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0100
0100
0105
BASICS
▒ P C - T R A C K ▒
PC-TRACK is a user friendly,
simple to use satellite tracking
package. It is designed to track any
earth orbiting man-made satellite on
an EGA graphics screen using a
Mercator projection world map.
PC-TRACK allows easy input and
maintenance of object and observer
data.
PC-TRACK can print predicted
satellite positions and look angles
to printer as desired. [MORE-PGDN]
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BASICS
>>>>> R E G I S T R A T I O N <<<<<
TO REGISTER THIS COPY OF PC-TRACK,
SEND $15.00 IN THE FORM OF CHECK OR
MONEY ORDER TO:
THOMAS C. JOHNSON
9920 S. PALMER RD.
NEW CARLISLE, OHIO 45344
WHEN YOU DO, YOU WILL RECEIVE A
COUPON WORTH 30% OFF THE REGISTRATION
FEE FOR THE NEXT HIGHER VERSION AND
YOU WILL BE NOTIFIED WHEN A NEW
VERSION IS AVAILABLE.
[MORE - PGDN]
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BASICS
▒ P C - T R A C K B A S I C S ▒
In order to do satellite tracking,
PC-TRACK requires information on the
observation point and the object to be
tracked. The two SETUP options allow
you to give PC-TRACK all this infor-
mation.
- OBSERVERS -
The SETUP OBSERVERS option allows you
to maintain a file of observation
points to be used in tracking with the
information needed by PC-TRACK.
[More-PGDN]
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BASICS (Continued)
- OBJECTS -
The SETUP OBJECTS option allows you to
maintain a file of the objects to be
tracked with the information required
by PC-TRACK (see the SETUP OBJECT
help screens for how to get the
required information).
Once at least one observation point
and one object have been defined,
tracking may be done by selecting the
TRACK option from the MAIN MENU. After
selecting the OBJECT and OBSERVER from
those entered using the SETUP option,
tracking begins. [More-PGDN]
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BASICS (Continued)
- TRACKING -
Tracking is done using the EGA
graphics screen. Both a world map and
an Azimuth/Elevation chart are used.
Tracking may be done in both real time
and accelerated time. Current tracking
information is shown both graphically
and numerically. By pressing a
function key, computed tracking
information may be sent to a printer
for hard copy. Of course many screen
capture programs are available to save
the contents of the display screen at
any time.
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SETUP
The SETUP feature allows you to
enter and organize all the infor-
mation you need for tracking your
satellites... The 2 options available
are:
=> OBSERVER - Holds information on
up to 100 observation points.
=> OBJECTS - Holds information on
up to 100 objects.
[FOR PC-TRACK BASICS PRESS PGUP]
[More-PGDN]
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SETUP OBSERVER
This option allows you to enter and
edit all the information you need for
all the observation points to be used
in tracking. The information needed
is:
- Description
- Longitude
- Latitude
- Time Zone
- Minimum Elevation
- Height in feet above MSL
This information is stored in a
observer file which may contain up
to 100 observers. [More-PGDN]
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SETUP OBSERVER (cont)
ADDING AN OBSERVER [F2]
Press the F2 key to add a new
observation point to the file.
DELETING AN OBSERVER(F3)
Press the F3 key to remove an
observation point from the file.
EDITING AN OBSERVER
Press PGUP or PGDN to select
observation point to edit.
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SETUP OBSERVER [Description]
This is a common name which will be
meaningful to you when you see it
later on the track screen. This
description should be unique among all
the observation points you have. This
description will show up on the screen
and in printouts whenever this
observation point is used.
This field may contain up to 30
characters.
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SETUP OBSERVER [Longitude]
Longitude is given in degrees West,
meaning the number given will be
positive for West longitudes and
negative for East longitudes. It is
entered degrees and decimal degrees
(84.325 for example).
Latitudes must be entered in the range
of 180 to -180 degrees.
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SETUP OBSERVER [Latitude]
Latitude is given in degrees North,
meaning the number given will be
positive for North latitudes and
negative for South latitudes. Like
longitude, it is given in degrees and
decimal degrees (34.21 for example).
