Mmana-gal Antenna Files

This section defines the simulation settings.

The .maa file format outlived the software. Because it’s plain text and maps directly to NEC-2 cards, you can:

This has led to small scripts on GitHub that batch-convert entire MMANA-GAL libraries to modern NEC formats.

Example conversion (Python pseudo):

with open("dipole.maa") as f:
    for line in f:
        if line.startswith(('1','2','3')): # Wire definitions
            # translate to NEC GW card
            print(f"GW tokens")

The story begins in the late 1990s with a DOS-based program called MANA (Method of Moments Antenna Numerical Analysis), developed by Japanese programmer Makoto Mori (JE3HHT). It was a simplified implementation of the Numerical Electromagnetics Code (NEC-2) engine.

The problem: NEC-2 was powerful but required manual coding of geometry in text files—tedious and error-prone.

The solution: JE3HHT created MMANA (Modernized MANA) as a Windows GUI front-end for NEC-2. The key innovation was the .maa file format—a simple, human-readable text file containing:

These files allowed hams and engineers to save, share, and tweak antenna models without rewriting NEC cards.

Example .maa snippet:

* Dipole for 14.2 MHz
1 0.0 0.0 0.0 5.0 0.0 0.0 0.001 20
2 0.0 0.0 0.0 -5.0 0.0 0.0 0.001 20
FREQ 14.2
SOURCE 1 1 0 0 1

If you want to paste a design quickly from a text document (like an email or forum post), the format looks like this:

mmana-gal antenna file
14.100
3
m
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
-5.00 0 10.00 5.00 0 10.00 21 1e-03
1 11 1 0

(Note: This format is tricky and prone to errors; using the GUI tables is safer, but knowing this helps you read antenna designs shared in text format).

Once you perfect a design, give back to the community. When sharing your MMANA-GAL antenna files, follow these best practices:

Example comment header for a professional file:

Comment: 2m 5-element Yagi | 144.3 MHz | Gain: 10.9 dBi | SWR: 1.1 | Boom: 2.4m | Element: 6mm Al

The author, Makoto Mori (JE3HHT), and the late DL4KQ’s legacy site still hosts a library of example files. Look for the ANT folder or sample .maa files included in the installation zip.

This was the peak of MMANA-GAL file culture. Entire websites were dedicated to nothing but antenna files:

What made these files special?
Unlike commercial simulators (NEC-Win, EZNEC), MMANA-GAL files were plain text with minimal headers. You could edit them in Notepad. They were tiny (1–10 KB). They loaded instantly. They were free.

A typical workflow:

Limitations discovered:

But for wire antennas and small Yagis above 7 MHz, it was astonishingly accurate.

The very first line of any .maa file is a comment. It is often ignored by the solver but is vital for organization.

3 Element Yagi for 50 MHz, optimized for low SWR