Re: Greetings from KA9Q

From: Greg Roberts (grr@telkomsa.net)
Date: Thu Feb 07 2008 - 21:05:29 UTC

  • Next message: Kevin Fetter: "1 hour to Intelsat 1R flare, can someone check on it"

    Hi Phil
    
    Nice to see you have joined the SeeSat group - I am sure your expertise
    will be invaluable!
    
    I wonder if you remember me from my AMSAT days -- we had a brief
    correspondence and I seem to recall you sent me some software but afraid
    I can no longer recall what it was -- happens with old age as this was
    probably 25-30 years ago.   I think it was something connected with packet
    radio and WA2LQQ ( Larry?)- wonder if he is still around. Incidentally my
    callsign is ZS1BI.... ( although no longer active in amateur radio in any
    sense).
    
    >I can't remember if I gave my software to anyone in this group. So I'm 
    >wondering
    >if I did, and if so whether any part of it is still being used to produce your
    >element sets. That would be cool.
    
    Im pretty certain it is not being used as this is the first I have heard of it
    
    >I wrote it to accept radio range and range-rate observations, but it was
    >structured to easily accept the alt/az angles that optical observations 
    >produce.
    
    Sounds  interesting!    If its still available and Y2K compatible I would be
    very interested in having a look at it.
    
    
    >Some time ago I got a Meade LX-200 and wrote software to drive it to follow an
    >element set. I meant to go on and add the ability to tweak the tracking to
    >follow the satellite's actual position and refine the orbit, but that project
    >went on the back burner with many others. I figure by now this capability is
    >probably old hat and everybody has it. Is that the case?
    
    Again very interesting but I know from past experience of your expertise!
    Only a few trackers use computer controlled telescopes - there are perhaps
    two or three that use commercial packages and two that use homemade
    systems- the  CoSaTrak system developed by my friend Willie Koorts.
    
    Since you probably have S-band capability you might find the Hearsat group
    also of interest - nowadays I seem to spend most of my time tracking classified
    satellites that transmit radio signals and I post my results there from time to
    time.
    
    Anyway would be interested in hearing from you - still sort of miss the early
    AMSAT days but although still a life member doubt if I will ever again
    communicate via amateur satellite...
    
    Best wishes
    Greg
    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive:  
    http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Feb 07 2008 - 21:04:56 UTC