Command line

antennaknobs has a command-line interface for batch work. The subcommands:

python -m antennaknobs {draw,sweep,optimize,pattern,compare_patterns,params,export,list}

Command	What it does
list	List available designs (built-in and user)
draw	Draw the antenna geometry
sweep	Sweep a parameter or frequency
pattern	Plot the far-field pattern
compare_patterns	Overlay the patterns of several antennas / engines
optimize	Optimize an antenna’s parameters
params	Print a design’s knob values as paste-ready Python
export	Export the design to a NEC-2 .nec card deck

Naming a design

Designs are addressed as family.name (the same names list prints):

python -m antennaknobs list            # arrays.bowtiearray, beams.yagi, loops.delta_loop, ...

Patterns

# Far-field pattern of a Yagi, solved with momwire's triangular basis
python -m antennaknobs pattern --builder beams.yagi --engine momwire:triangular

Useful pattern flags: --fn out.png (write to a file instead of the screen), --ground free|pec|finite|finite:<eps_r>,<sigma>, --wireframe, and --elevation_angle.

Choosing an engine

The --engine flag selects the solver:

--engine momwire                 # momwire (default), default (triangular) basis
--engine momwire:triangular      # piecewise-linear (tent) basis
--engine momwire:sinusoidal      # NEC-2-style three-term basis
--engine momwire:bspline         # B-spline Galerkin basis
--engine momwire:hmatrix         # B-spline + hierarchical-matrix (ACA) acceleration
--engine momwire:arrayblock      # element-aware block solver for arrays
--engine pynec                   # the NEC-2 reference backend (needs pynec-accel)

momwire is the default so a plain install works without the optional pynec-accel package. See The solver & accuracy for which engine to reach for — including when the accelerated hmatrix / arrayblock solvers pay off.

Comparing engines

Solve the same design two ways and overlay the patterns — the built-in cross-validation:

python -m antennaknobs compare_patterns \
  --builders beams.moxon beams.moxon \
  --engines pynec momwire:bspline --fn check.png

Alongside the overlaid plot, compare_patterns prints a metrics table — peak gain (dBi), takeoff angle, front-to-back, and −3 dB azimuth/elevation beamwidths — one row per antenna, so the comparison comes with numbers, not just shapes:

design            peak dBi  takeoff°    F/B dB    az bw°    el bw°
----------------------------------------------------------------
dipoles.invvee        1.93         1       0.0        85        89
beams.yagi            8.89         1       8.2        60        42

Copying params back to code

After tuning — in the workbench or with optimize — turn the knob values back into source you can paste into a design file. params prints a design’s (or a name:variant’s) current values as a default_params = {...} block:

python -m antennaknobs params --builder beams.yagi
python -m antennaknobs params --builder specialty.hentenna:z100 --wrap mappingproxy

Useful flags: --name <var> (name the emitted block), --no-ui (knob values only, drop the ui_params block), and --wrap mappingproxy (match the catalog’s frozen-params style). An optimize run ends by printing the same paste-ready block for its result, so the tuned values go straight into code.

Exporting to NEC

python -m antennaknobs export --builder beams.yagi --fn yagi.nec

The deck is validated against nec2c, so designs round-trip into other NEC tools.