[amsat-bb] Keplerian data via e-mail

[Erich Eichmann]

Hello
During the past couple of days (before we had Keps files with data for XW-1) several  users had problems to get their tracking program working  with XW-1. In some cases the problem was caused by the fact that they could receive Keplerian data only via e-mail, I think.

The Keps files (amateur.txt, nasa.all etc.) require text in  Ascii format (plain text). The  e-mails, however, usually don't contain plain text. If one copies a data set directly from an e-mail into an existing Keps file the data set will loose it's format and  no longer fit the NASA-2-Line format. The data lines are shorter than the lines of other satellites and the parameters, for example the epoch time, are not at the right position.
So, the data set  can not be read by the tracking program and  may  cause wrong results or error messages.  

To fix that issue the e-mail must first be saved with "Save as...." as text file (option ".txt").  
Then this file can be opened and with "copy and paste" the data set can be inserted into an existing  Keps file.

73s, Erich, DK1TB