Hey Bob, Thanks for the comments! I'm one of the people who helped restore functionality of the current pass prediction tool and wanted to let you know that the initial effort for those of us working on the website was to get the pre-Wordpress tracker back up and working as it was. This was the quickest method after some review. The beginnings of a newer and more Wordpress friendly solution is in the talks but there are a few other issues with higher priority such as getting the Wordpress website fully functions and looking nice. We're hitting one issue at a time. I'll keep this email in mind and make sure your ideas are looked into. I myself find these very useful as while in school (I just graduated from RIT in May) with the RIT Amateur Radio Club (K2GXT) I gave several satellite demonstrations and know your frustrations! This is a good idea and one that I'm sure would be used often at schools, hamfests, club meetings, etc.

73's,

Bryce Salmi KB1LQC

On Sun, Jun 9, 2013 at 7:17 PM, Robert Bruninga bruninga@usna.edu wrote:

The pass prediction page is wonderful! Great work!

But it is tedious if you simply want to know what is the next satellite to demo.

I's like to ask the programmers to add a second link to an ALL-SATELLITES page.

This page would simply list the next 10 satellites to come in view at the subscribers location. This is what I need because I never know when someone is going to walk through the door and I need to give a quick demo. Or when I have a few minutes in the shack and just want to see if something is in view in the next 10 minutes.

The page would have these entries: LAT/LONG and TIME (defaults to now). Then there are several buttons:

• FM only
• ALL mode
• Voice
• Digital
• All beacons

If ALL BEACONS is checked, then all satellites with telemetry in the ham bands are included in the list including all the bleepsats. If this is not checked, then the other 4 buttons are used to filter.

The result is a LIST of the next 10 passes of any satellite that meets the criteria.

This type of pass prediction engine is of extreme value to people that want to DEMO Amateur satellites without having to go run pass predictions on over 30 different satellites just to see what might be in view. With that many satellites there is almost always coming coming up real soon, and this is invaluable for quick demos.

It is also invaluable for the ham that only gets a few minutes in his shack now and then. This page would show him what might be available for the next several minutes...

Bob, WB4APR _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. 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