THANK YOU all for the public and private messages on this topic! A compilation of your suggestions -
... Henk, PA3GUO ... [several Web sites cited] ...
Henk - those are all excellent reference sites. Beyond what I am doing "now" with my quest to get new folks into working the birds - but I have added them all to my personal bookmarks, and will recommend to more "seasoned" sat communicators.
... a link to the AO-27 Java schedule lister site ...
That's a great little utility! I *do* have links to the control team and official status pages of the "easy" birds. And I tell folks to bookmark 'em al, and refer to them regularly for updates. But I will mention this app in my presentations for more "advanced" communicators.
... Proper satellite names, not these senseless ZO-99 type designations ...
A tough one. Yes, the proper nomenclature and history of the topic is important (remember my "Is the "O" in OSCAR "orbital" or "orbiting?" discussion last year? 'Cause I can cite for you about as many mentions of either in literature ... ). But I want entry-level folks to get info quickly and easily - and the tracking software and Web tracking sources seem to have "dumbed-down" to the abbreviated designators.
... Maintain current email address on QRZ.com ...
I demonstrated the importance of this last night during my presentation at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum K6AA group - I wanted to email a contact in Central CA, but his email address was not posted on QRZ.com. I asked the group - most of whom do maintain their listings on QRZ - if they have ever felt that their posted info on QRZ caused them any grief (spam). No one replied that they had. I am sure I can find his email address via Google search (and i did - I found him to be a board member of his local club). But until I hear that QRZ has sold out and was responsible for spammers to access and mis-use their data, I think it is a good source for us to be able to reference.
... You need to be able to hear the satellite before transmitting!
Of course, already stressed the importance of this during demos, presentations, and in my tutorial.
THANK YOU ALL for your input.
Clint Bradford, K6LCS http://www.work-sat.com
SpaceTrack, where we should be encouraging people to get keps from, only use the full proper names. It's only the likes of Amsat, ARRL etc that replace them with the abbreviated designations. Tracking software uses whatever designation is in the keps.
On 20-Feb-10 20:57, Clint Bradford wrote:
... Proper satellite names, not these senseless ZO-99 type designations ...
and the tracking software and Web tracking sources seem to have "dumbed-down" to the abbreviated designators.
... SpaceTrack, where we should be encouraging people to get keps from ...
A new visitor to SpaceTrack gets hit with this statement ...
DUE TO EXISTING NATIONAL SECURITY RESTRICTIONS PERTAINING TO ACCESS OF AND USE OF U.S. GOVERNMENT-PROVIDED INFORMATION AND DATA, ALL USERS OF THIS WEB SITE MUST BE AN APPROVED REGISTERED USER TO ACCESS DATA ON THIS SITE.
Not to be argumentative (Who, ME?!?!) - but I am not in the business of scaring off folks to this aspect of our hobby. There's no Keplerian data that SpaceTrack offers for the "easy-to-work" satellites that isn't available at much more "user friendly" sites.
Clint, K6LCS
Clint Bradford wrote:
There's no Keplerian data that SpaceTrack offers for the "easy-to-work" satellites that isn't available at much more "user friendly" sites.
Furthermore, Spacetrack actually has several names of older satellites wrong. Sometimes those names are confusing too. I sure loved working Informator-1 and still like using Eyesat and Saudisat-1c. I wonder when Techsat-B will be back on the air?
73, Drew KO4MA
I got approved without further question and I was living in another country. You just fill in the form and e-mail it.
Given a new bird, Space Track has the keps a couple of weeks before Amsat bothers to include them and has much more choice. Whilst I agree that there are more friendly places to get them from, lets at least try to encourage people to help themselves and not rely on some other agency to obtain, sanitize and distribute keps for them.
On 20-Feb-10 21:46, Clint Bradford wrote:
... SpaceTrack, where we should be encouraging people to get keps from ...
A new visitor to SpaceTrack gets hit with this statement ...
DUE TO EXISTING NATIONAL SECURITY RESTRICTIONS PERTAINING TO ACCESS OF AND USE OF U.S. GOVERNMENT-PROVIDED INFORMATION AND DATA, ALL USERS OF THIS WEB SITE MUST BE AN APPROVED REGISTERED USER TO ACCESS DATA ON THIS SITE.
Not to be argumentative (Who, ME?!?!) - but I am not in the business of scaring off folks to this aspect of our hobby. There's no Keplerian data that SpaceTrack offers for the "easy-to-work" satellites that isn't available at much more "user friendly" sites.
Clint, K6LCS
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participants (3)
-
Andrew Glasbrenner -
Clint Bradford -
Nigel Gunn G8IFF/W8IFF