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Main Screen
The program starts at the Main Screen. Read the descriptions here and explore
each option described by clicking on the link to the left.
On the main screen you'll see a box with a list of active satellites
indicated by their NORAD catalog number and Common Name.
The Title line of this box indicates how many satellites are active, whether
or not selections are active, if a sort is active and which direction the sort
is performed and the age of the most recent element set.
In the above display, there are 383 active satellites of the 1446 element
sets in the imported file. Selections are active (in this case a minimum
inclination was selected thus reducing the number of active satellites). The
most recent of the active element sets epoch time is dated 7 days in the future
of current (system) time. That future date is due to an element set in the file
that is generated to predict a future Space Shuttle Flight.
Also show above is a pop up menu invoked up by right clicking on one of the
satellites displayed (Mir in this case). You can select any of these options
(Satellite Situation Report in this case) and it will be performed focusing the
action on the satellite you right clicked on.
You can change the selected satellite (which is highlighted with a red
background and yellow text - Mir above) among the list of active satellites by
using the cursor control keys, (left arrow, right arrow, up arrow, down arrow,
PgUp, PgDn, Home and End) or by single clicking on any satellite. Once selected
an element set will be displayed below the element list as both a two line
element set and an "English" version delineating each parameter. Also
displayed, some derived information on each satellite. If the selected satellite
has a problem with the value in one of its fields, a value out of acceptable
range parameters, the "Range" command button (center right screen) changes to
RED with bold letters. Click on
the "Range" button and a window will open showing the selected element set, with
the bad value highlighted in RED.
If you double click on any satellite the program opens the "Tracking View" on
that satellite. Control-T and hitting the Enter key also opens the Tracking
View.
Clicking on the Orbit button opens a Orbital View screen with data displayed
for the currently selected satellite. Control-O also opens the Orbital View
screen.
Clicking on the Find button brings up a dialog box where you can enter in the
name of a satellite you're looking for. Control-F also opens this dialog.
The "Kilometers" button in the "Active Satellite Derived Data" display in the
lower right changes the measurement system of the perigee and apogee to statute
miles, nautical miles and back to kilometers. What ever measurement system you
have selected will be labeled on this button and all other measurement system
buttons throughout the program. You can set the default state of this button on
the Setup Screen.
Right clicking on satellites brings up a pop up menu with some of these
options as shown in the screenshot.
Check Marks
You can place a check mark beside any satellite and perform various tasks as
described below. Check marks may be added by clicking on the box beside any
satellite, or pressing the space bar to check or uncheck the currently selected
satellite.
You can also place check marks beside a group of satellites. With your mouse
click on the satellite name of the first satellite in the group/range you
want to mark. Then move to the last satellite in the group and press the shift
key and click on its name. The first and last satellites and all satellites in
between will be marked. You can CLEAR blocks of check marks. Click on the first
satellite. ALT-Click on the last satellite and all those elements will have
their check marks cleared. You can toggle an individual satellite's check mark
by CTRL-Clicking on the satellite's name.
As shown above, check marked satellites now display with a highlighted
background color different the selected satellite. This should make them easier
to find when fast scanning through a file.
Cut, Copy and Paste
I've tried to make this just like Windows. But, since the satellites aren't
plain text but a database of elements, it is a little different. To mark a
block of satellites follow the directions above. All selected satellites will
have check marks placed beside them. They will also be highlighted with a
different background color.
All elements Cut go to the clip board. So you can use cut as you do in a word
processor to rearrange things. Cut a bunch of satellites. Select a satellite
where you wish to insert the cut bunch and click paste. If you wish to move the
bunch to the bottom of the file, click on any empty box at the end of the file
and the clipboard will be pasted in immediately following the last satellite.
Cut, Copy and Paste replace the old Erase Element, Erase Checked Elements and
Duplicate Element commands on the Edit menu. Cut, Copy and Paste are also
available when you right click on a satellite.
