AaronO Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 Is there any software that will show you where the sats are at a given time? It would be nice if you wanted to hide a cache and could find the best time of day given the coords of where you want to place it, by looking to see how many sats you would have available from that spot. Quote Link to comment
DisQuoi Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 J-Track 3-D I've never used this for any real purpose (like planning optimal satellite configuration) but it's pretty cool just to play with. Try this ... zoom out a little and rotate the point of view (by dragging you mouse in the window) and you can see the ring around the earth that defines the belt of geosynchronous orbit. If you SELECT a specific satellite and set to CENTER, it'll rotate the viewpoint such that the satellite is always in the center of the view and the earth is always directly centered behind it. Quote Link to comment
DisQuoi Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 I've never tried this one until now but the 2D version might work better for that. You can set a track list of all of the GPS satellies and it'll show the to you in real time on a 2D map of the world. Advantage: It'll show you where they all are now Disadvantage: It only shows you where they are now The 3-D version (see my last post) will allow you to jump forward in time but will show only one at a time. Quote Link to comment
+EraSeek Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 J-pass will show you what is passing overhead and when and if it is visible or not (handy for seeing the space shuttle and the station) but I don't know if it shows the GPS sats, as how they are way the heck out there. Wonder where you find the names of the GPS sats...Hmmm Quote Link to comment
DisQuoi Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 quote:but I don't know if it shows the GPS sats No ... J-Pass does not show the GPS satellites (Note that J-Pass and J-Track are two different things). In J-Track, click "Config" and set "Categories" to "Navigation". Then click on "<-Update". Among others, twenty satellites that start with "GPS" will appear. I'm going out on a limb here but I think that those are the GPS satellites. In 2-D Track, you can hold down the Ctrl Key and select all of them. The tracking view will then show all twenty in the current positions. In 3-D Track, you can select only one at a time. It will show you it's orbital path and it's ground trace. Quote Link to comment
+EraSeek Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 Wow! That's very cool! You can select obital path and ground trace and just click through the list to see each one and where their path is related to the ground. (This is in the J-Track 3D mode) SORRY, Guess you said that already. But neat! I've got to work on my 2D skills here. I'm not finding an update button. I'll figure it out... [This message was edited by EraSeek on May 21, 2002 at 12:38 PM.] Quote Link to comment
+EraSeek Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 Got it on the J-Track 2d now. Thanks DisQuoi! That's great. Quote Link to comment
Kerry. Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 There is specific GPS mission planning software but normally more for commercial applications. It's not simply the number of Sats, but also the geometry and relations to obstructions etc. Cheers, Kerry. I never get lost everybody keeps telling me where to go Quote Link to comment
Kerry. Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 There is specific GPS mission planning software but normally more for commercial applications. It's not simply the number of Sats, but also the geometry and relations to obstructions etc. Cheers, Kerry. I never get lost everybody keeps telling me where to go Quote Link to comment
JAVILA Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 Yep, using j-track (3-d), highlite satellite, then select any one starting with prefix "gps" ,click on sat info and it will confirm it is used for gps and all information....good stuff here. Quote Link to comment
+Rebel Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 Thanks for the link info. It'll come in handy. ----------- "If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." - Mark Twain Quote Link to comment
+CharlieP Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 I think this is what you are looking for: http://sirius.chinalake.navy.mil/satpred/ I have used it to verify why my GPS accuracy went bad at a certain time and place. You must consider terrain and other signal blocking factors to determine which sats you are likely to receive in a givem location at a given time. FWIW, CharlieP Quote Link to comment
Couch_Potato Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 I'm playing around with J-Track 2.5 with the assumption that all the satellites starting with GPS are the gps satellites and further that the numbers later in the title are the identifying numbers for them. However, when I try to reconcile the positions that J-track shows me with the satellite map on my eTrex Legend I can find little correspondence. For example I'm in New York State and my Legend is tracking satellite #15, showing it as near directly overhead. However, on J-Track satellite GPS BIIA-15 is over southern asia near Vietnam. Think that the satellites are designated differently in the eTrex software than they are at NASA's tracking center? Any ideas as to why this would be? Oh, and yes, I do have the time and date set correctly on J-Track. Mike I'm not lost! I just don't know where I am. Quote Link to comment
Kerry. Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 Mvwood, Really J-Track is not going to give one the information that one really needs/wants to know (in general) as far as being in the right place at the right time. BIIA-15 is more than likely a Mission# as II-15 (launched Sep 9, 1992 & operational Sep 30, 1992) is also known as SVN#27 and PRN#27. Normally it's the PRN# (max allowed 32) that most GPSR's show on a satellite screen. Just to confuse things more SVN & PRN numbers aren't necessarily the same as sats eventually are replaced with new ones. GPS sat IIR-3 (launched Oct 6, 1999) is designated SVN#46 and PRN#11. Also GPS I-8 (launched Jul 14, 1983) was known as PRN#11, SVN#8 but of course is one of the original Block I sats which is now dead an it's slot replaced by SVN#46. Cheers, Kerry. I never get lost everybody keeps telling me where to go Quote Link to comment
Kerry. Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 Mvwood, Really J-Track is not going to give one the information that one really needs/wants to know (in general) as far as being in the right place at the right time. BIIA-15 is more than likely a Mission# as II-15 (launched Sep 9, 1992 & operational Sep 30, 1992) is also known as SVN#27 and PRN#27. Normally it's the PRN# (max allowed 32) that most GPSR's show on a satellite screen. Just to confuse things more SVN & PRN numbers aren't necessarily the same as sats eventually are replaced with new ones. GPS sat IIR-3 (launched Oct 6, 1999) is designated SVN#46 and PRN#11. Also GPS I-8 (launched Jul 14, 1983) was known as PRN#11, SVN#8 but of course is one of the original Block I sats which is now dead an it's slot replaced by SVN#46. Cheers, Kerry. I never get lost everybody keeps telling me where to go Quote Link to comment
+KD7MXI Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 try hunt"n"map ------------------------------------------------------------ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CacheAcrossAmerica http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest_cache.asp?u=KD7MXI http://www.cachunuts.com Quote Link to comment
+KD7MXI Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 try hunt"n"map ------------------------------------------------------------ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CacheAcrossAmerica http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest_cache.asp?u=KD7MXI http://www.cachunuts.com Quote Link to comment
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