MacDoppler will read in the Keplerian elements (in either format), calculate the position and relative velocity of the Satellite you are tracking and automatically adjust the Doppler shift on both transmit and receive as well as pointing your antennas.
Without registering, the application will run for 10 minutes and track the satellite(s) you choose and display the proper Doppler corrected frequencies that can be entered manually in any rig. When registered with AMSAT ($50.00 US) MacDoppler will connect to your radio and rotor controller through any two serial ports and make the corrections for you once a second.
A Track List Dialog allows you to track up to 8 satellites automatically.
Supported Satellites and modes include: MIR Simplex, split, UHF Safex repeater and UHF QSO, AO-27, AO-10, FO-20 and FO-29. In accordance with common practice, in mode JA, the up link (lower) frequency is pegged and the Doppler correction for both transmit and receive is applied to the receive (down link) frequency. Conversely, in mode B the down link (lower) frequency is pegged and the Doppler correction for both transmit and receive is applied to the transmit (up link) frequency. You may also select 'Full Doppler Tuning' from the Options menu to select Doppler adjustments to be made for both the up link and the down link even when in Mode JA or Mode B - this keeps the frequencies stable with respect to the transponder and no drifting through the transponder will occur. This is useful for QSO's with more than two geographical locations - but of course, all operators engaged in the QSO must be using the same method.
For FM repeater operation (Mir SAFEX Repeater), FM Simplex (AO-27 or Mir), the PacSats, or Mode JD (fixed), Doppler adjustments are made for both the up link and the down link frequencies.
MacDoppler features full predictive dead spot crossing so that a pass is never interrupted by the beam heading passing a southern dead spot.
A slider control allows you to sweep the VFO through the transponder range while the transmit frequency tracks the receive frequency. When you hear something interesting, MacDoppler continues to track the frequency through the Doppler changes.
Revision History:
v2.0.0 05/Jun-97 Azimuth & elevation control for the Yaesu G-5400B rotor
(with the GS-232 interface) has been added.
v2.0.1 25/Jun/97 Map added.
v2.0.2 30/Jun/97 Ground track and coverage oval added. Offscreen Gworld
and preferences file added.
v2.0.3 28/Jul/97 Better display of coverage area, tested with MacOS 8,
Full Doppler Tuning
added under the Options menu.
v2.0.4 10/Sep/97 General speed-up, added '.FPU' 68k version.
v2.0.5 11/Sep/97 Fixed Simplex Doppler TX Freq.
v2.0.6 17/Sep/97 Speech and Southern Crossing added.
v2.0.7 19/Oct/97 Better handling of Southern Crossing added.
(Thanks for the suggestion Lou)
v2.0.8 20/Oct/97 Southern Crossing bug fixed.
v2.0.9 26/Oct/97 Better AppleEvent Handling.
Close 'site.dat' when done with it.
v3.0b1 24/Nov/97 Added support for Endeavour AutoTracker (Rotor Control Only).
v3.0b2 26/Dec/97 Added Ham Pageing for AOS and LOS and 10 minute warnings.
Added full predictive deadspot crossing (Thanks again Lou).
Added 'ParkAzEl' to 'site.dat' for parking rotor at
user-selectable az & el.
v3.0b3 08/Jan/98 Support added for AOR AR-3000A (receive) (Set RS-232 to
9600 baud).
v3.0b4 16/Feb/98 Show all the visible satellites as outline text in the menu.
Test for the presense of the Speech Manager.
v3.0b5 23/Feb/98 Site .dat moved to 'Site Info..." dialog.
Default Latitude & Longitude taken from 'Map' Control Panel
settings.
v3.0b6 01/Mar/98 Frequency Slider added for quickly scanning through the
transponder range. Transmit frequency will track received
when 'TLock' is active. MacOS 8 (Appearance Manager) only.
v3.0b7 02/Mar/98 Slider bug fixes.
v3.0b8 02/Mar/98 Harmonize Longitude readouts.
v3.0b9 03/Mar/98 Update Bug.
v3.1b1 15/Mar/98 Support for AutoTracker Radio Control.
Support for ICOM 821-H.
