SATCOM antenna siting study on a P-3C using the NEC-BSC V3.1

The location of a UHF SATCOM antenna on a P-3C aircraft is studied using the NEC-Basic Scattering Code V3.1 (NEC-BSC3). The NEC-BSC3 is a computer code based on the uniform theory of diffraction. The code is first validated for this application using scale model measurements. In general, the comparisons are good except in 10 degree regions near the nose and tail of the aircraft. Patterns for various antenna locations are analyzed to achieve a prescripted performance.