A step by step tutorial to manually configure XW-1 in SatPC32

by Wayne Estes, W9AE

1. ADD XW-1 KEPLERIAN ELEMENTS

Note: XW-1 Keps are in the 17 December 2009 nasa.all Keps from AMSAT.  If you use this file, update Keps and skip to step 2 below.  If you use a different Keps file use the following steps to manually add XW-1 to your Keps file:

A. Ensure that Windows Explorer shows "hidden files": Open Windows Explorer -> Tools -> Folder Options -> View.  Select the circle that says "Show hidden files and folders".

B. Make note of which "source file" is highlighted in the left side of the SatPC32 "Satellites" menu box.  This is the Keps file used by SatPC32.

C. Open that Keps file with a text editor such as Wordpad.  Under Windows XP the file is located here:
C://Documents and Settings\[your name]\Application Data\SatPC32\Kepler\[source file]

D. Paste the latest XW-1 Keplerian elements into the file you opened. The Keplerian elements should be 3 lines and should look like this (this example is NOT necessarily the latest version):

If you received the data set via e-mail first save the e-mail with “Save as..” in text format. Open this file and copy the data set.

XW-1
1 36121U 09072A   09349.53641119 -.00000045  00000-0  00000+0 0    31
2 36121 100.5050 046.6267 0007989 035.4736 324.6735 13.16391085    50

E. Save the modified source file.

F. Restart SatPC32.

Note: Any Keps that you manually add to your Keps file MIGHT disappear if you subsequently do an "update Keps".


2. ASSIGN XW-1 TO A "LETTER" BUTTON.

A. Go into the Satellites menu box.  You should see "XW-1" in the list of "available" satellites.

B. Double-click on "XW-1", then click "OK".  XW-1 will now be assigned to the next available letter in the lower right corner of the main SatPC32 window.

C. Click that letter and verify that you see XW-1's name in the blue title bar and its footprint on the world map.


3. ADD XW-1 DOPPLER TUNING DATA

A. In the main SatPC32 window, click "?" -> Auxiliary Files -> Doppler.SQF.  The Doppler.SQF text file will open in Wordpad.

B. Paste the following text into the Doppler.SQF file and save it.

XW-1,435789,145910,USB,LSB,REV,0,0,CWbcn
XW-1,435740,145950,USB,LSB,REV,0,0,Xponder
XW-1,435675,145825,FM,FM,NOR,0,0,Rptr-BBS

C. Restart SatPC32 and select the XW-1 satellite.

D. Open the "CAT" menu screen and verify that you see the 3 frequency pairs listed.


4. ADD XW-1 SUBAUDIBLE TONE DATA

a. In the main SatPC32 window, click "?" -> Auxiliary Files -> Subtone.SQF.  The Subtone.SQF text file will open in Wordpad.

b. Paste the following line into the file and save it.

XW-1,67.0,$3F,1

This setting is difficult to verify.  After restarting the program and selecting the XW-1 satellite, you should be able to enable the 67 Hz subaudible tone: Enable CAT, click the "T" button until it displays "T1".

5. ASSIGN THE NAME "XW-1" TO ITS OBJECT NUMBERS.

This is only necessary if you get Keplerian elements from Space-Track. It's not necessary if you use the nasa.all Keps file from AMSAT.

a. In the main SatPC32 window, click "?" -> Auxiliary Files -> AmsatNames.SQF.  The AmsatNames.SQF text file will open in Wordpad.

b. Paste the following line into the file and save it.

36122 09072B   XW-1

c. Restart SatPC32.

You will need to tweak these settings after the official name is assigned to XW-1.  Possibly "HO-68".

Wayne Estes W9AE
Oakland, Oregon, USA, CN83ik