Support for 9600 Baud FSK PacSats.
v3.1b2 21/Mar/98 Allow more than one copy of MacDoppler to run on the same Mac.
Support for Frequency Slider on MacOS 7.6.1
if appearance manager installed.
v3.1 27/Mar/98 Release.
v3.1.1 28/Mar/98 Fix minimum elevation degrees.
v3.2 27/Apr/98 FT-847 Support & AutoTracker fixes.
Due to a problem with the 736-R (see note in 736-R manual page 36 bottom left) you may have to take MacDoppler out of CAT mode, press the REV key on the 736R front panel, and return to CAT mode when switching between mode U/V and V/U in Full Duplex, for example: switching from FO-20 to AO-10 and back.
The SAT switch must be in one of the full duplex positions for this to work.
Alternately, you could take MacDoppler out of CAT mode, use the VFO buttons to switch from U/V to V/U, and then turn CAT mode back on - this will only work if you have one VFO set to U/V and the other VFO set to V/U.
On the Icom IC-821H you have to push the 'M/S' button when switching from U/V
to V/U (eg from FO-20 to AO-10).
Yaesu Radios support CAT controlled in-band odd splits for doppler correction of uplink and downlink while the Icom radios do not.
Requirements:
MacDoppler requires an Apple Macintosh II or faster (some features only supported on Power PC), 1.5 MB of RAM (over and above the OS), System 7.6.1 or later (MacOS 8 required for the Frequency Slider to work). The Application is FAT Binary. Without registering, the application will run for 30 minutes and track the satellite(s) you choose and display the proper Doppler corrected frequencies that can be entered manually in any rig. If you register, MacDoppler will connect to your radio and rotor controller through any two serial ports and make the corrections for you once a second.
Supported Equipment:
Yaesu FT-736R Transceiver
with FIF-232 Level Converter or Endeavour AutoTracker
YAESU FT-847 Transciever
direct RS-232
ICOM IC-275/IC-475 Transceiver pair
with CT-17 Level Converter
ICOM IC-820H Transceiver
with CT-17 Level Converter or Endeavour AutoTracker
ICOM IC-821H Transceiver
with CT-17 Level Converter or Endeavour AutoTracker
AOR A3000A Receiver
direct RS-232
Yaesu G-5400B Elevation-Azimuth Dual Controller
with GS-232 Computer Controller or Endeavour AutoTracker
KLM/Mirage Controller
Tracker Protocols Supported:
Endeavour AutoTracker
EasyCom
Buttons:
'CAT': Turns the Radio Control system on and off (Registered version only)
'Beacon': Switches to/from the beacon frequency in mode.dat for that satellite.
'1..8': Switches amongst the 8 frequencies and modes for that satellite.
(use with shift key to decrease mode number).
(can also use 'Right/Left Arrows' on keyboard)
'/\' (Up Arrow) Move rx up 100 Hz
(use with shift key to make it 1kHz)
(use with command key to make it 10Hz)
(use the option key to make it tx frequency instead of rx freq)
(can also use 'Up Arrow' on keyboard)
'\/' (Down Arrow) Move rx down 100 Hz
(use with shift key to make it 1kHz)
(use with command key to make it 10Hz)
(use the option key to make it tx frequency instead of rx freq)
(can also use 'Down Arrow' on keyboard)
'TLock' Tuning Lock: when 'on' or depressed (default), adjusting the tx
frequency
automatically adjusts the rx frequency (either inverting of
non-inverting
based on the cmode, and adjusting the rx frequency automatically
adjusts the tx frequency (either inverting of non-inverting based
on the cmode. When 'Off' transmit and receive frequencies can be
adjusted independently.
'Slider' The slider will scan quickly through about + or - 50 kHz.
Transmit frequency will track received when 'TLock' is active.
(use the option key to make it tx frequency instead of rx freq
when TLock 'Off')
MacOS 8 only, or MacOS 7.1 + with Appearance Manager installed.
Files (Both Simple Text editable):
kepler.dat: Will read either format keplerian elements.
mode.dat: This file holds all the frequency and mode info for the sats you are interested in.
You can enter up to eight frequency and mode combinations as well as 8 beacon