On the menus:
File
 | Recent Files - Opens a list of the last four
files opened or saved, the most recent on top. |
| Open
 | w/o Checksums - Opens a dialog box. Select a file, it
will be imported. There is no required format other than that the file is an
ASCII text file in DOS format (UNIX file will prompt for permission to be
converted to DOS format), and contains somewhere within, two line elements.
Elements MUST contain Line1 and Line2. Line0, the name line need not be
present. EM can fabricate a name. Line1 and Line2 must be on consecutive
lines. They can be indented and will still be recognized. As long as Line1
and Line2 pass through a series of tests to verify they are indeed two
related lines of a two line element set, the set will be imported. |
| with Checksums - As above but, each element set
undergoes a checksum verification to ensure valid data within the element
set. Should an element set fail a dialog box opens (new 1.2.9) displays the
offending element set, indicates which line in the set failed, what number
(1st, 5th, 241st) element set it appears as in the file being loaded and
offers several options. |
- Fix that one bad line only
- Fix that one bad line and all subsequent checksum failures
automatically.
- Skip this element set (no fix, no load)
- Skip ALL element sets that fail (no fixes, no loads)
- Cancel Verification, stops all checking, imports this and any
remaining element sets regardless of their pass/fail status regarding
checksum.
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| Save - Writes all active satellites to the
same file that they were opened from. If you sort, select, or in any way
change the file, those changes will be saved and overwrite the previous
version of the file. A BAK file is created. NOTE: If you do import elements
with descriptive text surrounding them (perhaps in an email), saving will
always strip out EVERYTHING except the elements themselves. |
| SaveAs
| SaveAs (Filename) - Opens a dialog box. Enter a
filename, or pick a file in the dialog box and the active element sets will
be saved to that filename. If that file exists on disk already a *.bak file
will be created.
In previous versions of Element Manager there were hard coded filenames that
automatically added the epoch day of the most recent element set. Those hard
coded names have been abandoned. However, YOU can set any filename to
accomplish this. Just enter a filename with three pound/number signs (###)
in the filename as either part of the name or the file extension. Element
Manager will see the pound signs and substitute the epoch day. You MUST use
three Pound Signs. Use less and the pound signs themselves will appear in
the filename. Use more and the first three will be replaced by the epoch
day, the trailing pound signs will appear in the filename. For example
if the most recent element set to be saved to a file is on January 15, and
you enter the filename "TLE###.TXT" in the save as dialog box, Element
Manager will write out TLE015.TXT. In the recent files saved list, your
filename with the ### signs will appear "TLE###.TXT", so you can reuse it on
multiple saves and the current most recent epoch day will be substituted. On
the most recent Loaded list, the actual filename of the last saved file
"TLE015.TXT" will appear with the epoch day. |
| Hardcoded Filenames - A couple of hardcoded filenames
appears below the SaveAs option. In previous versions there were multiple
filenames that would include the Epoch Day of the most recent element set.
But, I was getting requests to add lots of differently formatted filenames.
Now using the above procedure, you can create any format you wish. I've left
in only two hardcoded filenames, TLE.TXT and TLE.TLE. |
| Recent Files - If you use the SaveAs-Filename option
above, Element Manager will remember the last four filenames you used to
SaveAs with the EXCEPTION of TLE.TXT and TLE.TLE. These filenames will then
appear at the bottom of the SaveAs menu, the most recent on the top of the
list. If you have never Save(ed)As then no filenames will appear. Click on a
filename in this list and Element Manager will write out the active Elements
to that file. If it already exists on disk a *.bak file will be created. I
found myself frequently using visible.txt or amateur.txt or other filenames
that did not appear in the hard coded filename list. This addition seems
like a reasonable way to offer quick access to a frequently used filename in
the saving functions of the program and mirrors the open options. OH, when
you save a file using any of these methods, the original loaded element set
in program memory is NOT changed and the filename at the top of the program
remains that originally opened. Why?? Well, suppose you select satellites
with a mean motion of 15 or greater, limiting a big file to a much smaller
subset. Then save that group of active satellites. All the other satellites
are still loaded. On the Main Menu click on Select/Remove All Selection
Criteria and they will magically reappear. In this way you can quickly
restore the "master" list make other selections and save various subsets of
the master file. HOWEVER, for convenience sake, when you SAVE a file, it's
name is added to both the Open and SaveAs most recent files lists. This way,
you can quickly and easily open a recently saved file. |
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| Revert - Clears all memory and reloads the
last file fresh from the disk file. |
| Clear - Empties all internal databases and
re-initializes Element Manager |
| Export Spread Sheet File (CSV) - Exports the 2
line element sets as an ASCII delimited text file. The apogee and perigee data
is included. |
| Import Spread Sheet File (CSV) - If you have
not made any structural changes to the exported data above, you can re-import
the spread sheet. You CAN sort, and select element sets in your spread sheet.
