Need help with sat tracking software
Folks,
I am trying out Orbitron and Nova for Windows. I have updated kleps in both. When doing pass predictions for the ISS both show different times hours apart.
Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks,
Ed
KC9GWK
New AmSat member
Ed Tump wrote:
I am trying out Orbitron and Nova for Windows. I have updated kleps in both. When doing pass predictions for the ISS both show different times hours apart.
My guess would be that the QTH is wrong in one of the programs.
-s
Sounds like one, or both, of the programs isn't set for the correct time zone.
George, KA3HSW
----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed Tump" [email protected] To: "'Amsat BB'" [email protected] Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2007 11:34 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] Need help with sat tracking software
Folks,
I am trying out Orbitron and Nova for Windows. I have updated kleps in both. When doing pass predictions for the ISS both show different times hours apart.
Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks,
Ed
KC9GWK
Ed,
Double check your lat/long and altitude for your QTH.
I have Orbitron and SatPC32 and they are in sync.
73, Jeff - K7WIN DM41
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Tump Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2007 9:34 AM To: 'Amsat BB' Subject: [amsat-bb] Need help with sat tracking software
Folks,
I am trying out Orbitron and Nova for Windows. I have updated kleps in both. When doing pass predictions for the ISS both show different times hours apart.
Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks,
Ed
KC9GWK
New AmSat member
_______________________________________________ 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
Ed,
Am I doing something wrong?
Probably. :)
There are basically 3 variables: Keps, QTH, Time.
You have updated the keps, which pretty much eliminates that. However, you may be actually using old default keps. This can happen with some programs depending on how you configure the source files. Use the keps edit function of each program to check the reference date and time.
Most likely, you have the wrong QTH in one or both programs. Given the various possible formats, including whether you use N/S or +/-, for instance, this is easy to do. For graphics programs, there should be a mark at your QTH.
As for time, make certain that both programs are set to display in the same time. That is, local vs. UTC. Of course if the QTH is wrong, the time will be wrong.
Ed, in 20+ years, I have managed to make all these mistakes and more repeatedly, so I am not poking fun at you!! My own solution is to spend a few bucks and get a copy of Instantrack from AMSAT. It is a bulletproof program, easy to configure, and easy to check whether you are using the keps you think you are. It doesn't work well in real time mode within Windows because of RT clock issues, but it works fine for pass prediction, and allows you to break the tie between the other two programs.
Good luck,
Alan WA4SCA
At 02:50 PM 9/30/2007, Alan P. Biddle wrote:
... My own solution is to spend a few bucks and get a copy of Instantrack from AMSAT. It is a bulletproof program, easy to configure, and easy to check whether you are using the keps you think you are. It doesn't work well in real time mode within Windows because of RT clock issues, but it works fine for pass prediction, and allows you to break the tie between the other two programs.
Dear friends,
Just a note. I am also a big fan of InstantTrack and have tested it under most versions of Windows including XP but not Vista. It actually does work well in real-time tracking modes under Windows as long as you run it in Full-Screen mode.
This is due to the way that the MS DOS emulator for Windows was designed. It does not implement the real-time clock tick interrupt correctly and loses lots of ticks except when it is in full-screen mode. This has been true of every version of Windows back to 3.0 probably because the old cpus couldn't keep up and the guys in Redmond never re-wrote it for the newer cpus that could easily handle it.
As long as you use full-screen mode, you can also run radio tuning and rotor tracking in real-time and even quit InstantTrack to run a DOS program in the foreground with tuning and tracking still running in the background.
There are other DOS environments for Windows including open-source versions such as DOSBox so an ambitious programmer could fix this problem...
73, Tony AA2TX
participants (6)
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Alan P. Biddle -
Anthony Monteiro -
Ed Tump -
George Henry -
K7WIN - Jeff -
scott wilson