Quick Start

It is highly recommended that you select a number of satellites as your "favorites". This will increase decrease clutter when viewing predicted passes and will improve the responsiveness of the S.A.T.

To choose your favorites, click the VIEW ALL button. You will be presented with a list of all the satellites contained in the currently loaded TLE.

Each satellite name has a checkbox next to it. Choose favorites by checking those that you want. When completed, press the SAVE FAVORITES at the bottom. A popup box will appear confirming your action.

The S.A.T. includes a satellite status reporting feature that is both easy to use and informative.

In the VIEW ALL and NEXT PASSES screen you will see a colored diamond next to satellites where we have received status reports.

The color indicates the last known satellite status:

• ♦ - Satellite is active and was heard.
• ♦ - Only telemetry or a beacon was heard
• ♦ - The satellite was not heard.

Hovering your mouse over the diamond will popup a box giving you the details about the last report such as when it was reported and what trasponder it was.

Clicking on the diamond will open a new browser page showing the history of reports for that satellite.

You can easily submit your own report. While tracking a satellite use the "Report Status" dropdown box located in the radio panel (see image above).

Simply choose one of the three status options from the choices and your report is immediatly submitted for all others to see.

Before tracking a satellite, be sure to configure your Location, Rotator and Radio using the instructions in this manual. Also make sure your TLEs are up to date for best results.

There are a few ways to start tracking a satellite. The quickest is to type the name or catalog number into the search field and click SEARCH. The search field is not case sensitive and if you use a name it must match the name as it is in the TLE file. You can enter a partial name, for example entering "IS" would find and track "ISS". If you enter a partial name then the first matching satellite will be selected. Entering "AO-9" might find "AO-91" or "AO-92". If you know the catalog number then that is the most accurate way to search.

To track the Moon or Sun, simply type MOON (or SUN) into the seach box and click SEARCH

Another way is to click the VIEW ALL button. This will display a list off all the satellites in the loaded TLE file. Simply click a satellite name to start tracking.

Click the little report icon next to the satellite name in the 'View All' page to generate a printable pass prediction report for that individual satellite. The REPORT FOR SELECTED button at the bottom of the page will generate a pass prediction report for all satellites that have been checked. The report will be generated in chronological order.

Finally, clicking NEXT PASSES will display a list of satellites that are currently up in the sky and those that are coming up next. Those that are green are already up and the orange are currently below the horizon but they are the next to rise. The brightness of the boxes indicates the relative maximum elevation, brighter being higher. Satellites that will not rise above the MISS PASS setting in the rotator page will not be displayed. Click a satellite name to start tracking.

When tracking starts the first transponder in the list is automatically selected. Your radios VFOs and modes will be set up and the center frequencies will be selected, adjusted for doppler. Tuning will start. The calculated doppler offset and current frequency will be display in the RADIO area on the page.

Click on a transponder name to switch to it - the radio bands and modes will be automatically set for the selected transponder and frequency updates will start. If a frequency is not correct in the transponder list you can click on it and change it. The frequency you enter will be the new center frequency that the doppler shift is calculated from. The setting is not saved however you can contact us and we will make the necessary adjustment in the transponder database.

If a mode is not selected correctly you can chage it using the drop down menus. Again, contact us and we'll make corrections in the database.

The POWER and TX PL selections let you change the transmit power and transmit PL tone respectivly. Note that not all radios support changing the power levels with remote commands.

Satellite frequencies drift. This can be caused by thermal issues on the spacecraft, from satellite age and/or other factors. So some adjustment may be required by operators on on the ground. The easiest way is to use the RIT control on radios that have it (Icom 9100 & 9700). You can use the RIT control to fine tune the downlink frequency.

The other way is to simply move the tuning dial on the radio but in this case you must be aware of the LOCK VFO option on the S.A.T.

With the VFOs locked, any change you make to the downlink will also be reflected in the uplink frequency. For example, if you tune the downlink down by 5kHz, the uplink will tune up by 5kHz. Unlocking the VFO's prevents this and you are free to change the downlink without affecting the uplink.

