analog the hard way
Fortunately I'm far enough north that I can work at, and mess up a bit, getting into the analog sats while I have the footprint all to myself for part of some passes.
Making slow progress, I've been working at this for a long time, getting back on the satellites. Trying to do it with older equipment is challenging.
The radio is a FT-726R (no CAT provision) so Doppler correction is manual. The antenna pair are a helix on 435 and 8 element quad on 2M. on a 10M (33 ft) tower. Elevation is fixed at about 25 degrees, rotator is Ham IV (I need to move the rotator controller closer - it weighs less than the radio). I can copy, without preamps, satellites on both bands down to about 1.5 degrees above the horizon.
Software is GPredict (OS is Elementary, Linux).
Yes, lots of complications as I can't manage everything fast enough, so I'm looking to simplify things one at a time.
First, I need to get the actual Doppler shift info up on a screen as I must enter is manually. Using the Doppler per 100MHz shown on GPredict which a calculator to set the radio works but is far from practical. I'd like to bring up actual Uplink, Downlink Doppler on the screen, but it hasn't been evident how to do that. GPredict maybe isn't the right solution, as I remember it was available in the DOS Instant Track.
Then maybe an Arduino controller for the antenna pointing.
With better organization of the shack I think it would work. The longer term goal is to get familiar with digital satellites.
I'd like some help, starting maybe with the Doppler display problem.
Thanks,
Ron VE8RT in DP22
On 08/19/2018 10:42 PM, Ron VE8RT wrote:
GPredict will show these values in the 'radio control' window. Even when there is no radio to control.
Clicking on the little triangle on the top right of the main window will show options like 'radio control' if you had not found that already.
Koos van den Hout PE4KH
If you have Windows available, Orbitron has a nice display of doppler-corrected frequencies.
Here is a screen shot just as an example:
http://www.qsl.net/k/k4kdr//images/orbitron-doppler.png
... Orbitron is available from:
-Scott, K4KDR
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On Sun, Aug 19, 2018 at 4:57 PM, Koos van den Hout koos@kzdoos.xs4all.nl wrote:
I used Orbitron years back, I thought it was no longer supported. It may be an answer if it will work in "WINE" Very nice to use, and familiar software.
Thanks,
Ron
On Sun, 19 Aug 2018 17:08:17 -0400 Scott scott23192@gmail.com wrote:
Missed that somehow this morning. Still must manually enter the frequencies but the displayed Doppler corrected frequencies are big enough. Tried it on a pass of XW-2F, it was manageable as I could leave the antenna alone for a while. Could hear myself without "hunting" for the downlink signal.
Thanks,
Ron
On Sun, 19 Aug 2018 22:57:45 +0200 Koos van den Hout koos@kzdoos.xs4all.nl wrote:
On 8/19/18, Ron VE8RT ve8rt@yknwt.ca wrote:
<snip>
Once you've opened the "Radio Control" panel, you have to choose which satellite and mode you're interested in by selecting them from the menu. Click on "T" and the frequencies will be set to the mid-band values. Then click on "Track" and the frequencies will begin changing.
If you want to change the frequencies, simply click on the triangles above the appropriate digits and the value will change by one increment each time (the upper triangle if you want to increase that value, the lower one if decreasing).
73s
Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL
I will be travelling to Newfoundland, Labrador, and Nova Scotia. Anyone in those areas please contact me, I would love to meet up. All else, I will be traveling from 9/16 to 10/16. Keep your ears on.
See you in DC & Huntsville.
Steve A W2AKK
On Sun, Aug 19, 2018 at 8:41 PM B J va6bmj@gmail.com wrote:
On 8/19/2018 1:42 PM, Ron VE8RT wrote:
<snip>
Welcome to the analog sats world. Here's my opinion. With a little practice, you will find that you can manually deal with the doppler quite easily. In my couple thousand contacts on analog satellites, I almost never let the computer control the frequencies. I was running one step above you with an early Yaesu FT-736, so one way only CAT control. I found that controlling the frequency from the keyboard to be a royal pain in the ass. I did however have the computer control the antenna pointing. I was running 22 elements of crossed yagi on 2M, 40 elements of crossed yagi on 430, and a 2 x 3 foot offset dish for 2.4 GHz, so elevation and azimuth control were a requirement. Having the computer take card of that task simplified things for me.
Thanks Jim,
I started off in the early 90's with a Ten Tec 2510 :-) I'm using the same Helix antenna that I've dragged through every move since.
From what I've read the practice has changed a little, we aim for a constant frequency at the transponder input.
The parts, for the most part, are here to make an Arduino controller for the rotator. The Doppler correction is now manageable, as long as I enter the right figures into the GPredict calculator.
I'll poke away at this, and getting some current QSL cards printed (I do that and paper log books).
Ron
On Sun, 19 Aug 2018 14:50:09 -0700 Jim Walls jim@k6ccc.org wrote:
participants (6)
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B J
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Jim Walls
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Koos van den Hout
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Ron VE8RT
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Scott
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Steve A