TRACKER

The TRACKER program was originally written in 1974, to provide a convenient and practical way for amateur radio operators to track the moon. Since the original BASIC version, the program was re-written into FORTRAN IV, and then updated and revised a number of times in BASIC to include various features and enhancements. The program was compiled for speed and ease of use by all IBM-compatible computers - not just those with particular BASIC compilers.

In addition to providing "MOON" tracking information from any location on any date, it also shows estimates of the "db degradation" at that time (the increase in background noise compared to the most ideal situation, which would be when the moon is both closest to the earth and the sky behind it is most quiet). The program also can provide azimuth and elevation for "STARS" (the sun, or "fixed" points in the sky such as "cold sky" spots, the most popular celestial noise sources, or user defined objects). Complete features and operation guidelines are included with the program as part of the "HELP" key, F3:

TRACKER MAIN HELP MENU

1. General Program Features

2. MOON Tracking Specific Features/Options

3. STARS (Celestial Objects) Tracking Specific Features/Options

4. Use of Keyboard for Main Menus

5. Use of Keyboard During Program Screen Displays at Run Time

6. Information Regarding Derivation of Tracking Equations

7. Version Information/Setup Tips

To run TRACKER, the following three programs need to be downloaded and saved in the same directory on your hard disk. The file DIR.SKD is updated periodically to include active 2m EME stations and their geographic locations, to enable TRACKER to automatically calculate moon tracking coordinates for them.

TRACKER.EXE Version 3.1 (last revised November, 1997)

TRACKER.DAT This file stores the default data for your station and program setup preferences

DIR.SKD Updated copies of this file also available from AF9Y