PCSAT.TXT (018)        http://www.ew.usna.edu/pcsat               WB4APR
---------------        ----------------------------            ---------
                                                               24 May 02

Note:  PCsat works best on 145.830 approaching and 145.825 after center.

On 10 March 2002 PCsat entered a negative power budget and could not
maintain power or configuration through eclipse.  After almost a month
and over 400 deep cycles of its batteries, it recovered on 7 April for
another month of good operation.  Now on 15 May, it again enteres a
period of maximum eclipse.  If we have to shut the DIGI off, then we
will also change the callsign to NODIGI so that you will know it.

Version 018 fixes the bug that had non-sysop's sending PCsat positions.
            It skips from versoin 13 to 18 to be consistent with the ZIP
            file numbering scheme.

Version 013 did only minor tweaks to show PCsat AZ/EL when no other sat
is in view and to allow operation with no serial port (for new Microsoft
PC's that do not allow COM1/2 access..

Recent versions of this PCsat.exe program have made three additions for
operations with the International Space Station:

 * the "I" key like "A & B" flips between PCsat A, B and now ISS screens
   The only thing that will be captured so far on the I screen is the
   BText.  But maybe we will add other things later.
 * The USERS-ISS screen will capture the directory of the ISS PMS system
   so that you do not have to log on to see who has messages.
 * The USERS-ISS-HELP screen is a copy of the ISS Help screen, again so
   that you do not have to log on to see how to operate the PMS.

With these additions, PCsat.exe is a great program for keyboarding with
ISS users.  The USER lists all still work, so you can capture all the
other positions, text and status from other stations and the SEND
command helps you communicate with them easily.  Just send all messages
usually to ALL so that Kenwoods can see them...

PCSAT.EXE allows you to monitor PCsat/ISS telemetry in real time and to
also send and receive messages.  Although it would be more fun to run
my APRStk program so you can track the satellites, have automatic
rotor control of any 24vac TV rotator and see everyone plotted on the
map as they come in, this PCSAT program lets you be closer to the
telemetry and actual satellite operations yet still be able to send
and receive packets to other users.  Actually, this is my command and
control program for PCsat, but with all the satellite commanding
having been taken out.  The fact that it predicts all amateur satellite
passes, makes it quite useful.  The elevation plot used here is
built into APRStk which is my fully integrated APRS and Satellite
tracking program...


OPERATIONS:

When you first start PCSAT.EXE it asks some questions.  These settings
will be saved on exit.  To change them later, either delete the file
named CFIGPCST.TXT or Edit the settings carefully.  PCSAT.EXE assumes
a TAPR-2 clone type TNC on either COM1 or COM2 with HEADERLINE OFF and
MSTAMP off and operating at either 4800 or 9600 baud.  Also turn off
any linefeeds if you have problems.

Normally you operate from the TELEMETRY Graphics screen.  But PCSAT.exe
also has a screen for direct operations of your TNC, but when you switch
to the dumb-terminal-screen (Blue Keyboard screen) the program is no
longer parsing telemetry.  So it is best to operate from the Telemetry
screen.  Don't sit idly on the Keyboard screen when not needed.  Hit ESC
to return to the Graphics telemetry screen so you dont miss any telemetry
packets.

On the GRAPHICS or other TELEMETRY screens, just hit SPACE  bar for a
screen refresh...

TNC HARDWARE:  PCSAT.EXE assumes you have a 1200 baud TAPR-2 clone
TNC on your COM1 or 2 at a serial port rate of 9600 baud.  If so, then it
should be able to switch back and forth between telemetry mode (UI
MONITORING on the graphics screen) and command mode (CONVERSE mode
on the Keyboard screen).  You can optionally switch your PC serial port
rate to 4800 baud with the alt-S-BAUD command and or change to COM2.

NORMAL OPERATIONS:  For normal operations, you will just remain on the
Graphics telemetry screen and observe telemetry packets and bulletins
come in and send any UI Messages or Bulletins you feel like.  You can
preload up to four messages and the editor helps you format the
messages for the TH-D7 12x12x12x9 character screen.  Use alt-S-EDIT.
While in the normal Telemetry Graphics screen you can also SEND out
live one-time messages too.  These commands, assume that the TNC already
has an unproto path for the PCsat callsign in use.  See UNPROTO section
below.   COMMAND stations should read PCSATCMD.TXT.

EDITING:  On the alt-S-EDIT screen, is where you edit any messages or
bulletins that you want to resend on future orbits.  (Different for
command stations).

MESSAGES:  On the Telemetry Graphics screen you can also send out
Messages or Bulletins as long as you previously loaded the proper UNPROTO
path in your TNC.  See UNPROTO section below.  To send out a message
hit S and then the intended callsign followed by ENTER.  Next enter the
message text.  If you enter a null entry, then the previous field is
used.  To send to ALL (reeommended so that other D7 or D700 users can
also see your message) just enter ALL as the TOCALL.  Individual calls
are only seen by single users and are not very usefull for everyone so
use Bulletins instead.

Normally, it is best to send all messages to ALL so that everyone gets
to see them, even if you are talking to only one other station.  THis
is because the Kenwoods radios will ignore messages to other stations
and so they wont that others are on the satellite.

USERS DATA:  The USERS Menu lets you select displays of USER packets
that have been captured in these categories, POSITIONS, STATUS, and
MESSAGES.  These displays are crude compared to normal APRS and there
is no map display, but they at least let you see what kinds of data
are being exchanged.  For full APRS enjoyment with full map displays
and the same satellite tracking as shown here, use APRStk.  The only
advantage to this PCSAT.EXE is that it gives the full PCsat telemetry
displays...  There is no dupe checking on the messages display so you
can see how often people are sending messages.

If you run with PASSALL ON so that you capture even packets with
errors in them, I have added the alt-S-FILTER command which will go
through all USER packets and remove all control characters.  Do this
if your USER screens have extra LINE feeds, or FORM feeds or CLEAR
characters that destroy the display.

XMIT PACKETS:  The X key lets you send any of 5 different packets as
follows:

  1 Message number 1
  2 Message number 2
  3 Message number 3
  4 Message number 4
  P Position packet


UNPROTO PATH:  On the TELEMETRY screens the command keys of S and X will
send fresh or stored Messages via PCsat if your unproto path in your TNC
is set properly.  To facilitate these settings, I have added
hot keys to the ^U command on the Keyboard screen.  Normally ^U is used
for uploading PCSAT LT buffers (1,2,3 or 4).  But if you hit these keys
then the following UNPROTO paths will be entered into your TNC.

    A = UNPROTO APRSPC VIA PCSAT-1
    B = UNPROTO APRSPC VIA PCSAT-11
    W = UNPROTO APRSPC VIA W3ADO-1
    I = UNPROTO APRSPC VIA NOCALL    (for the spacestation)
    S = UNPROTO APRSPC VIA KE6QMD    (for Via SAPPHIRE)
    O = UNPROTO APRSPC VIA KF6RFX    (for OPAL)

HELP: Hit the H key for on-line help.

NEXT ORBIT:  On startup, or when hitting the "N" command, or every 3
minutes that the keyboard is idle, the ORBIT routine will refresh the
graphical Elevation display of satellites expected in the next N hours.
To clear this display and see the normal TELEMETRY text buffers, just hit
the  SPACE bar or G for Graphics.  On this Next Pass Elevation display,
the yellow tic-marks represent 10 minute increments.  The AZ/EL for PCsat
is always displayed just above the polar graphic plot.  As time progresses
the starting point of the Elevation plot is moved to the right.

In addition to the N hours of schedule display, you can also enter "T"
to tell it how many hours from now to start the display.  In this case,
the display will always be 2 hours long.

The solid colored satellite tracks are FM satellites workable from your
mobile.  This kind of tracking display was pioneered in my APRStk
progaram as an easy way to always see what is coming up next.  The Polar
plot lets you know where the pass will begin and end.  Each track begins
with a small circle.

To refresh your keps, just do an alt-S-INPUT-KEPS command and give the
name of the NASA TLE file...


KEYBOARD MODE:  To talk to your TNC directly, just hit "K" to switch
to the KEYBOARD Screen (Dumb terminal)...  Hit ESC to exit the keyboard
screen back to the Telemetry Graphics and UI monitoring mode.  The
program automatically executes a Ctrl^C to put you into command mode
going into keyboard mode and sends "CONV" when exiting it back to the
telemetry screens.  It also displays your current UNPROTO path each
time you enter the Keyboard Screen

TELEMETRY DESCRIPTION:

PCsat consists of two identical systems A and B each consisting of a
KPC-9612+ TNC, a 2W Hamtronics Transmitter, and a VHF and UHF receiver.
There is no other CPU or control system on board other than a pair of
1 minute timers and a 72 hour failsafe timer.

