Satellite timing question.
I started working sats about a month ago, and would get some good passes after 2100Z, once I got home. Now the birds are not hitting my area in that time frame much, how long is a cycle for the satellites to get back into my evening EST window?
Jason N3YUG
On 5/10/16, Jason Rearick jbr13@md.metrocast.net wrote:
I started working sats about a month ago, and would get some good passes after 2100Z, once I got home. Now the birds are not hitting my area in that time frame much, how long is a cycle for the satellites to get back into my evening EST window?
<snip>
Do you use any satellite tracking software? Programs such as Gpredict (which runs on *nix machines) show the path and footprint of a given bird and can display when future passes will occur for your QTH.
73s
Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL
Yes, I have and use Gpredict, but don't know how far ahead to go to find when the birds come back around to about the same times as they did last month. I figure they are on a cycle that repeats every so many days, weeks, or months.
Jason
-----Original Message----- From: B J Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2016 10:27 PM To: Jason Rearick Cc: AMSAT BB SAT Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Satellite timing question.
On 5/10/16, Jason Rearick jbr13@md.metrocast.net wrote:
I started working sats about a month ago, and would get some good passes after 2100Z, once I got home. Now the birds are not hitting my area in that time frame much, how long is a cycle for the satellites to get back into my evening EST window?
<snip>
Do you use any satellite tracking software? Programs such as Gpredict (which runs on *nix machines) show the path and footprint of a given bird and can display when future passes will occur for your QTH.
73s
Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
On 5/11/16, Jason Rearick jbr13@md.metrocast.net wrote:
Yes, I have and use Gpredict, but don't know how far ahead to go to find when the birds come back around to about the same times as they did last month. I figure they are on a cycle that repeats every so many days, weeks,
or months.
<snip>
Keep in mind that Gpredict will only produce data for up to 50 orbits in the future.
Each day, I put the AOS times for the satellites I track into my computer's calendar program. Before I do that, I print out those 50 orbits as text files and import them into a database. I can then check the dates or specific times that a certain satellite will be visible.
A simple way would be to estimate the precession rate from that orbital data and do a back of the envelope calculation for when a bird will be in a favourable position.
Of course, one could always resort to looking up the necessary equations in an orbital mechanics text and do some number-crunching.
73s
Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL
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B J -
Jason Rearick