You just can't change field positions, or add new fields in among the existing
fields. If you wish to make calculations in the spread sheet, created
calculated cells to the right of the pre-existing cells. You can then read the
file back into Element Manager. Of course, you have to make sure your Spread
Sheet program saves the file in a CSV format. Look at the export file for
formatting information, and "teach" your spread sheet to use that basic
template for the export. LEAVE the first row as a label row. That's important
because, upon importing of a spread sheet, EM ignores that first row.
A hint about time calculations in a spread sheet. Excel can read the epochday
field and come up with a date (sort of). It thinks that the date is for the
year 1900, but, it will work well if you are plotting out time based
comparisons. If date accuracy is necessary, you could create a cell with the
date of the year preceeding the current year of 12/31/xx and ADD the epoch day
to that date and you should come up with the real date for a date field. |
| View/Edit -
| Pass Schedules - If you run a pass prediction and save
it, you can open it here. The open file dialog box will screen for *.skd
files. |
| Element Files - Opens a dialog box pointing to your
Satellite Element Folder using the default file extension you set on the
setup screen. Click on an element file and it will be loaded into a plain
text editor (internal to EM). Minor editing can be accomplished. You can cut
and paste. Save files back as text. For details on the editor, check the
"Text Editing" Screen linked above and to the left. |
| Parameter/Select Files - As above, but points the
dialog box to your parameter folder. |
| Data Files - looks for ini and dat files in the program
home folder. This option is being provided to let you peek at the
satname.dat, radarx.dat or magnitude.dat files. |
| Text Files - As above, but the default file extension
is "*.txt". |
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| Exit - shuts down the program |
Edit
| Cut - Remove element set (it goes to the clip board where
it remains until you cut or copy from someplace else in Windows or EM) |
| Copy - If no satellites are checkmarked, the currently
selected element set is copied to the clipboard. If any satellites have
been checked all checked satellites will be written to the clipboard. |
| Paste - This is really a great feature. Viewing element
sets in your browser, mail program, a text file or where ever, copy up to 100
element sets to the clipboard. Then select this option in Element Manager and
those element sets will be added to your active satellites. They will be
inserted BEFORE the currently selected satellite. If NO elements are loaded,
the pasted elements appear at the top. You need not be too accurate in your
copying. Just make sure you grab all of the element set(s) you are interested
in. Preceding, trailing or intermingled text will be ignored, only 2 line
element sets will be grabbed by Element Manager. One difference between a file
import and a paste action; EM does NOT verify the LINE0 and use its full name
substitution routines. The only fix it attempts, if LINE0 is longer than 67
characters, that's stripped and the Norad Catalog number is used as the name. |
| Select All - highlights all active satellites |
| Edit Element Set - opens the Element Editor with the
currently highlighted element set as the source. |
Find offers two options. Either in the
Active Satellites or in the Satellite Situation Report.
| Click on "In Active Elements" and a dialog box opens. You can select to
search for as satellite by either its name or its NORAD ID. Check the
appropriate radio button then enter the appropriate text to search for.
| Find Next will continue down the file looking for additional matches |
| When the search reaches the bottom of the file, a message is displayed
on the Find dialog box indicating "Sat Not Found". Clicking on the Find
button will start the search over at the top of the file. |
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| Click on "In Situation Report" and a dialog box will open and behave
similarly to the one above. However, the satellite situation report will be
the source for this search and results will display in a new window. |
View opens the Statistics Screen, the
Archive Analysis Screen, the Track View, Radar View, Orbital View, Quick Rise
display, Next Rise display and the Twoline Screen. These are discussed under
their subheadings above and to the left.
