Gpredict 1.0 beta 2 released

Finally, the Gpredict 1.0 beta 2 release has come together, featuring a completely rewritten radio controller / Doppler tuning algorithm. It became a bit more complicated than I originally anticipated, because the incoming requests for improvement of the original controller did not limit themselves to controlling the downlink and the uplink, but also called for using two different radios.

Given that there are very few full-duplex radios out there designed for satellite communications and that they are very expensive, I found this request to be very reasonable and decided to implement it. The resulting controller should be able to work using receivers, transmitters, half-duplex transceivers, and combination of those. Full-duplex has not been implemented, because I am not sure whether hamlib is able to do that properly. That will be implemented in one of the upcoming betas.

The new radio controller
The new radio control UI. See more screenshots.

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The Moon on Blue Sky

I caught the moon tonight right after sunset while the sky was still blue. Here is a video I recorded using my JVC Everio GZ-MG130E video camera. I didn’t use any telescope, just the camera zoom. It can do up to 32x optical zoom and something like 800x digital zoom. The highest zoom on this … Read more

Gpredict Updates

I just realized that the last time I have blogged about my pet project, Gpredict, was back in February 2007. Back then, the big news was the Sky at a Glance function and there has in fact been a lot of evolution since then despite the big silence in the Gpredict Developer Blog. Let me try to sum up the progress from last two years as well as what you can expect to happen in the weeks to come.

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Enric, If you have purchased Grig from

Enric, If you have purchased Grig from eBay you have to contact the seller for user support. I can only support releases that I make available for free via my website. I don’t know what these people are selling but I’m sure it is scam! Sorry… 73, OZ9AEC

Picorover

A new rover concept based on a tiny sphere with two degrees of freedom has just entered the Team FREDNET lunar rover design competition. Whether this rover will be able to fulfill the mission requirements is unknown at the moment, nevertheless, I see this concept as very appealing for scouting planets with harsh environment. The … Read more