Extract text from Antenna model files (NEC)
To convert NEC Antenna models to another format, you need 4NEC2 or other Cad software.
To convert other file formats to the "Antenna Simulation File" file type, you need software like 4NEC2 or a similar tool.
The .NEC file format is a specialized input file used by Numerical Electromagnetics Code (NEC) simulation engines. Radio engineers and hobbyists use these files to define the physical geometry, wire segments, and excitation parameters of an antenna. Software wrappers like 4NEC2 or EZNEC read this data to calculate complex radiation patterns, gain, and impedance.
The major disadvantage of the .NEC format is its highly specialized, rigid structure. It relies on a legacy "card" syntax (using codes like "GW" for wires and "EX" for voltage sources) developed in the 1970s. This makes the file nearly unreadable for non-engineers. You cannot view the 3D antenna structure or radiation plots without installing dedicated, complex simulation software. Standard 3D CAD programs do not support raw NEC syntax natively, making collaboration difficult when sharing designs with mechanical engineers or clients.
To share antenna geometry or perform custom data analysis, you must convert the file. The best conversion targets are TXT or CSV for viewing the raw coordinate data. If you need to view the physical structure in standard CAD programs, you must export it to a vector format like DXF.
Because this is a highly mathematical engineering format, standard online converters fail to process it into visual 3D models. Often, only the original simulation software can properly read or export the geometric data. However, just drag and drop your file to identify the format, view it, and convert it when possible. If our analysis detects the underlying plain text structure, viewing or conversion to generic text formats may still be possible directly on convert.guru.
Convert.Guru analyzes your NEC file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted HEIC, ENC, ORK, CCM and ANG files.
If you want to convert NEC file to JS, TS, PY, JAVA, CPP, C, CS, PHP, RB, GO, RS or SWIFT, you can use 4NEC2 or similar software from the "Antenna Simulation Data Input" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert SH, PY, KT, PS1, SWIFT, LUA, PL, JAVA, SCALA, JS, VBS or TS files to NEC, try 4NEC2 or another comparable tool in the "Antenna Simulation Data Input" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our NEC converter.