The A side downlinks on 145.827 and the B side downlinks on 144.39 over
the USA.  Telemetry is transmitted in packets with 4 analog values at a
time, so it takes 4 one minute packets to get a complete set of the
16 values for each side.  If you hit the T key, you can see the actual
grouping of these 4 packets.

The Graphics telemetry display is grouped into four separate areas for
the Voltages, Temperatures, Solar array and Battery currents and the
on/off state of the 10 command switches.  There is a 5th box that
shows the number of minutes or hours since each of 4 packet frames
(the 00, 01 10, and 11) packets.  At the bottom is a capture area for
all of the Bulletins, Status and GPS signals heard from PCsat.

SOLAR and TEMPERATURE VIEWS:  On the right side of the graphics screen
are the top and side views of the PCsat mechanical arrangement so that
you can see the temepratures of the internal modules.  Also, two
exterior views of the cube are arranged so that you can see which
panels are illuminated by the sun based on the solar array currents.
Notice how the internal temps are moderated somewhat from the greater
temperature swings of the solar panels.

POWER SYSTEM:  The batteries consist of 12 Nicad cells for a nominal
operating voltage of 14.4 volts.  Full charge is 16.8.  Anything below
13.2 is damaging to the cells.  The -Z solar panel failed prior to
launch but we flew it anyway because we had no spare.  All other sides
are identical, except the +Z which are surplus space rated cells with
50% higher output.  Half the cells on each side feed each of the A and
B systems, but the +Z face only shows up in A side telemetry.

TEMPERATURES:  We are happy with the thermal design and never see more
that about 8 degrees differences anywhere on the spacecraft with highs
just under 40 degC during full sun periods and lows near -5 degC during
peak eclipse cycles (35%)...

THINGS TO LOOK FOR:  The ON/OFF bits are in every packet.  The batteries
should be cross connected and the transmitters should be isolated.
The UHF receivers should always be off (That is how we make up for
the missing -Z power).  The GPS may be on during full sun periods.
The SYNC circuit will be used to bundel all downlinks into one single
XMIT burst every 8 seconds if the satellite starts getting busy.
Sometimes you may see the full XMIT current of about -300 Ma showing
solid red on the battery current display.  THis happens if there is
a transmission at the same instant that the current is sampled.  It
is rare...  Also notice in the northern hemisphere that the -Z face
runs about 6 degrees cooler and the reverse occurs in the shouthern
hemisphere due to our magnetic alignment with the earths magnetic
field.  The -Z face is the North Seeking pole..


FILES:  PCSATxxx.ZIP contains the following required files:
  PCSATxxx.EXE  - The EXE program
  LEO.ORB       - The KEPS file with the orbital elements
  SATFREQS.TBL  - A table of satellite freqs
  PCSATEXE.TXT  - This HELP file
 *CFIGPCST.TXT  - This file will be added after you QUIT the program


VERSION HISTORY:

PCSAT017.ZIP  - 13 May 2002. Adds NODIGI as an acceptible TLM callsign 
PCSAT010.zip  - 12 Mar 2002  Fixes to match new name of NO44 for PCSAT
PCSAT009.zip  - 29 Feb 2002  Updated ISS and finished HELP file.
PCSAT008.zip  - 27 Feb 2002  007 was a bad upload and kept dupes of ISS msgs
PCSAT007.zip  - 26 Feb 2002  Added USER-ISS and USER-ISS-HELP commands
PCSAT006.zip  - 25 Feb 2002  Re-compile withoutDebug code to stop errors
PCSAT005.zip  - 24 Feb 2002  Added ISS "I" selection and alt-S-FILTER
PCSAT004.zip  - 11 Feb 2002  Revised USER capture processes and Display.
PCSAT002.zip  - 28 Jan 2002  Bug fixes... (QSL)

PCSAT001.zip  - 24 Jan 2002
                * Added COM2 as an option
                * Added HELP to the on-screen menu
                * Updated PCSAT.TXT with Telemetry description
                * Improved timing in the XMIT command

PCSAT000.zip  - 19 Jan 2002 New Version 0 with Sat Tracking in it
PCSATLM1.exe  - was an updated version
PCSATLM0.exe  - was the first version

