select the file). With the library ID, the program constructs the correct path and file name of the library to open or create.

Internally to each library, each antenna has a unique four-character ID, and the complete reference to the antenna (stored, for example, in the TAP Fixed Facility Data Base) includes both the five-character library ID and the four-character antenna ID, such as the following examples:

SCA001113 Scala library, version 00, antenna 1113

001230001 TAP S/N 123 library, antenna 0001

DENCO0011 Custom DENCO library, antenna 0011

When you are selecting an antenna from a library you have opened, you will generally not need to know the antenna ID. A list of the descriptions of all of the antennas is displayed to select from. However, the libraries use the .DBF format, and you may want to read or create new antennas or new libraries with other software not supplied by SoftWright. If you do this, you must ensure that the ID of each antenna is unique in its library.

The antenna ID contained with the record of each library consists only of the four characters, such as 1113 in the first example above. The complete ID used by other TAP programs synthesizes the complete ID from both the library ID and the antenna ID. Because of this, you should not rename library files, since this would disrupt the link between, say, the Fixed Facility Data Base and the antennas in the library with the changed name.

Each library actually consists of several pairs of data and index files: one data/index pair for the general information about the antenna such as a description, gain, etc., and one for the azimuth pattern and one for the elevation pattern:

AMS0123.DBF

AMS0123.CDX Antenna manufacture specifications (AMS)

AHD0123.DBF

AHD0123.CDX Antenna horizontal data (AHD)

AVD0123.DBF

AVD0123.CDX Antenna vertical data (AVD)

The details of the file formats may be found later in this document. When you need access to a library, the program will display only the name of the general information file (e.g., AMS00123.DBF). If you want to copy the library to archive it or to share with another TAP user, you must be sure to include all six files in the target directory as described above.

The structure of the .DBF files is shown below:

The following abbreviations are currently in use with TAP 4 antenna libraries: