New Features in Previous Versions
* A secondary satellite position and footprint can now be
displayed
on each of the maps.
*
Mutual visibility
prediction tables can now be
printed.
* A progress indicator is now displayed during long printouts, with an option
to cancel if you get tired of waiting.
*
F1
now displays a more relevant starting point for help information for each
window.
* Station automation via
AutoRun
feature to run DOS or Windows programs at specified times relative to AOS for a
specific satellite.
* Doppler shift and path loss can now be
displayed
for uplink, downlink, or transponder delta frequency.
Two bug fixes should be mentioned:
* The epoch was incorrectly updated when the UTC offset was non-zero. This has
now been fixed (Satellite window).
* Permanent color changes for the maps have been restored. This feature got
lost about v 2.6.
* Full
state vector
information (including velocity components) can now be
displayed.
Both EFG and ECI
coordinate systems
are supported.
Import
of
state vector files
is also possible.
*
Alternate satellite information
databases such as "The Satellite Encyclopedia" may now be accessed directly.
* The "Phase" information group in the
Info Window
is now the "Orbit" group, and includes the
Squint Angle.
This option requires the files
*.ATT
to provide the proper information on spacecraft attitude. A sample file is
included.
* Crude calculation of spacecraft antenna and observer antenna
pattern loss
added to
RF Info
group in the Info Window. See
Advanced Setup
for details. Groundplane, turnstile, omnidirectional, and steerable antennas
are supported.
* Added a new window arrangement option: "Stack", in the
Window Menu.
* The lines of latitude and longitude can now be
turned off
for creating cleaner maps for export.
* Improved timekeeping for real time mode on slow computers. The program will
now skip one or more intervals if it gets behind.
* Orbit number (Rev) and Mean Anomaly (MA) now updated properly with SGP/SGP4
models.
*
Updates
of other Keplerian Elements with SGP/SGP4 models is improved.
* Fixed crash when
Sun
or
Moon
selected while using non-USA date formats.
* Fixed bug that prevented proper element update after propagation to specified
epoch.
Other New Items:
* A companion program for antenna control (using the Prairie Digital board) and
radio doppler compensation (using serial or parallel ports or the Prairie
Digital board) is available from the author. "Some Assembly Required" !
*
Glossary
has finally been included.
* Immediate display of all visible satellites, regardless of whether they are
being tracked in a
Map Window.
*
Sun
and
Moon
may be tracked for antenna or receiver calibration. The algorithm is built-in,
no keps are required.
* Immediate display of all stations in the
QTH database
visible from a particular satellite for
mutual visibility
determination.
*
Latitude and longitude display
and specification made more flexible.
Lat/long displays can be in decimal degrees or degrees, minutes,
seconds; and with choice of +/-, or E/W notation.
Choice of direction for positive longitude (E or W)
Shift-click on a map
adds a point to the
QTH database.
Ctrl-click on a map
changes the observer location.
Lat/long and grid square of the point under the mouse cursor can be
displayed
* AOS for next pass now displayed on
maps
and in
Info Window.
* Calculation of
EQX,
AOS,
and
Apogee/Perigee
for
Ephemeris tables
improved (more accurate, some speed up).
*
Ephemeris output
to an existing file is added at the end ("append") instead of overwriting the
previous information.
* Two-line element sets can be
saved
from the edited orbital elements.
*
User-provided maps
may now be used for the background, giving added display flexibility.
* Fixed bugs in Help:System Info and Colors dialog.
This version is mostly bug fixes based on user reports, notably:
* "Next Pass" now determined based on present UTC, not local (CPU) clock
time.
* Fixed the "resume without error" bug in Print Ephemeris when not printing to
a file.
* If map (land/ocean) colors are changed, it is no longer necessary to "clear
display" in each map after restarting the program.
* Observer QTH now displays properly in the Main window.
* Help file displayed automatically if .INI file is not current.
K8CG, 6 May 1995
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