Keep in mind some features of the radio may be difficult to manipulate while frequency updates are being sent by the S.A.T., especially if the update interval is fast (less than 1 sec). Clicking the ENABLE button will stop the updates and the button will turn red. You are now free to adjust the radio and when ready you click ENABLE to start the updates again.

Adding and Editing Transponders

You can add transponders by clicking the ADD or by clicking the numeric portion of a transponder line in the list of transponders.

Either way will open the Tranponder Edit panel as shown above.

The S.A.T. incorporates a QSO logging feature which automatically fills in all the required fields for a sucessful contact.

While tracking a satellite, press the QSO LOG button at the bottom of the S.A.T. interface to open the QSO log window as shown above.

Enter the contact callsign. If your QRZ credentials are entered in the Locations settings, you can press the LOOKUP button to automatically fill in the GRID, NAME, STATE and COUNTRY fields.

You can add a comment for the contact (see below for details on the comment field)

Finally press ADD and the QSO entry will be saved in the S.A.T. and will also be displayed in the main window in the QSO Log list near the bottom of the screen.

The S.A.T. contains a built in GPS to provide you with the highest level of positional accuracy. It also makes it easier when roaming since you do not need to change your location setting when you move from place to place.

The TRACK panel in the main interface indicates the current status of the GPS by displaying the number of GPS satellites acquired and the current gris square.

The status line is red when the GPS does not have a lock. Green when it is locked. Yellow when it locked but is not being used because it's disabled in the Location settings.

If the GPS is Enable in the Location panel but is does not yet have a lock, then the position you have saved are used.

The STAT toggle the polar view from normal satellite view to GPS satellite view (shown above). The GPS satellite view shows the position of the GPS satellites in the sky and your current latitude and longitude.

The GRID toggles GPS GRID mode. This is used for roaming and changes the LCD screen on the S.A.T. to display the current grid square, time and exact coordinates. In this mode, the S.A.T. will beep as as you cross grid boundaries. This mode can be started automatically by choosing "Enable w/ Auto Grid Mode" in the Location settings. If option is selected the the S.A.T. will enter GPS Grid mode automatically about 2 minutes after it boots. In this way, you do not need to connect to the S.A.T. to press the GRID button to turn on GPS Grid mode.

You can schedule the satellites that you want to track. For example if you want to collect APRS packets from every pass of the ISS, even when you're not present, you can do that here.

Choose a satellite and a transponder from the dropdown lists and click the ADD button. You can add any number of satellites this way. To remove a satellite, click the red X next to the name.

To enable the schedule, press the SCHEDULE button in the TRACK panel. A green button means the schedule is active and if red then it is not active.

With the schedule enabled the S.A.T. will track all the satellites in list in the order of AOS. Tracking starts about 60 seconds before AOS.

A satellite that is currently being tracked will never be interrupted by a scheduled satellite. So if you are manually tracking when a schedule pass is approaching your currently tracked satellite will not be stopped.

Also, when two scheduled satellites overlap in time, the one with the earlier AOS will be tracked first and all the way to LOS before the next satellite in the schedule is selected and tracked.

Rotator Panel

The Rotator Panel is where you will find the rotator and satellite tracking settings.

TYPE	Choose the rotator model to use. The S.A.T. natively supports the Yaesu G5500, G5400 and G5600 with the included cable. PstRotator is also supported.
IP ADDRESS	For PstRotator enter the IP address of the computer where PstRotator is running. PstRotator needs to be configured to accept UDP packets. In the PstRotator "Communication" menu choose "UDP Control Port." You can accept the default IP address and port in displayed in this window. If the settings are blank the click the "By Default" button. Click "Save Settings" to close the window. Finally, under the Settings menu in PstRotator, click "UDP Control" to allow remote control. Once configured properly, PstRotator will send feedback to your S.A.T. letting it know the antenna's current position. If you do not see the correct antenna postion displayed in the S.A.T., you may need to allow UDP port 12000 through your computer's firewall.
TOLERANCE	The S.A.T. tracks in such a way that when it moves the antenna it moves ahead of the satellite. This causes the satellite to pass directly in front of the antenna as the satellite moves across the sky and prevents the antenna from always having to "catch up" to the satellite. The TOLERANCE sets this window of movement. For example, with a setting of 10° for azimuth, when the satellite moves ahead of the antenna by 5° the antenna will move 5° ahead of the satellite. Then the satellite will then pass pass directly in front of the antenna and when it leads by 5° again, the antenna will move 5° ahead of it again. Same for elevation.
PARK POS	The position the antenna should move to when the Park button is pressed.
READY POS	The position the antenna should move to when the Ready button is pressed. For the fastest response when tracking, a Park position of 180° azimuth and 90° elevation should be used.
POST PASS	Choose how the antenna should be positioned at the end of a pass. You can choose to move to the Park or Ready position or no movement. Be aware this option may stress your rotator beyond the duty cycle limits specified in you rotator user manual.
POST PASS	Choose how the antenna should be positioned at the end of a pass. You can choose to move to the Park or Ready position or no movement. Be aware this option may stress your rotator beyond the duty cycle limits specified in you rotator user manual.
ANTENNA FLIP	Enable or Disable the antenna flip feature. With this setting enabled, the S.A.T. will automatically flip the antenna over when a satellite path passes though north so there is no time lost during the tracking. (On the G5400 and G5600 the S.A.T. will flip the antenna if a satellite passes through south.)
ALARM	The S.A.T. contains a built in beeper that will sound when the satellite reaches a set amount of time prior to AOS. Enter the minutes and seconds here at which time you would like to hear the alarm. Enter 00:00 to disable the alarm.
PLAY ALARM ON	The AOS alarm can be sounded on the S.A.T. using built in beeper, in the web browser or both. Note that not all web browers are supported.
QUALITY	This is a quality setting for the angle sense potentiometer in the rotator housing. If you hear excessive relay clicking in your rotator box you can slowly increase this value. A higher value reduces the resolution when the antenna is commanded to a particular position. For example if the setting is 2° here and the antenna is commanded to 100° it may stop anywhere between 98° and 102°.
YAESU LIMITS	(See the calibration procedure)
RELAY	Enable the build in relay. Your S.A.T. has a three terminal relay jack. The center is common and the right and left sides are NO and NC respectively. When the relay option is enabled, the relay closes when the satellite reaches 3° below the horizon just before AOS and stays closed until LOS. Relay is rated 24 VAC, 2 Amps, total 48 Watts.
SIMULATE	If no antenna is connected then checking this option simulates one and the information panels and maps display where the would be if it was connected.
SAVE	Save and close the Rotator Panel

Before attaching your S.A.T. to your rotator, manually set the azimuth and elevation to their minimums. On the G5500 this is 0° AZ and 0° EL, on the G5400 this is 180° AZ with the needle to the left and 0° EL. You can now attach the S.A.T. to your rotator using the supplied DIN cable.

Once connected, open the ROTATOR PANEL in the Dashboard.

Automatic Calibration

Your S.A.T. will swing the antenna rotator through it's full rotations in both Azimuth and Elevation to detect the limits. Make sure your rotator is ready to move through the full rotation and nothing is obstructing it's motion such as short wires, tree branches, etc. Once the calibration is started the only way to stop it is to remove power from the S.A.T.

Press the AUTO CAL button in the opened ROTATOR PANEL. When you press OK on the warning box the rotator will start moving. This can take up to four minutes. While it's calibrating you can watch the guages on the Yaesu control box. When it's complete a box will notify you that the calibration is complete. You can skip the Manual Calibration below.

If, however, a box opens and indicates that voltages were exceeded then please follow the Manual Calibration procedure below.

*Note: Not all rotator choices support auto-calibration.

Manual Calibration

Click on the VOLTS button (You can close the message that opens, it's just a reminder of these instructions). The sensed voltage from the rotator control box is now displayed on the LCD.

Manually increase your azimuth and watch the voltage on the LCD. The first number on the top line is the voltage for azimuth. Stop moving if this voltage goes higher than 5 volts! If it passes 5 volts then you need to turn the Output Voltage Adjustment knob on the back of your rotator control box to decrease it. See your Yaesu Manual for instructions.

The goal is to increase the AZ to it's maximum and adjust the voltage to keep it between 4 and 5 volts. The maximum azimuth for the G5500 is the red 90° mark on the right side of the guage, on the G5400 the maximum is the 180° on the right of the guage. If the voltage ends up below 4 volts then for highest accuracy you should increase it by turning the Output Voltage Adjustment on the back of your rotator control box. When the voltage is between 4 and 5 volts at the maximum azimuth then you can move on to the elevation setting.

The elevation is set the same way as the azimuth. Increase the elevation and watch the LCD to make sure it does not pass 5 volts. Again adjust the voltage to get it between 4 and 5 volts at the maximum elevation (180° on both the G5400 and G5500). *If your G5500 is limited to only 90 degrees elevation then choose "Yaesu G5500 360/90" in the rotator selection. Then during the manual calibration you can move the elevation to 90 degrees instead of the full 180.

Finally, when the both azimuth and elevation are at their maximum positions and the voltages are between 4 and 5 volts, press the SET MAX button.

Now move both AZ and El all the way back to the minimums. Press the SET MIN button.

Your S.A.T. is now calibrated to your rotator control box. Press the STOP button to exit Voltage mode. You need to do this calibration process every time the S.A.T. boots. Just kidding! *The calibration only has to be done once ;).

Configure your Radio in this panel

TYPE	Choose the type of radio to control. The S.A.T. works best with the Icom satellite radios - 9700, 9100, 910, 820 and 821. It will work with other Icom radios but your results will be limited since they are not full duplex. The Icom 705 is not supported since it does not have a CI-V port.
BAUD	Select the baud rate of your radio. This must match the baud rate setting on your radio. 19200 baud is recommended for radios that support it.
HAMLIB/SDR IP	Enter the IP address and port of a SDR program that supports Hamlib control. Leave blank to disable.
ADDRESS	Enter the CI-V hexadecimal address of your radio. The Icom 9700 default address is A2h.
VFO TYPE	The VFO type of your radio. The Icom 9700 is Main-Up / Sub-Down. * Do not enable Satellite Mode on the Icom 9700
UPDATE INTERVAL	How often to send frequency updates to the radio. (In milliseconds)
MIN FREQ CHANGE	Minimum doppler correction in Hz before sending frequency updates to the radio. (Overrides update interval)
AFTER PASS ACTION	Choose what you want your radio to do after a satellite pass. Options are Do nothing, Restore VFO which returns the state of the VFO to what it was prior to tracking, Set Freq, or choose a memory or calling channel.
AFTER PASS FREQ OR MEM CH	If you choose Set Freq above, enter the full frequency here. If you choose Set Mem Ch# above then enter the memory channel here.
AFTER PASS MODE	If setting a frequency, you can also set the mode.
AFTER PASS PL	If setting a frequency, you can also set a PL tone.
SAVE	Save and close the Radio Panel

TLE FREQ/DB Panel

The TLE Panel is where you set various TLE options.

SOURCE URL	Provide an internet address of the TLE to download. Note that the S.A.T. does not support https:// addresses. You can usually simply remove the 's' from https and it will work but it depends on the server that you are connecting to. Click UPDATE NOW to update. Note that an internet connection is requires to update. Default setting: http://www.csntechnologies.net/SAT/csnbare.txt
UPLOAD	Use this option to upload a custom TLE file. This file will replace the TLEs that are stored in the SAT. The uploaded TLE file should be in the standard format and must not contain any header lines.
AUTO UPDATE	How often to automatically update the TLEs from the SOURCE URL. Enter zero to disable auto-updates. (Click SAVE to save setting) Default setting: 7 days
LAST	The date and time of the last TLE update.
NEXT	The date and time of the next scheduled update if AUTO UPDATE has been set.
GROUND TRACK	How many hours or orbits of ground track should be shown on the maps. (Click SAVE to save setting) Default setting: 3 hours
FREQ DB	Options for refreshing the transponder database.
INTERNET UPDATE	Updates the transponder data while preserving changes you have made.
RESET FROM INTERNET	Factory resets the transponder database. Changes you have made will be lost.
DOWNLOAD TO PC	Downloads a text file of the transponders to your PC. We suggest you back up your frequency file to your PC after you make transponder changes.
UPLOAD TO SAT	Lets you choose a transponder file and upload it to the SAT.
CLOSE	Close the TLE/FREQ DB Panel

