Orbitron, Free ham radio satellite tracking software

[@BoB4jjjjs]

FREE is at the right price! Edit: Good review and nice links. Ever done moon bounce?

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

Nope never had an interest in joining the big guns and doing EME. Maybe one day.

[@BoB4jjjjs]

@@TheHamRadioJunkie Things can get very expensive very quickly if you let it.

[@Ray_M0MXN]

Another great video, very helpful! 👍

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

Thanks Ray.

[@Roddy1965]

Good vids, Keith. Pace, content, organisation.

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

Thanks for your feedback, really good to know I'm doing something right. Cheers.

[@Pollys13a]

Thanks so much Keith, very helpful. 73

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

You are most welcome. Keith

[@MrPanetela]

excellent tutorial! Thanks.

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

Thanks for your kind comment. 👍

[@markg6jvy135]

Nice software I must have a play about with it 👍👏👏

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

Give it a go Mark. If nothing else it looks smart on your pic screen in the shack

[@johng7rwf419]

Very good, nicely explained... J

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

Cheers John.

[@robdaines2448]

great vid all setup m1ayt 73s

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

Superb Rob. It's a great bit of free software. Have fun.

[@Gw0wvl]

Can this software control two FT-817's for full duplex use ? .... Thanks

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

That's a good question. I will take a look.

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

OK, I am sat infront of the PC. Looking at the settings it utilises WisDDE, MYDDE, SpidAlfa as drivers for the radio. I'm not sure if any of them allows for dual radio connection. How about running the software twice. One for tx and one for Rx?

[@9A4GEMilan]

Not working anymore for the ISS. It is just garbage jumping all over the place plus annoying sound every few seconds. Tried update TLEs, tried reinstall... nothing helps.

[@EJ42955]

Just found Orbitron. Also, tried ISS, and got the same results. BUMMER!

[@9A4GEMilan]

@@EJ42955 Okay. If you have any SDR dongle, you may wish to use SDR console - everything at one place; receiver, satellite selection, satellite tracking, doppler shift. Just beautiful program.

[@krazytrinisteve]

Hi from.Virginia...I am using orbitron for weather noaa.satellites but I am having issues. Orbitron does not want to switch freq from.satellite to satellite. In my rotated the MYDDE is grayed out ( driver ). Any ideas Steve

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

I will take a look at my version and see what the settings are like.

[@krazytrinisteve]

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

@@krazytrinisteve I have had a look and try this website. At the bottom of the page are some files which may help your issue. www.ok1dx.cz/constructions/avrot/wispdde/wispdde.html 73 Keith

[@revadan]

Why is the satellite frequencies are off from that real downlink and uplink? i cant figure out why its like that..

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

The reason satellite frequencies change is due to the doppler shift. This causes a UHF signal coming from the sat to change as it passes overhead. Typically the frequency goes down if the sat is transmitting in UHF and if you are transmitting UHF you need to change your frequency up as the sat passes over. Check out my other vids on working FM sats, I go into more detail in those.

[@revadan]

@@TheHamRadioJunkie that is not my Point, if you check on the frequencies of PO-101, and some other satellite frequencies are different from that of amsat or n2yo.. even if you keep updating the TLE..

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

@@revadan Sorry misunderstood your question. Short answer I'm not sure. I do know that some sats have a couple of frequencies so possibly that may be where some of the confusion comes.

[@tom3holer]

@@TheHamRadioJunkie Yes I have noticed that also. The ISS is one that has that issue with more than one xponder

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

@@tom3holer I believe that you can correct this by uploading new TLE and or manually setting it.

[@jfischer555]

the software will not update the tle, therefore useless after the intial setup

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

I believe the software is getting outdated now.

[@fitcher-armchair-sleuth]

I know Orbitron is pretty dated, but is there a way to add more/other satellites?

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

I believe the only way of adding satellites is by updating the KELPS. These updates should, and I say that carefully, result in all new sats being added.

[@fitcher-armchair-sleuth]

@@TheHamRadioJunkie .. Thank You! I grabbed some of them off of N2YO .. like e. g. FUNCUBE 1 (AO-73) and a few others. Have to save by name and put the same name above the two lines (TLE) info .. Then load them .. Seems to be working fine. :)

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

@@fitcher-armchair-sleuth Awesome

[@EJ42955]

I saw TIANGONG on your list. But, can't find it anywhere? Any idea?

[@EJ42955]

Does updating TLE, also update KEPS?

[@reedreamer9518]

This Orbitron is defective! - For the ISS it predicts passes for tomorrow morning, but it won't predict the one that's expected a few hours from now, late tonight at 62 deg overhead. For the AO-73 Funcube, it won't predict anything at all. For AO-27 it misses the pass expected in 30 mins, but only predict passes two days from now. Apparently this is a poorly supported or obsolete software that only works hit or miss.

[@TheHamRadioJunkie]

Make sure you have the TLE updated as this is the up to date pass data. If it doesn't work for you then take a look at SAT32. It's not free but works well.