Hi Clive,
Dave is correct about MacDoppler, it works a treat.
What Don (the writer on MD) and I do for GENSO is set a rotator dead spot and indicate to the software that it should allow the elevation to flip the rotators 180 degrees before the pass. The prediction algorithm then knows that if the azimuth passes through the dead spot during the predition, it should flip the rotators beforehand and output the adjusted azimuth position.
I'm sure that some of the windows trackers do this.
AFAIK none of the existing programs allow for the 450 degree rotation.
733
Dave, G4DPZ
On 08/02/2010 10:59, Dave-K7DAA wrote:
Clive:
If you're running Windows, this won't help you, but MacDoppler does this easily, and without operator intervention. I'm using the same equipment you are, but with a MacBook Pro laptop, and it works beautifully.
73,
Dave - K7DAA
On Feb 8, 2010, at 2:17 AM, Clive Wallis wrote:
Hi,
A problem that I've had for many years is how to track when the satellite's azimuth crosses across the rotator's end-stop, ie. when the azimuth changes from 0 to 359 degrees.
My rotator turns between 0 and 450 degrees, so it should be possible to use angles between 360 and 450 to overcome a sudden transition from 0 to 360 degrees.
As the pass data is available within the tracking program, it should be feasible to deal with the problem in the program. Do any tracking programs include this feature?
A possible solution would be to use a small PIC between the computer and tracker, which could modify the commanded azimuth.
I'm using a Yaseu 5500, LVB tracker, Sat_Explorer tracking program and WinXP.
Any help, suggestions or comments would be most welcome.
73 Clive G3CWV
Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb