[amsat-bb] Re: Equipment.

[Anthony Monteiro]

At 02:18 PM 10/19/2007, John Hackett wrote:
>...
>You use a program called InstantTUNE together with InstantTRACK 
>which allows automated doppler tuning using mic pushbutton rigs. 
>Instantune only allows tuning EITHER the uplink or the downlink so 
>if you want to be FULLY automated, you'll need a pair of old 386 
>IBM's (or equivalent) and a pair of monitorsd from the nearest 
>computer company/school skip.
>
>Everything else I can think of is home brewed and is to be found on 
>the OBSERVATIONS page mentioned earlier.

Hi John and AMSAT Friends,

I am thrilled to hear you are using InstantTune for doppler control it is
still my favorite program :) However,...

I would just like to point out that InstantTune + InstantTrack provides
full Doppler tuning for BOTH the up and down links even with 
mic-button radios.
Just connect radio 1 to parallel port 1 and radio 2 to parallel port 2.

I apologize if the manual is confusing on this point  What it is supposed
to say is that it will only tune one link PER RADIO for mic-button radios
but it can actually tune up to 3 separate mic-button radios simultaneously
(1 up and 2 down. Will anyone ever bring back mode K/T?)

I have personally used an FT-290 (with mic-button tuning) along with a
432 to 28 MHz converter into an HF rig to make tons of satellite contacts on
the old FO-12 and FO-20 birds.

So, to be clear, you do not need more than 1 PC, and it can even be a really
old 20MHz '386, for full doppler tuning, you just need 2 parallel ports to
interface to the 2 mic-button radios.

If anyone needs help getting this working, please email me.

73,
Tony AA2TX