Select opens various sub options.
| Open Selection Screen - opens that screen. Details of its
functions can be found by following the link above and on the left. You can
also open this screen by hitting ctrl-S. |
| Load Select File opens a dialog box, allows you to pick a
select file, opens the selection screen, makes the selection file active and
waits for you to make additional selections or click the OK button to apply
the select file. |
| Write Select File Leads to two submenu options
| All Active Sats - opens a dialog box permitting you to
pick a file or type in a filename for a select file, then adds every active
satellite to that file. |
| Checked Sats Only - opens the dialog box, you pick or
type a filename and then the program adds only those satellites that have
been checked on the main screen. |
| Note: After each addition to or creation of a select
file, Element Manager will examine the file, sort it into ascending
numerical order by the catalog number and remove any duplicate entries. |
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| CheckMarks deals with the checkboxes on the Main Screen
and opens a submenu.
| Make Only Checked Active - Only checked satellites will
be active. All others will be removed from active status. So, you can then
save a hand picked subset of satellites. When you have selected a subset by
any means, Checkmarks, Select File, Orbital parameters from the Selection
screen, and try to sort the resulting subset Element manager can not
maintain integrity on the checkmarks. If you have not checkmarked any
satellites, this means nothing. But, if you have selected some subset of
satellites by checkmark, you can sort the active satellites but, the
checkmarks will be removed. So, lets say you want to hand pick out some LEO
satellites and save them in sorted order to a file. First, go to the
selection screen and enter the proper parameters for your LEOS to limit the
size of the Active Element, perhaps by Mean Motion or Perigee or Apogee. Now
with this smaller list sort by whichever parameter you're interested in.
Next, move through the active satellites checkmarking any satellites you
want to save. Then choose Select/Make Only Checked Active from the Main
Menu. Now your hand picked sats are ready to be saved. Choose File/SaveAs
and whatever suboption you wish there. When you go to the "Select/Remove All
Selection Criteria" option to restore your full file to active status, the
checkmarks will be removed and the display refreshed with all original
element sets on screen. |
| Check All Satellites - naturally, adds checkmarks
beside each active satellite. |
| UnCheck All Satellites - removes all checkmarks for
active satellites. |
| Swap Checked for Unchecked - toggles the checks back
and forth. |
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| Remove All Selection Criteria - restores all the
satellites originally loaded from the disk file. Element Manager always has
these stored away in the background. |
Sort opens a submenu with two options
- Ascending and Descending. Moving over either of these opens an additional
submenu listing all the parameters by which the file can be sorted in that
direction.
Utility opens a submenu with several
options. For details on this menu option go to the
Utility Menu Page.
Internet Browser opens a screen with a
maximum of 5 buttons on it. These are Internet Sites. Hover over the button with
your mouse and the actual URL will appear. Click on a button and your browser is
launched with that URL. Right click on a button and a form opens allowing you to
edit the button label and the URL the button points to. There is a file in your
Element Manager folder named "ineturls.ini". You can open this file and edit it
manually to point to any site you wish to have available on this screen.
However, I'd recommend you use the right click method. It's easier. I suggest
you leave at least one blank button. It will automatically be relabeled,
"Browser Only" and will launch your browser at whatever homepage you have
designated.
Setup opens the preferences screen.
Shrink will collapse the screen so
that only the grid at the top of the screen is visible. Click it, and the label
on the Menu will change from "Shrink" to "Expand".
Help (extremely
out of date but may be of use) opens the help system for Element Manager.
Context sensitive help can be obtained at any screen by pressing F1. Help
pertinent to the screen you are on will be displayed. There is also an About
screen available under help which gives the current version number of the
program. Also available here, a link to a text file that briefly describes the
two line element set as recognized by Element Manager.
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