The Rot2Prog rotor controller, sold with the popular RAS rotor series, have a nasty bug if using the rotor with a computer. I not sure when it happens, I have not been able to reproduce it on demand, but in some condition the “Heading adjust” (PP in the setup mode of the controller) seams to be set from the computer to a totally wrong heading….
To avoid this problem I think (but not 100% sure) this is the way to handle the controller:
Always turn off the Rot2Prog before shutting down the computer!
Turn off the Rot2Prog if you are not using it and the computer is on
If you are using the Rot2Prog manually, or using the setup menu, and the computer is on be sure that you do not have any controlling software (like PstRotator) running at the same time
But… If you get this error it is easy to adjust the heading with the PP “Heading Adjust”, turn the rotor to north and then reset the Rot2Prog with “On + F”.
English text below! AMSAT-SM har under många år, både när vi var en förening och nu som en sammanslutning, inte haft några inkomster i form av medlemsavgifter. Vi har klarat oss bra då vi har ett ganska stort kapital på bankkonto och väldigt låga omkostnader. Sedan 2020 sponsras även kostnaden för hemsidan av Lars SM0TGU. Nu finns dock möjlighet att stödja AMSAT-SM med ett bidrag via Paypal. Stort som litet, alla bidrag är välkomna! Denna länk tar dig till Paypal som du gör själva donationen via.
Tack för ditt stöd!
English info:
Since many years AMSAT-SM has no membership fee – as we are running our group with very small budget. Since 2020 the cost for the website is sponsored by Lars SM0TGU.
Now it is possible to donate a small (or large!) sum to AMSAT-SM to make it possible to run our group into the future. Please use this link to our Paypal donation page.
From ANS-122: PSAT2 (NO-104) VHF is alive and new DTMF mode:
Bob Bruninga writes: PSAT2 VHF awoke from an 8 month slumber on 26 Apr 2021. We have no idea why. Its telemetry looks fine. Volts between 6.2 and 7.0 volts (5 NiCds). Exterior temps between -18 and +22 C. See http://aprs.org/psat2.html
PSAT2 will NOT be in APRS mode but a brand new experimental mode for DTMF uplink and VOICE downlink. So you preload your grid and callsign into a 16 digit DTMF memory in your radio and when the satellite hears this it will assign a QSO number and QSL the grid by voice and then also generate an APRS packet for collection by APRS operators. There is even a way to send back a DTMF QSL so you can make it a 2-way DTMF. contact. Successful DTMF grids and messages will appear on a special URL on the PSAT2 page (above). To QSL, you key in that stations 2 digit QSL number and then dump your pre-loaded QSL DTMF message. Since this is the first time this transponder is on the air and because a DTMF uplink takes maybe 4 seconds, we don’t want the uplink saturated by a bunch of newbees initially until we see if it actually works. So read the docs and be sure you know what you are doing. There is a user operating manual available on the PSAT2 web page: http://aprs.org/psat2.html
[ANS thanks Bob Bruninga, WB4APR for the above information]
The following satellites, marked as inactive, have been removed from this AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution as of April 8 2021. The source is from ANS-101. A note regarding GRIFEX: according to PE0SAT it is still active.
TISAT – NORAD Cat ID 36799 JUGNU – NORAD Cat ID 37839 AO-71 – NORAD Cat ID 37854 HORYU-2 – NORAD Cat ID 38340 BEESAT-3 – NORAD Cat ID 39135 BEESAT-2 – NORAD Cat ID 39136 TRITON-1 – NORAD Cat ID 39427 DUCHIFAT-1 – NORAD Cat ID 40021 NANOSATCBR1 – NORAD Cat ID 40024 ANTELSAT – NORAD Cat ID 40034 VELOX-1 – NORAD Cat ID 40057 DAURIA DX 1 – NORAD Cat ID 40071 CHUBUSAT-1 – NORAD Cat ID 40300 QSAT-EOS – NORAD Cat ID 40301 GRIFEX – NORAD Cat ID 40379 DEORBITSAIL – NORAD Cat ID 40719 NUDT-PHONESAT – NORAD Cat ID 40900 LQSat – NORAD Cat ID 40958 OUFTI-1 – NORAD Cat ID 41458 Swayam – NORAD Cat ID 41607 AlSat 1N – NORAD Cat ID 41789 ScatSat – NORAD Cat ID 41790 Pegasus-1 – NORAD Cat ID 41846 UCLSat – NORAD Cat ID 42765 LituanicaSAT 2- NORAD Cat ID 42768
Look4Sat is an Android app for tracking satellites. It uses the database from SatNOGS for frequency info and also presents the frequency with doppler correction. As I know this is the only Android app that display doppler correction. I can highly recommend this app for portable tracking!