RESULT: Every mobile everywhere that is in view of a satellite, even without any prior planning, will be alerted to a satellite in view... right there on the front panel of his APRS radio.
... I am one in total agreement... I am one of those... Operators... transmitting current satellite positions on a local network, in my case via digi_ned on our local UHF APRS alt-net running on 440.800Mhz at 9.6kbaud within a portion of NWAPRS coverage area (Puget Sound).
What would be neat is a survey of how many other locations are doing this. One way to do it is to watch the APRS-IS for AO51 objects and see where they are coming from. Of course, they will all overwrite and replace each other, but if one monitors over a reasonable period, then we might see each such system in turn when the AO51 is overhead.
Would you have time to watch the APRS-IS and see if you can find other systems doing this? Then we can make a MAP of the world where this information is available and encourage others to consider putting it out.
Thanks Bob, WB4APR