On 11 May 2009 20:42:45 +0100, Gordon wrote:

I have seen a few antenna modeling programs mentioned here.
Is there any concensus within the group on which one is
better to use?

Hah. I don't think there's anything this group agrees upon. There
are often as many opinions as there are participants.

Any that are free?

Yep. I use 4NEC2 (because I'm cheap). Lots of examples included for
learning and plagerization.
http://home.ict.nl/~arivoors/
be sure to get both the default version and 3D extensions. Examples
of some of my output at:
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/antennas/

Another freebee is CocoaNEC for the Mac.
http://homepage.mac.com/chen/w7ay/cocoaNEC/

Yet another free program:
http://mmhamsoft.amateur-radio.ca/mmana/

The free demo version of EZNEC works nicely for simple antennas. There
are also demos for some rather expensive commercial packages, that are
suitable for tinkering and learning.

There are others at the bottom of:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerical_Electromagnetics_Code
and in:
http://www.si-list.net/swindex.html (old but worth reading)
Mo
http://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Software/Antenna_analysis/

- Consider that I am pretty much a beginner when it
comes to antennas.

Learn by Destroying. Design, model, build, test, redesign, repeat.

- I am intrested in modeling receiving antennas in the
UHF and VHF bands.
- My big point of couriosity right now is reflectors.
I want to see the effects of various wires, rods, screens,
foil, etc.

You'll probably need to convert your surfaces to a wire grid (mesh).
4NEC2 includes a wire mesh generator called a "geometry builder". Some
examples:
http://www.softpedia.com/progScreenshots/4nec2-Screenshot-110359.html

I suppose that I could pepper the group with questions.
But, at some point it's best to do my own damn research.

Most basic questions can be answered with RTFM and Learn by
Destroying. Please make a few mistakes on your own before asking.

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558
# http://802.11junk.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS