[amsat-bb] Doppler tuning software

[Estes Wayne-W10191 <W10191@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ben KB9F wrote:

  Are any of you using software Doppler shift tuning on the FT-847?  What program?

Wayne W9AE replies:

I can highly recommend two Doppler tuning programs that require only a serial cable to tune most satellite radios: InstantTune and SatPC32.

InstantTune is a free companion program for the popular DOS tracking program InstantTrack.  Once configured it is extremely easy to use.  Just press the "R" key on your computer to start tuning the radio.  Advantages: Easy to use, free, "transparent" tuning and TX offset adjustment via the radio knobs.  Disadvantages: no frequency display on the computer, and the map screen doesn't run in a window on most new computers.  InstantTune can be downloaded from the AMSAT-NA web site.  InstantTrack can be purchased from the AMSAT-NA web site.

SatPC32 is a 32-bit Windows satellite tracking program that has built-in Doppler tuning capability.  It has on-screen display of uplink and downlink Doppler shift, and of "antenna" uplink and downlink frequencies (corrected for any up/down converters).  Advantages: "transparent" tuning, great frequency displays in a compact window, integrated to the tracking program.  Disadvantages: For the FT-847, the TX offset must be adjusted via keyboard or mouse.  You can see screen shots and download the demo version of SatPC32 from http://www.dk1tb.de/indexeng.htm   You can purchase the complete version from Martha at the AMSAT office.

If you prefer to use NOVA, you can purchase the "W6IHG Radio Tuner" program to do the Doppler tuning.  http://www.shentel.net/designs/RadioTuner/   It displays lots of frequency information on the computer screen.  I don't know if the latest version supports "transparent" tuning or not.  With the early version that I tried, the only way to tune across the transponder was via mouse click/drag.  I couldn't tune across a transponder using my radio's tuning knob (my strong preference).

Wayne Estes W9AE
Mundelein, IL, USA
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