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Windows-based 24-hour format clock display.
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Windows-based 24-hour format clock display.
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Contents of the ELECLOCK.DOC file





ELECLOCK Version 1.1

Operation Manual



COPYRIGHT (C) 1992 by
Rick von Glahn
All Rights are Reserved



Written using QuickBasic 4.5



This document is Copyright (C) 1992 by Rick von Glahn
All rights reserved



CONTENTS

LICENSE
WARRANTY
INTRODUCTION
THE COMMAND LINE
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS
CREDITS
REVISIONS

LICENSE


ELECLOCK is not a Public Domain program. As of this version it is provided
free of charge.

ELECLOCK copyright (C) 1992 by Rick von Glahn.

ELECLOCK may NOT be modified in any respect, for any reason, including but
not limited to, de-compiling or disassembling the program.

While I do want to protect my programming work, I don't wish to intimate
that the ideas in this program are in any way under my control. If you wish
to write a program of your own which does the same things that are
accomplished by this program go for it!! Look and feel, file names (with
the exception of the program name) are of no concern to me. All I want to
protect is my actual code.

You are free to distribute this version of ELECLOCK to others subject to
the above restrictions and also the following:

A. ELECLOCK must be transferred with all it's files intact.

B. No payments may be accepted for ELECLOCK. This does not apply
charges incurred while accessing computerized information or
bulletin board systems.

Commercial distributors of "Public Domain" or "Shareware" software may
distribute ELECLOCK subject to the above conditions.


WARRANTY


ELECLOCK is provided AS IS without any warranty, expressed or implied.

I've attempted to check this program out during the debugging process but I
shall not be liable for any damages, whether direct, indirect, special, or
consequential arising from a failure of this program or accompanying files
to operate in a manner desired or anticipated by the user. I shall not be
liable for any damage to data or property which may by caused directly or
indirectly by use of this program.

In no event will I be liable to you for any damages, including any lost
profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential damages arising
out of your use or inability to use the program, or for any claim by any
other party.


INTRODUCTION

Files Included with ELECLOCK Version 1.1

ELECLOCK.EXE - The program
ELECLOCK.DOC - This Document file

ELECLOCK will provide several services. It will display a screen indicating
the Local System time, offset to UTC, UTC time, the epochdays of the
Newest, Average, Oldest and favorite element sets in your reference file,
the NASA style epoch day and the age of the above epochdays of your element
file. Element Ages can NOT be computed for satellites older than 50 years
(shouldn't be too much of a problem). The screen output looks like this:



ELECLOCK #.# Copyright 1992 Rick von Glahn

Local System Time Favorite Sat Epoch Day
06-26-1992 11:44:57 92173.19326572

Offset Oldest Epoch Day
6.00 hours 92113.08123957

UTC Time Average Epoch Day
06-26-1992 17:44:57 92170.39417577

Current Epoch Time Newest Epoch Day
92 178.73954861 92174.19326572

Favorite Satellite Age: 5 days 13 hrs 6 mins 38 secs
Oldest Element Set Age: 65 days 15 hrs 47 mins 57 secs
Average Element Set Age: 8 days 8 hrs 17 mins 20 secs
Newest Element Set Age: 4 days 13 hrs 6 mins 38 secs

Element File: SATELE.174 Favorite Sat is: Mir
(F) creates ELEAGE.TXT Oldest Sat is: GPS-0006
(C)alculate an Epochday Newest Sat is: Cosmos 398
(L)ist All Favorites Any Other Key to Exit


It will calculate an epochday for you from input you supply. While viewing
the above display if you enter a (C) ELECLOCK will switch screens and
prompt you for a month, day, year, hour, minute and second (current time is
default). It will then calculate the NASA style epochday from that data.
Leap years and offsets are included in the calculation. Once an epochday
is calculated you'll be asked if you want to calculate another day. If you
wish to calculate another enter a (Y). Entering an (N) will return you to
the clock display. You must enter a valid month, day, year, hour, minute
and second. Each entry is checked for range. If you enter a blank line
(carriage return) at any prompt the calculator will abort and return you to
the clock screen.

It will display a list of the ages of all of your favorite satellites.
Entering an (L) at the main screen will switch screens and display this
information. This list may contain as many as 12 satellites. In order for
the program to list ages of these satellites you must create an ELETIME.TXT
file containing the necessary information to comput them. This is done from
the command line as described below.

It will write out a text file indicating these same times.

Why the text file? If you're like me you don't keep time in NASA style
epoch days. But, as a satellite watcher you need to know what the epoch day
is if you want to keep your element sets current. I use ELECLOCK in my
AUTOEXEC.BAT file by invoking it at the end of the BAT file with this
command:

ELECLOCK /6 /A /Fc:\sats\elements\eletime.txt

This sets the offset to 6 hrs (MDT), tells the program to automatically
writes out the file ELEAGE.TXT and specifies a source file for age
computations. Then on the last line of the AUTOEXEC.BAT I issue the
command:

TYPE ELEAGE.TXT

In this way each time I boot my computer I get a reminder of the current
epoch day and the age of my satellite elements.


THE COMMAND LINE

Usage:
ELECLOCK [/Fcomparefile.ext] [/Ooutputfile.ext] [/Iinputfile.ext] ...
[/#] [/A] [/H] [/L] [/M] [/S] [/?]

/F loads a oneline epochday file for age calculations. Note that there
MUST be NO space between the /F switch AND filename.
/O specifies a name for the output file. If none is specified via this
option then ELEAGE.TXT will default as the output file name.
/I set the input filename of an element file you wish to use for creation
of ELETIME.TXT.
/# enters the offset. Fractions are permitted. Enter the difference from
your local time to UTC. If you're in the:
Eastern Standard Time Zone enter 5
Mountain Daylite Time Zone enter 6
Someplace in the CIS you might enter -5.5
/A creates a text file with the age, system, UTC and current UTC NASA
epoch time.
/H or /? displays this screen.
/L sets file output to long form.
/M runs program in Monochrome mode
/S followed by a string of 5-digit norad catalog numbers delimited by a
dash (-) will create an ELETIME.TXT file with those satellites as a
list of favorite satellites you wish to keep time track of. For example:
/S16609-14129-00424 ...etc.

Above is the screen displayed when entering the /H command line parameter.

Enter the difference from your local time to UTC. As indicated above, time
zones west of UTC should enter positive numbers. If your system time is set
to a time zone east of UTC enter a negative number. Fractional time offsets
are permitted. If the system time is 5 hours 30 minutes east of UTC then
enter "/-5.5".

While viewing the display of ELECLOCK you can take either of two actions to
exit the program. If you enter an "F" then ELECLOCK will create the output
file you name with the /O option or default to ELEAGE.TXT.

Hitting any key other than the (C)alculator or (L)ist options will exit
ELECLOCK and return to DOS without creating the text file.

If you only want the text file created then issue a time zone offset and the
command line token "/A". ELECLOCK will not display instead only creating
the above file.

If you have a monochrome system or the color display is unsatisfactory for
any reason start the program with the "/M" switch and it will run in
monochrome mode.

ELECLOCK can calculate the age of your Newest elements if you use either
ELECLOCK or ELEMENT MANAGER to create the file "ELETIME.TXT". To make this
calculation start the program with the following command line parameters.

ELECLOCK /6 /A /Feletime.txt

This will cause ELECLOCK to use an offset of 6 hrs to UTC, automatically
process and use the file eletime.txt in the current directory for
comparison purposes. If ELETIME.TXT is located in a different directory
enter a fully qualified filename:

ELECLOCK /6 /A /Fc:\sats\elements\eletime.txt

and the program will look for the file in that location.

If you don't have Version 2.1 or later of Element Manager then you can
either "manually" create ELETIME.TXT or have ELECLOCK create it for you.

MANUAL ELETIME.TXT CREATION

Find the most recent, average epochday, oldest element sets and your
favorite element set in your element file and using an ASCII editor enter
the full epoch times in a text file (dashed lines represent top and bottom
of file and should not be entered into a file):

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
92174.19326572 - 04966:Cosmos 398, has the newest epoch day
SATELE.174, is the element file
92170.39417577 - average epoch day
92113.08123957 - 11783:GPS-0006, has the oldest epoch day
92173.19326572 - 16609:Mir, epoch day of favorite satellite
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you want ELECLOCK to really work fully, you should enter a NORAD catalog
number and english name FOLLOWED BY A COMMA in the format shown above
starting on column 18 of the newest, oldest and favorite notations. Also
you should enter the filename of your Element file FOLLOWED BY A COMMA on
the second line of the file. They could look like this:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
92174.19326572 04966:Cosmos 398,
SATELE.174,
92170.39417577
92113.08123957 11783:GPS-0006,
92173.19326572 - 16609:Mir,
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The comma tells ELECLOCK where the names end.