* This section describes the Network Settings panel. For more information regarding the access point on the S.A.T., see the Network Setup page in the Get Started section

The visible 2.4GHz WiFi points will be available in the dropdown box. If needed, click the REFRESH button to refresh the list. If you want to connect to a hidden WiFi network, please see the "Common Questions" section at the bottom of the page. Use the WiFi AP select box to choose an Access Point. Enter your WiFi password and click CONNECT. The S.A.T. will restart and attempt to connect to the WiFi network. Look at the LCD to see the IP address obtained and then connect to it using your mobile devices. Once connected you can update the TLEs and perform firmware updates.

REFRESH	Refresh the Access Point dropdown list.
CONNECT	Connect to the selected Access Point.
CLOSE	Closed the Network Panel.
FORGET NETWORK	Disconnect and forget the currently connection WiFi network. The S.A.T. will reboot into Access Point Mode

The About panel display firmware versions and copyright information.

The S.A.T. can be configured to send the downlink frequency and mode to a compatable SDR programs.

The requirement is your SDR program must be able to be controlled over the network using Hamlib commands. Two programs tested are SDR Angel and Gqrx.

Other SDR programs may work. Check the documention of your program to see how to set it up.

Configure SDR Angel

Configure Gqrx

Enable S.A.T. SDR Control

To enable SDR control in the S.A.T., simply open the Radio Settings panel and enter the IP address of the computer running the SDR program.

It's recommended to use port 4532 for SDR control. This port number must match the port number configured in the SDR program.

SDR support is independant of what type of physical radio you are using. If the IP address and port are set, the S.A.T. will try to connect to the SDR program when you track a satellite and each time you change transponders.

However, if you do not have a physical radio and you are only using an SDR, then select Hamlib/SDR as the radio.

SDR/DL Button

When using an SDR, a new button will appear in the radio section of the S.A.T. SDR D/L

This button lets the S.A.T. know which receiver is controlling the downlink frequency. Normally, without an SDR, you tune your radio with the VFO knob and the S.A.T. will adjust accordingly. If you enable this button while using an SDR, you can tune with the SDR program and the S.A.T. will adjust accordingly with the new SDR frequency instead of the radio.

Click the Add Feature button to open the Add Feature dialog. Select RigCtl Server and click the Apply button. Click Close to close the Add Feature dialog.

The RigCtl Server window should be displayed:

Select your device and channel in the RigCtl settings. You must already have a channel active in order to use RigCtl. It doesn't matter what mode of channel you select since the S.A.T. will send the command to change it.

Click the blue Play button to start the RigCtl Server.

SDR Angel should now respond to frequency and mode commands sent by the S.A.T.

To configure Gqrx you will need to add the IP address of the S.A.T. into the network setting panel.

In the Tools Menu - click Remote control settings to open the network setting panel:

Click the Button to add a new entry in the list on the right. Here you will enter the IP address of the S.A.T.

The IP address must be entered in a very specific way. For example, if the IP address of your S.A.T. is 192.168.1.123 it must be entered list this:

::ffff:192.168.1.123

We recommend using 4532 for the port number since it is the customary one used for Hamlib radio control. However, you can choose any port you like so long as it matches the port number set in the S.A.T.

Ensure that port you have selected is not blocked by your computers firewall. You may need to add an exception for it.

Click OK to save the settings.

Once the settings are saved, you enable remote control in the Tools Menu and selecting Remote control

Gqrx should now respond to frequency and mode commands sent by the S.A.T.

The S.A.T. will broadcast a UDP packet on port 9932 when certain events occur.

The data format is a comma seperate string each of which is described below. All packets starts with the text "SAT" and the name of the event. Each packet ends with a newline character (\n).

SAT,BOOT,1147717711,8.600

SAT,START TRACK,LEDSAT,49069

SAT,AOS,27.1

SAT,LOS,174.9

SAT,TRANSPONDER,1200 Baud Data,435310000,USB-D,435190000,USB-D

SAT,STOP

SAT,QSO,LEDSAT,KC2SYF,fn30ha,PKT,Thanks!,59,59,435.311036,435.188964,Mike