--------------------> Be sure to read the entire page including the Notes: <------------------
This shows how to use 'Simple Sat' to determine if it is possible to communicate with a station using a given satellite. The first step is to enter the grid location of your station (Location 1) and the grid location of the station you are trying to work (Location 2). Your location is shown as a yellow box on the map and the other location is shown as a red box. For this example Location 1 is W9KE and Location 2 is DK1TB. A yellow circle will be centered on Location 1 enclosing the area of the earth that you have the possibility of communicating with using the selected satellite. For this example we can see that AO-27 will not work as DK1TB (shown as the red square) is located outside the yellow circle.
Since AO-27 will not work we will try another satellite. We select FO-29 from the list of satellites.
The map now shows the range circle for FO-29. It is possible to work DK1TB on FO-29 since his location as shown by the red box is within the range circle for FO-29.
The next step is to determine what date/time combinations will work. We select 'Run Predict' from the 'Predict' menu.
A pop-up box shows a list of the possible date/time combinations. Since we are operating near the coverage limit the pass lengths are fairly short. The last step is to check the accuracy of the pass prediction using the 'Observer 2' and 'Preview' functions in SatPC32.
Notes:
The response to this program was that SatPC32 and GPredict were easier to use for this purpose. Not wanting to to waste any more time re-inventing the wheel the project was dropped.
The circles look a little funky because an equirectangular projection map was used.
The date/time combinations shown use my local time.
I was surprised how straightforward the programming was. The only part that looked difficult was the map. Use of a public domain equirectangular projection map rather than a Mercator projection map made that part straightforward at the expense of increasing distortion in the map as you get further from the equator. If you are interested in programming and looking for an interesting project give it a try. If an old geezer like me can do it - anyone can.
73 de W9KE