Screen elements

Viewport: World map
World map viewport
1Eclipsed satellite
2Eclipsed part of ground track
3Illuminated part of ground track
4Active satellite with footprint and ground track; data for this satellite is presented in right Info panel
5Illuminated satellite
6Current location
7Night shadow
8Terminator
9Grid
10Grid description
    Map is one of Orbitron viewports. It presents positions of satellites over the world. You can pick location or zoom the area, you are interest in by context menu. Also map moving is allowed be dragging it. Right and left mouse button also have support for clicking on satellites.
    Map is configured by Visualisation - bottom panel and Setup. By default ground track has two colors, light for illuminated part and dark for eclipsed. Other lines you see on map is terminator (ground points with sun elevation equal to zero) and footprint (satellite visible zone).
    Please note that time displayed below the viewport is not current, but it's time of presented situation.

Viewport: Radar
    Radar viewport is perfect to monitoring situation (real time or simulated) on your sky. Selecting of satellite by clicking it, is allowed. You can set, what you want to see on it in the same way as world map configuration.
    If show Extra data is checked, in top-left corner of radar you will see additional information. One of this is Geomagnetic declination, its the difference between real north direction and magnetic north direction in your location. This angle are useful when you are using compass for azimuth determination. East declination mean that real north is on east side of magnetic north.
    Interactive radar rotation by mouse dragging is available to make your observation easiest.

QuickMenu
    Click at right-top corner of the Orbitron window or press ESC to enter the QuickMenu. It's the fastest way to access important program functions.

Right panels: Satellites
    List of loaded objects. You can click checkbox (or press spacebar) to track satellite, double click on satellite name or press Enter to perform 'Go to' operation. 'Go to' adds satellite to tracking list and make it active. Hold down Ctrl key and drag over list to perform mass selection. Context menu with sorting functions it's available.

Right panels: Info
    Information about active satellite and the Sun formated in table:
Name Satellite name
Lat Latitude of ground track
Lon Longitude of ground track
Alt Altitude of satellite above earth (kilometers)
Azm Observer look azimuth to satellite
Elev Observer look elevation to satellite
RA Right ascension of satellite, for sky map reference
Delc Declination of satellite, for sky map reference
Range Distance from observer to satellite (kilometers)
RRt Range rate; changing of Range in time; for Doppler shift (kilometers per second)
Vel Velocity of satellite (kilometers per second)
Direction Ascending - satellite moves from South to North; Descending - North to South
Eclipse Posible values are: Penumbral / Umbral / No (satellite is illuminated)
MA (phase) Mean Anomaly (0-360 degrees) and AM-SAT phase (0-255) of satellite counted from perigee
Orbit # Orbit number counted from first perigee
Mag (illum) Visual magnitude and illuminated fraction in percents. Posible values are: 'not visible' (satellite is below the horizon), 'eclipsed' (satellite is in umbral eclipse), 'X.X* (80%)' (magnitude and illuminated fraction, * - penumbral eclipse)
Sun and moon data similarly as satellite...

Time panel
    Time panel displays information about current or simulated time. It also show time control settings. You can show/hide this panel by pressing F11, click right mouse button to enter the context menu with time functions or left to change settings like RT/SIM modes. Meaning of labels are described below:
RT/SIM
Real-time mode / Simulation mode
CLOCK
Panel works in clock mode
AUTO-FWD/AUTO-BCK
Auto forward/backward simulation mode
LCL/UTC
Orbitron is displaying Local/UTC time
Mini radar
    Mini radar is located in right-bottom corner of the Orbitron window. Three radar modes are possible:
On
Radar is always visible
Off
Radar is hidden
Auto
Radar is visible if any object appears on the sky and main viewport is other than radar
You can click right mouse button to enter the context menu or press F12 to change radar mode. You can select satellite on radar by clicking on it.

Bottom panels: Main
    This panel is visible on startup. It contains time control functions:
Calculation 'Real-time (RT)' / 'Simulation (SIM)' mode, Ctrl+Home/End
Time Orbitron is displaying Local/UTC time
Time edit box Enter time string here in simulation mode
Auto FWD/BCK Auto forward/backward simulation mode, Ctrl + PgUp/PgDn (use controls above to define time jump interval)
and tool bar with basic program functions:
From left to right:
Help
Open Orbitron Help System, Alt+F1
Screen shot
Grab screen to BMP file, Alt+F2 (Alt+Shift+F2 for viewport only)
Minimize application
Minimize application to taskbar (usefull if FullScreen mode), Alt+F3
Close application
Save settings and close Orbitron, Alt+F4
Setup
Run Orbitron Setup with Interet TLE Updater, NTP PC clock synchronization..., Alt+F5
Load settings
Load settings from INI file
Save settings
Save settings to INI file, Orbitron saves all settings on closing, but you can create your own configuration sets to speed up your work
Message Board System
Open MBS window, where you can find new messages from Orbitron author and information about new versions of product
Nightlife
Dark color scheme for night usage, it protects your eyes from bright screen dazzle
Hide bottom panels
Please check it to hide bottom panels, Ctrl+Space; With Shift key pressed banner mode is called, Ctrl+Shift+Space
Maximize viewport
When checked all area of Orbitron window is allocated for viewport, Ctrl+Enter; With Shift key pressed banner mode is called, Ctrl+Shift+Enter
Fullscreen/Windowed mode
If checked Orbitron works in fullscreen mode, Alt+Enter (note that windowed mode is allowed in resolutions higher than 800x600)
Refresh interval
Define interval for data calculation, Ctrl+Z,X
Bottom panels: Visualisation
    You can set visualisation options and change viewport here. Please remember that additional visualisation settings are available in Setup. Groups present on this palen are:
Mini Radar Mini Radar configuration
Sat on track Define satellite position on the ground track, default is begin but in simulation mode middle is also useful
Show on ... Elements visible on choosen viewport