Of course this is all quite ridiculous. You're not about to enter all that
stuff so, if you just want an AGE computation for the most recent element
set just enter that on one line and forget all the rest like this:

-------------------------------------------------------------------
92174.19326572
-------------------------------------------------------------------

You could also add the reference file name like this:

-------------------------------------------------------------------
92174.19326572
SATELE.174,
-------------------------------------------------------------------

DO NOT ATTEMPT to enter only TWO epochdays in your file UNLESS the first is
the most recent set and the second is the average of all epochdays in the
input file and you enter a reference filename on the second line of the
file. If you use only one parameter it's assumed it is the epochday
of the most recent set. Two parameters only and they're assumed to be the
recent set the reference file name. Three parameters only and they're
assumed to be the recent set, the reference file, and the average epochday.

If there is a space between the year and day in the epochday then replace
spaces with a zero (0) for each space.

Change:
92 15.25342121
To:
92015.25342121

Save this file and use any filename as indicated above with the command
line switch /F (Element Manager always uses the name ELETIME.TXT).

AUTOMATIC ELETIME.TXT CREATION

To have ELECLOCK create this file for you you must specify a properly
formatted NASA 2-line satellite element file via the /I command line
switch. Just entering the input filename will cause ELECLOCK to examine it
and extract the oldest, average and newest element epoch times. If you
include a /S followed without a space by a series of 5-digit NORAD catalog
numbers, and those catalog number are present in your element file, then
ELECLOCK will add those satellites to ELETIME.TXT as your favorite
satellites. To delimit these catalog numbers enter a dash between each one.
For example:

ELECLOCK /Imaster.tle /S16609-14129-00424

would create ELETIME.TXT and include Mir (16609), Oscar 10 (14129), and
Alouette 1 (00424) as your favorite satellites.

It should be noted that only the first favorite satellite will appear on
the main screen of the program and in the various text files created by
ELECLOCK. However, all 12 will be visible if you select the (L)ist all
Favorites option at the main screen.

Also, there is only room for 12 satellites on the favorite satellites
display screen. So the program will not accept any more than 12 catalog
numbers from the /S command line switch.


The output file will take one of two forms. There is the default short form
and the optional long form. Which is written out will depend on whether you
activate the /L long switch from the command line when you start the
program.


The short file output will look like this:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYS Time: 06-26-1992 11:44:57 Offset: 6 UTC Epoch Time: 92 178.73954861
Favorite: 5 days 13 hrs. 6 mins. 38 secs. - 16609:Mir
Oldest: 65 days 15 hrs. 47 mins. 57 secs. - 11783:GPS-0006
Average: 8 days 8 hrs. 17 mins. 20 secs. - SATELE.174 Element File
Newest: 4 days 13 hrs. 6 mins. 38 secs. - 04966:Cosmos 398
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The NORAD catalog number and English satellite name are included at the end
of the Oldest, Newest and Favorite entries. The filename of the source
element file is included at the end of the Average entry.

The long form of output will write out the following if you do not specify
a source file for age computation:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYS Time: 06-26-1992 11:44:57 UTC Time: 06-26-1992 17:44:57 Offset: 6
UTC Epoch Time: 92 178.73954861
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you include a source file for age computation on the command line then
the output file will look like this:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYS Time: 06-26-1992 11:44:57 UTC Time: 06-26-1992 17:44:57 Offset: 6
UTC Epoch Time: 92 178.73954861

Favorite Element Set 16609:Mir in SATELE.174 is dated 92173.19326572
Favorite Element Set age is 5 days 13 hrs. 6 mins. 38 secs.

Oldest Element Set 11783:GPS-0006 in SATELE.174 is dated 92113.08123957
Oldest Element Set age is 65 days 15 hrs. 47 mins. 57 secs.

Average Epoch Day in SATELE.174 is dated 92170.39417577
Average Element File age is 8 days 8 hrs. 17 mins. 20 secs.

Newest Element Set 04966:Cosmos 398 in SATELE.174 is dated 92174.19326572
Newest Element Set age is 4 days 13 hrs. 6 mins. 38 secs.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you include a source file for age computation on the command line but
that file does not exist or could not be found then the output file will
look like this:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYS Time: 06-26-1992 11:44:57 UTC Time: 06-26-1992 17:44:57 Offset: 6
UTC Epoch Time: 92 178.73954861
Input file C:\SATS\ELEMENTS\ELETIME.TXT not found
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you name a source file for age computation on the command line but that
file does not contain all lines (Newest, Reference filename, Average,
Oldest and Favorite) of epochday information, then the program will write
out notices to the output file indicating which parameters are missing and
will look like this:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYS Time: 06-26-1992 11:44:57 UTC Time: 06-26-1992 17:44:57 Offset: 6
UTC Epoch Time: 92 178.73954861
Favorite element Set for SATELE.174 not found
Oldest element Set for SATELE.174 not found
Average Epoch Time for SATELE.174 not found

