[amsat-bb] AO-27 Schedule driver?

[Robert Bruninga]

Regarding AO-27:

Fantastic news about AO-27.  Gives us something to use at
schools to demo AMSATS...

I think I have read most of the pages, but I cannot find the one
thing I am looking for, and that is the top-level "rules" that
are driving the new scheduling.  I am not talking about code or
epoc or anything like that, but simply, the human logical
"rules" that tell the schedule, what to schedule...

In the past, the TEPR algorithm was very simple and could be
explained as "time since entering the sun".  This was easy to
interpret and anyone could easily visualize or "see" what this
meant realitive to his time of day, and location.  Nothing
needed to be consulted...  Just look at the track of the
satellite on the map and your relation to the terminator, and
you know if it is useable..

The TOPR schedule seems to be wholy "time" driven from EPOC, but
I have not been able to find what the top-level "rules" are that
drive that algorithm so that I can learn to visualize it. The
new on-line "schedules" are teriffic, and a good example of
computer dissimination of live info, but it requires detailed
consultation of printed schedules daily and having to match
times with orbits, I'd rather just understand what the scheduler
"intended".

Is this new schedule system still driven by the simple rule of
"turning it on for X minutes after entering the sun"? Or is it a
smarter rule that says "turn on over USA, Europe, Australia and
Japan?" or, "turn on over those countries only while in the
sun", or, turn on for 10 minutes out of every hour, or what?

So, can someone point me to this top-level "rule" that is used
to drive the schedule?  For routine operations, it is easier to
learn the rule, than to have to look at a schedule every day...

Thanks
Bob, Wb4APR