Peter, what is your location (locator, longitude, latitude), what are your entries for HO-68 in Doppler.SQF and what were the predicted AOS and LOS times for the pass you mean?
You can check that with the Preview function or the list programs WinAOS or WinListen.
I never heard that the predictions of NOVA and SatPC32 were different, provided the data are the same for both programs.
73s, Erich, DK1TB
----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Scheller" [email protected] To: "amsat-bb" [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 3:55 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] HO-68 Tracking
Greetings to all.
I have 2 satellite prediction programs, NOVA for Windows and of course SatPC32. Since the two
do not match in prediction, I tried to find out which one is correct. Anyone wonders about the outcome?
Erich, you can relax, your SatPC32 program is superior! But...... Setup: IC-706MKII, outside Arrow antenna
mounted on photo tripod at ground level. Computer time adjusted to WWV and newest Keps loaded via internet. HO-68 orbit 547 was an almost overhead pass (here in Hawaii). When I finally picked up HO-68's
beacon, the indicated CAT frequency of the SatPC32 program and the MANUALLY tuned frequency of the
IC-706MKII did not match, and were far off. By observation, the satellite was lagging the prediction program.
When the the CAT window showed a beacon frequency of 435790 KHz I timed this with a stop watch, and
waited till the radio dial showed the same. The difference was about 7 minutes! and SatPC32 showed HO-68
almost out of the foot print whilst it should have been overhead at the closest distance to me. Something
is absolutely wrong. A 7 minute time difference is not acceptable. Next I loaded HO-68's Online Satellite
Pass Predictions from AMSAT NA. Surprise, the AMSAT predictions accurately mirror the SatPC32 predictions,
or vice versa. But are wrong! as measured by the actual event. Any help out there?
73, Peter NH6VB
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