Hello During the past couple of days (before we had Keps files with data for XW-1) several users had problems to get their tracking program working with XW-1. In some cases the problem was caused by the fact that they could receive Keplerian data only via e-mail, I think.

The Keps files (amateur.txt, nasa.all etc.) require text in Ascii format (plain text). The e-mails, however, usually don't contain plain text. If one copies a data set directly from an e-mail into an existing Keps file the data set will loose it's format and no longer fit the NASA-2-Line format. The data lines are shorter than the lines of other satellites and the parameters, for example the epoch time, are not at the right position. So, the data set can not be read by the tracking program and may cause wrong results or error messages.

To fix that issue the e-mail must first be saved with "Save as...." as text file (option ".txt"). Then this file can be opened and with "copy and paste" the data set can be inserted into an existing Keps file.

73s, Erich, DK1TB