Latitudes must be entered in the range
of 90 to -90 degrees.
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SETUP OBSERVER [Time Zone]
This field defines which time zone the
observation point is in.
This is defined in hours from
Greenwich Mean Time (Coordinated
Universal Time). It is positive for
West longitudes and negative for East
longitudes. (EST IS +5, PST IS +8)
West longitudes must be between 1 and
12 and East longitudes must be
between -1 to - 12.
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SETUP OBSERVER [Minimum Elevation]
This field defines the minimum
elevation the observer will be able to
see the object above the horizon. Some
locations may be surrounded by
mountains or buildings which limit how
low an object may be tracked. That is
defined here.
The minimum elevation is defined in
degrees and decimal degrees and must
be between 90 and -90.
During tracking, azimuth/elevation
data will be displayed only if the
computed elevation is greater or equal
to the stated value.
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SETUP OBSERVER [Height]
This field defines the height of the
observation point in feet above Mean
Sea Level (MSL).
This number must be between -400 and
30000.
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SETUP OBJECTS
This option allows you to enter
information about the objects. to be
tracked. The information needed is:
- Name
- Epoch (Year, Day and Fraction of
Day)
- Decay Rate (Rev/day/day)
- Inclination
- Right Ascension
- Eccentricity
- Argument of Perigee
- Mean Anomaly
- Mean Motion
- Revolution Number at Epoch
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SETUP OBJECTS [cont]
- WHERE TO GET SATELLITE DATA -
The data required by PC-TRACK
may be received at no cost from
NASA
Project Operations Branch
Code 513
Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Md. 20771
Ask for the current "SATELLITE
SITUATION REPORT".
[MORE - PGDN]
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SETUP OBJECTS [cont]
The Satellite Situation Report lists
almost every object currently in
orbit. Each object is cataloged by
the International Designation and by
Catalog number. It also lists the
name, launch date, orbital period in
minutes, inclination, apogee,
perigee, and transmitting frequency.
By using this document you can
determine the catalog numbers of the
objects you wish to track with PC-
TRACK.
[MORE - PGDN]
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SETUP OBJECTS [cont]
The information required by PC-
TRACK is obtained by requesting the
"NASA PREDICTION BULLETIN" for each
of the objects desired, referenced
by catalog number from the address
given above.
You may also request a package of
prediction bulletins for certain
catagories of objects such as
weather or amateur radio satellites.
[MORE - PGDN]
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SETUP OBJECTS [cont]
ADDING AN OBJECT (F2)
Press the F2 key to add a new
object to the file.
DELETING AN OBJECT (F3)
Press the F3 key to remove an
object from the file.
EDITING AN OBJECT
Press PGUP or PGDN to select object.
Use the cursor keys to get to the
field you wish to edit.
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SETUP OBJECTS [Name]
This field should contain the common
name for the object described. This
name will appear on all screen
displays and printouts to describe the
object tracked.
The name field may contain up to 20
characters.
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SETUP OBJECTS [Catalog Number]
This is a 5 digit number assigned to
each object in the Satellite Situation
Report issued by Nasa.
Enter this as a whole number between 0
and 99999.
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SETUP OBJECTS [Epoch Year]
This is the year the rest of the
element set is effective.
Epoch year should be entered in the
range of 1987 to 2001.
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SETUP OBJECTS [Epoch Day]
This is the day and fraction of day
the rest of the element set is
effective.
Enter this as a fractional number
between 0.0 and 366.9999999.
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SETUP OBJECTS [Decay Rate]
This is the rate of decay of the
orbital period due to atmospheric
friction and other factors measured
in terms of Rev/Day/Day.
Enter this as a decimal number. It
may be positive or negative.
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SETUP OBJECTS [Inclination]
This describes the angle of the
orbit plane in relationship to
the plane of the earth's equator.
Enter this as a decimal number of
degrees between 0.0 and 360.0.
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SETUP OBJECTS [Right Ascension]
This describes the point the sat-
ellite crosses the equator from
the southern hemisphere to the
northern hemisphere.
Enter this as a decimal number of
degrees between 0.0 and 360.0.