Newest Element Set 04966:Cosmos 398 in SATELE.174 is dated 92174.19326572
Newest Element Set age is 4 days 13 hrs. 6 mins. 38 secs.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If the Reference Element File name is missing from the input file then the
above display would look like this:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYS Time: 06-26-1992 11:44:57 UTC Time: 06-26-1992 17:44:57 Offset: 6
UTC Epoch Time: 92 178.73954861
Favorite Element Set for [no filename] not found
Oldest Element Set for [no filename] not found
Average Epoch Time for [no filename] not found

Newest Element Set 04966:Cosmos 398 in [no filename] is dated 92174.19326572
Newest Element Set age is 4 days 13 hrs. 6 mins. 38 secs.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------



ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS

ELEMANxx.ZIP - Combines the features of the STRPEL, CHKEL and SORTEL
programs with many other features to help you manage your
2-Line element files.

STRPELxx.ZIP - Utility to read and input file and extract any properly
formatted 2-line element sets and write them to an output
file. Any text failing the 2-line checks will appear in a
file named FAILED.TXT. This program is a sub set of the
Element Manager program.

CHKELxx.ZIP - Utility to examine a file of 2-Line elements and check and
fix any bad checksums. This program is a sub set of the
Element Manager program.

SORTELxx.ZIP - Utility that will sort a 2-Line element file by the
classical orbital elements as well as the apogee and perigee
heights. Results of these sorts may be written to an output
file. This program is a sub set of the Element Manager
program.

GTN2Lxx.ZIP - Utility to create NASA 2-line element sets from element
files created by Graf Trak II Version 3.0.

COMSELxx.ZIP - Utility to combine and remove duplicates from two Satellite
Select Files. Useful in maintaining SATNAME.DAT files.



CREDITS

The programs I've written are available on many BBS systems. I upload all
programs to the Celestial and Comm-Post BBS systems. The Comm-Post is an
excellent BBS serving the Denver area. But of course you can log on from
anywhere. It supports high speed transfers which is nice as the QB programs
I create tend to be large files for the functions they perform. I will try
and make sure that the latest versions of all programs appear on Comm-Post.
I was using Celestial as the primary distribution source, but it is
temporarily having problems with uploads. When this problem is resolved
I'll make sure latest versions appear there also.

I get my elements from TS Kelso. Here's an advertisement:

The most current orbital elements from the NORAD two-line element
sets are carried on the Celestial BBS, (513) 427-0674, and are
updated several times weekly. Documentation and tracking software
are also available on this system. The Celestial BBS may be
accessed 24 hours/day at 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, or 9600 bps using
8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity.

- TS Kelso
SYSOP, Celestial RCP/M


Astro Comm-Post Bulletin Board (2.0+ Gig files)

This is a multi-line BBS with two primary hunt numbers. If you
call the first number the BBS will connect you with the first
available modem. If you dial the second number you will be
connected only to a modem with HST capabilities (baud rates to
14400). There are a couple of lines with V.32 protocol on them
but, as I don't have a modem with that capability I don't know the
numbers. Call and read the system bulletins for info about those
lines. You might get lucky and be connected with one of these
modems on your first access. I imagine that they have their own
hunt number to help you avoid the other protocol lines. MOST of
this BBS is closed to visitors however, the Astronomy area is open
to guest users for file downloads. This is the area where
satellite programs will be posted.

(303) 534-4646 (1200-2400)
(303) 534-4311 (greater than 2400 baud HST)


Assistance in figuring out how to compute ages of elements was found in:

W3IWI.BAS which is available on CIS in the Astronomy Forum.

AMSAT ORBITAL PREDICTION PROGRAM
6388 GUILFORD ROAD
CLARKSVILLE, MD 21029
COPYRIGHT 1980 BY DR. Thomas A. Clark


REVISIONS

1.0 - Initial release.

1.1 - Changed the "long" form of file output to an option and added Short
file output as the new default.

Added Favorite Satellite time tracking.

Added the epochday calculator.

Added leap year considerations to age calculations.

Added the capability to scan NASA 2-line files and extract the
relevent information to create ELETIME.TXT files.

Added a favorite satellites display screen. This screen will display
the oldest, average, newest and up to 12 favorite satellite ages on
the screen.

-end-


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