Bottom panels: Location
    Orbitron allows you to choose location from databese or enter it manually. You can edit existing databases.
Name Name of location
Sign Short version of name, using on map
Grid locator Grid locator of location in AA00aa format
Longitude, Latitude Coordinates of location, see note below
Altitude Altitude of location above see level (type '0' if unknown)
Choose Choose current location for calculations. Button is enabled when current location is NOT equal to data in edit fileds.
Add to DB Add location to database
Update Update edited location in database
Remove Remove item from database
Clear Clear database
<<<, x, >>> Change database
Latitude editing styles: 10 S = -10, 10 N = 10.
Longitude editing styles: 10 E = 10, 10 W = -10 = 350.
You can also enter your coordinates in DMS notation using slash "/", e.g. 10/30/13 N means 10°30'13" N and it's equal to 10.5036 N.
Note that location DB is saved immediatelly. TIP: You can use map context menu for loacation pick up.

Bottom panels: Sat/Orbit info
    Information about satellite and its orbit including Notes created by user.
Name Satellite name. Click right mouse button on it to get TLE information. Red font color of this field means that satellite have wrong CRC (checksum) data.
Data table Contains information decoded and calculated from TLE. Few other data is also provided.
Notes Information about satellite edited by user. You can use it for radio amateurs purposes (e.g. DownLink / UpLink frequencies) or store there your hunted passes. Notes is automatically saved. Double click on EMPTY notes loads template from Notes\00000.txt file. Read it for details.

Bottom panels: Prediction setup
    This panel contains options for passes/flares prediction.
Search period It can be set automatically (as period before/after the current moment) or manually (as free time range)
Illumination required Check it for visual passes or uncheck for radio amateurs purposes
Sun elevation For visual passes check it and define maximum sun elevation
Satellite elevation Minimum satellite elevation during the pass
Minimum flare magnitude Now Orbitron can calculate flare magnitude. You can set limit for this parameter to catch brightest ones.
Brief output If checked 1 line of output is generated for event (MET), if not each event is described by 3 lines (AOS, MET, LOS)
Minimum pass magnitude You can check that option and define minimum pass magnitude (remember that mag of -1 is brighter then 1); minimum magnitude equal to 3 gives you brightest passes (mag 3..0 and under); NOTE: maximum magnitude of pass often occurs in different moment than MET
Ignore if magnitude is unknown It's extension to option above, if checked satellites with unknown magnitude can be also listed.
Search passes for Define for which satellites Orbitron makes passes calculations

NOTE: Last four options and Illumination required apply only to Passes, not to Flares.

Bottom panels: Prediction
This panel allows you to calculate Passes/Flares, then save it, print or go to selected event.
Passes / Flares Prediction mode switcher; you must load Iridium TLE file before start flares prediction
Results legend In Iridium flares result table appears:
Ant - antenna that makes flare (F/L/R - Front/Left/Right)
Dir - satellite direction (A/D - Ascending/Descending)

Bottom panels: Rotor/Radio
    This panel shows doppler shifts for uplink and downlink frequencies. It allows you to co-operate with drivers (e.g. WiSP DDE Client or My DDE Client). Driver is an external application used to control some rotor and radio interfaces via Windows DDE engine. You can see status label that tell you about Driver conversation status.
Azimuth, Elevation, Receive/doppler, Transmit/doppler, Dnlink mode, Uplink mode Values from these fields are sended to driver.
Dnlink, Uplink Frequiencies list. You can also type your own value. Existing ones are taken from notes files, please check NOTES/00000.TXT for more details.
Driver List of available drivers. 'WispDDE' is a build-in one, other drivers must be listed in Config\Drivers.dat file (driver's file names without extension, line by line).
Run selected driver and start sending data (icon) After pressing this button, Orbitron will try to run driver and starts sending tracking data. At the first time you will be asked for location of driver's EXE file.
Tracking object Choose object for track.
Lock active satellite (icon) Orbitron normally sends data for the active satellite to the rotor/radio driver. The 'Lock Active Satellite' button ensures that this data stream continues uninterrupted even if another satellite made active. When this button is released, the data changes to that for the now active satellite.

NOTE: You must have installed WiSP DDE Client or other driver to perform rotor/radio control. You can get WiSP DDE Client application, writen by Fernando Mederos, CX6DD from his web page: www.chasque.net/franky.
Full source code for My DDE Client can be downloaded form www.stoff.pl.
When you are using WiSP DDE Client you must run it first and setup your rotor/radio configuration, then you can close it and let Orbitron do all the rest. DDE conversation parameters will be configrated automaticaly by Orbitron.

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