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SETUP OBJECTS [Eccentricty]
This is a unitless number which
describes the shape of the orbit.
The closer to zero the number is,
the closer to a perfect circle it is.
Enter this as a decimal number between
0.0 and 0.999999.
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SETUP OBJECTS [Argument of Perigee]
This is the number of degrees from
the ascending node the perigee point
occurs. Perigee is the point of
closest approach to the earth.
Enter this as a decimal number of
degrees between 0.0 and 360.0.
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SETUP OBJECTS [Mean Anomaly]
This number represents the angular
distance from the perigee point
to the satellite's mean position.
Enter this as a decimal number of
degrees between 0.0 and 360.0.
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SETUP OBJECTS [Mean Motion]
This is the number of complete rev-
olutions the satellite makes in
24 hours.
Enter this as a decimal number between
0.0 and 20.0.
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2000
SETUP OBJECTS [Revolution Number]
This is the number of revolutions
which have occurred since launch to
the epoch time and date.
Enter this as a whole number between 0
and 99999.
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TRACK
The TRACK option is the heart of PC-
TRACK. It computes and displays the
tracking information for the satellite
selected and its current relationship
to the observation point selected.
In order to do any tracking, at least
one object and one observation point
must be defined using the SETUP
option.
[More PGDN]
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TRACK (Continued)
The track option displays computed
information on a graphics screen
showing a map of the world and an
AZ/EL chart. It also displays the
associated numerical data.
Once this option is selected, you
must select an object to track from
those defined in the SETUP option.
Once on object is selected, you must
select an observation point also
defined using the SETUP option.
Tracking then begins.
[More PGDN]
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TRACK (Continued)
SELECT OBJECT TO TRACK
This is done simply by pressing
either the up or down arrow keys
until the name of the desired
object is shown.
Then press RETURN.
[More PGDN]
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TRACK (Continued)
SELECT OBSERVATION POINT
This is done simply by pressing
either the up or down arrow keys
until the name of the desired
observation point is shown.
Then press RETURN.
[More PGDN]
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TRACK (Continued)
PRINT ALL POINTS?
If set to YES, then all computed
points will be printed during
tracking when the printer is
enabled. Otherwise only the points
which are visible to the observa-
tion point will be printed.
Selected by the up or down arrow
keys.
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TRACK
While tracking, various function keys
provide a variety of features to make
tracking more versatile.
- REAL TIME/NON-REAL TIME [F2] -
Pressing F2 switches tracking modes
from Real Time (tracking according
to the actual time of day and date)
to accelerated tracking (rapidly
computing and plotting satellite
positions).
[More PGDN]
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TRACK (Continued)
With real time tracking, you can
plot the actual current position of
the satellite (assuming the date and
time in your computer are properly
set). With accelerated tracking you
can look ahead or behind in time at
a satellite path. Accelerated
tracking is best used with the
printer enabled (F4) to print
satellite orbital predictions ahead
of time.
[More - PGDN]
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TRACK (Continued)
- PAUSE [F3] -
Pressing the F3 key causes all
tracking to cease and PC-TRACK waits
for you to press the F3 key again to
resume the track.
This allows you to stop the program
and analyze a point.
Remember: Press F3 to PAUSE and
press it again to resume tracking.
[More - PGDN]
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TRACK (Continued)
- PRINTER [F4] -
Pressing the F4 will enable output
to be sent to the printer while
tracking. When used with the
accelerated tracking mode (F2) it
allows you to print orbital
predictions for future revolutions.
As with F2 and F3, F4 operates like
a "toggle". Pressing it enables the
printer, pressing it again disables
the printer.
[More - PGDN]
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TRACK (Continued)
- REFRESH SCREEN [F5] -
The F5 key will redraw the world map
and the azimuth/elevation chart on
the screen.
This is used when the display gets
too cluttered from previous points
plotted.
[More - PGDN]
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TRACK (Continued)
- CHANGE TIME INTERVAL -
The time interval is the amount of
time between each track point to be
computed. This number is added to
the current track time (shown in the
box just above the "OBJECT" box
containing the world map). The
current time interval is shown in
the box just to the right of the
track time box. It may be changed
only while in the Fast Track Mode
as follows:
[More - PGDN]
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TRACK (Continued)
TIME INCREMENT 00:00:00
HR MN SEC
INCR DECR │ ││ ││
------------ │ ││ ││
ALTF1 CTRLF1 ──┘ ││ ││
ALTF2 CTRLF2 ────┘│ ││
ALTF3 CTRLF3 ─────┘ ││
ALTF4 CTRLF4 ───────┘│
ALTF5 CTRLF5 ────────┘
(ALTFx means holding the ALT key
while pressing the Fx key and CRLFx
means holding the CTRL key while
pressing the Fx key)
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CONFIGURE
With this option, you may change some
of the various pieces of information
(parameters) which control how the
program operates. There are options
available here:
=> SCREEN
Screen colors parameters.
=> SYSTEM
Printer control codes and data
drive designation.
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CONFIGURE SCREEN
With this option, you will be able to
define all the screen colors used by
PC-TRACK to display information. This
way you can get the screen displays to
look the way you want. This also makes
it easy to adjust displays on mono-
chrome monitors. You are able to see
the effects of changes on the screen
while you make them. You can make
hanges to both the background and text
colors with simple key strokes.
[More-PGDN]
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CONFIGURE SCREEN (Key Commands)
Information is displayed on the
screen using 7 different categories for
the text and background colors...
- NORMAL
- HIGHLIGHTED
- DATA ENTRY
- TITLE
- SCREEN COLOR
- SHADOW COLOR
Only the combinations used in PC-TRACK
are shown. The colors for both the
background and text colors can be
selected for each of these categories.
[More-PGDN]
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CONFIGURE SCREEN (Key Commands)
=> SELECT TEXT COLOR CATEGORY
Using the Left and Right arrow keys
selects the category for text color
changes. Current category is shown
by a down arrow.
=> SELECT BACKGROUND CATEGORY
Using the Up and Down arrow keys
selects the category for background
color changes. Current category is
shown by a right arrow.
[More-PGDN]
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CONFIGURE SCREEN (Key Commands)
=> CHANGE TEXT COLOR (F5)
Pressing this key changes the color
of the currently selected text
category. There are 16 colors to
choose from on a color monitor.
=> CHANGE BACKGROUND COLOR (F6)
Pressing this key changes the color
of the currently selected background
category. There are 2 sets of 8
identical colors. One set causes the
text to be non-blinking while the
other causes blinking text.
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CONFIGURE SYSTEM
This option allows you to change the
control codes sent to your printer to
make it print the PC-TRACK reports
correctly. It also allows you to define
where PC-TRACK looks on your disk to
find the files it needs to operate
with.
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CONFIGURE SYSTEM (Printer Codes)
Printer codes are sequences of special
control characters sent to your
printer. PC-TRACK displays and
accepts them from you as the decimal
equivalents of each control character
separated by a slash (/). For example
the ESC character has a decimal value
of 27 so it is shown on the screen that
way. Notice each print command has a
code sequence to turn it on and one to
turn it off. Some codes do not need to
be turned off, so that portion is left
blank. [More-PGDN]
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CONFIGURE SYSTEM (Printer Codes)
Some printers may not be capable of
printing certain features shown on the
screen, in that case, leave the CODE
TO TURN ON blank for that feature.
You have up to 20 characters to define
the turn-on or turn-off codes,
including the slashes.
You may move the cursor around on the
screen to the desired code sequence by
using the arrow keys or just pressing
RETURN.
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CONFIGURE SYSTEM (Data Path)
This line tells PC-TRACK what disk
drive and what directories and
subdirectory on that disk to use as the
storage area for the data files it
uses. This line of text will be in the
form of an MS-DOS path name. If you
just want to tell PC-TRACK to use the
B drive, just enter "B:" here. If you
have PC-TRACK on your hard disk and
it is the C drive and you have a
special subdirectory called
"\PCT\DATA", then you would enter
"C:\PCT\DATA" on this line.
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QUIT
This option allows you to quit
PC-TRACK and return to MS-DOS.