 | Update Elements has two options. See the
Updating Elements page for details
 | Include ILD Check |
| Ignore ILD |
Each of these options has the following sub options:
| Freshen Existing Elements Only - opens a second file,
compares the elements in that file with any matching NORAD IDs in the
current file and updates newer element sets from the second file to the
active file. |
| Freshen Existing and Add Non-Existent Sets - opens a
second file, compares the elements in that file to the active elements. When
a more recent element set exists in the second file, it replaces the older
set in the active element set. If an element set in the second file finds no
match in the active file, it adds itself to the active file. This second
option should be good for building master files.
|
|
| Add Elements to External File
| Add All Active Satellites will add every active
satellite to another file. Remember by using various selection procedures,
you can select a subset of ALL satellites in the currently loaded data file
and write only those element sets to the external file. |
| Add Checked Satellites allows you to copy only check
marked satellites made from the active satellites displayed on the main
screen to an external file. |
|
| Individual Archives will create archive files for
individual satellites by NORAD ID and maintain them. Because of the likely
possibility of inadvertently adding duplicate element sets to these archives,
I created the remove duplicate elements routine outlined below. It's very
important to remember to ONLY use "By NORAD ID and Date" duplicate removal
procedure. This duplicate removal will leave all multiple instances of a
particular NORAD ID as long as there are NO duplicate epoch times in the file.
When you click on (hover over) Individual Archives two options appear:
| Update Existing Archives will look in your Archives
Folder for any archive files, identified by their "*.ark" file extensions.
These files must have filenames following the naming convention #####.ark
where ##### is the NORAD ID of the satellite. When Element Manager finds one
of these files, it looks at the currently active satellites in the program
for a match. If it finds one, it adds that element set to the archive file. |
| Create New Archives from Checked Satellites will create
new archives. Peruse the satellite elements on the main screen. Place a
checkmark to the left of any satellite for which you wish to start an
archive. Click on "Create New Archives ..." and Element Manager will create
an archive file in the Archive File Folder for that satellite and add that
element set to that file. As a safety, the program first checks to see if a
pre-existing archive file exists for that Norad ID. If one does exist, it
will NOT be overwritten. Instead, that Satellite's element set will be added
to the archive file. |
|
| Remove Duplicate Elements will find and optionally remove
any duplicates.
| By NORAD ID Only - Use this option if you only want the
latest element set for a particular satellite retained in the file. Element
Manager will examine the active satellites and mark ALL satellites with the
same NORAD ID as duplicates. The program pops up a dialog box indicating the
number of duplicates and asks for your confirmation before deleting any
satellites. Only the most RECENT element set among the duplicates will be
retained. All other instances of a NORAD ID will be deleted. |
| By NORAD ID and Date - Use this option inside archive
files where all elements are for the same Norad ID. The idea here is to keep
all element sets of different epoch dates for a satellite, but remove any
element sets that are identical in both Norad ID and epoch date. Element
Manager will examine the active satellites and mark any element sets that
match both their epoch dates and NORAD IDs. All duplicates but the first
instance will be deleted. When you select this option, a dialog box pops up
indicating the number of duplicates and then asks you to confirm the delete.
You can cancel the operation at this point if you wish. |
|
| Verify Checksums will run through the active satellites
and verify the values of all checksums. At the first instance of a failed
checksum a dialog box opens offering information and options on how to deal
with it. See, Open/with checksums above for details. |
| Range Check Elements will examine all elements in the
active satellite display. After completing the examination, a message box will
appear indicating all sets passed or indicate how many sets failed. If an
element set fails this test, it has a check mark placed beside it on the main
screen. Scroll down the list of satellites, click on any checked satellite and
click the "Range" button (center right screen) and an information window will
open showing the element set and highlighting the failing item in that set.
See "Range Check screen" by following the link above left. To facilitate
finding element sets that have failed range check, I've added a routine to the
sorting options to sort on the status of checked satellites. You can move
checked satellites to the top or bottom of the active satellite display. |
| Verify ILD
| Compare/ Replace ILDs prompts you for an ILD database
file and then uses it to check the currently loaded elements for mismatches.
You are prompted to replace the offending ILD or skip the replacement. |
| Add ILDs to File will add ILD data to the file you
specify. It will NOT overwrite any preexisting ILD data in the file. Only
NEW ILD data will be added. If you want to correct the data in this file you
need to open it in a text editor or use that function on EM's main screen
file menu. The format for ILD data files is NORADID:ILD:Satellite Name Where
the Norad ID MUST be 5 characters long, the ILD MUST be 8 characters long
(trailing spaces for the piece if necessary) and no limits on the Satellite
Name, with colons separating each field. |
|
| Clean Line0 - will remove all data on line0 except the
satellite name. If there is magnitude data present, only the first 15
characters of the name will be retained. If there is no magnitude data, then
names up to 25 characters long will be retained. |
| Add Apo/Perigee Data to Line0 - will add that information
beginning in column 50 of line0. The data will be in the measurement system
currently active in the program. |
| Rename Satellites
| Rename Satellites w/Satname.dat will open SATNAME.DAT
which is a reference file containing NORAD catalog numbers and their
associated satellite names. It will then compare all active element sets
with this file. When a match of catalog numbers is found the Satellite Name
in the SATNAME.DAT file will be substituted for the name in the active
satellite display. This is handy if you obtain element sets without names,
or you like different names than those supplied in your source element file. |
| Rename with Select File will prompt you for a select
file to use to rename the active satellites. Works the same as above with
the exception of using a different source file for the names. |
| Add Active Sats to SATNAME.DAT will first prompt you to
preserve existing names (yes or no). If you select yes then, the program
loads SATNAME.DAT and compares it to your active satellites. When a match is
encountered, it is skipped (preserving the existing name in the SATNAME.DAT
file, when it encounters an active satellite that doesn't appear in the
SATNAME.DAT file, it adds it to that file. If you select NO to preserving
existing names, then the program looks for matches and, when found, the name
in your active satellite file is substituted for the previously listed name
in the SATNAME.DAT file. Also, any active satellites that aren't listed in
SATNAME.DAT are added to that file. Once the process has run its course, the
new SATNAME.DAT file is sorted by Norad ID Number and written to disk and
you're returned to the main screen. |
|
| Magnitude Data
| Add New Mag Data Skip Existing - Opens an external file (magtude.dat
by default but you can change it) and uses it to add visual information to
TLEs in the active display. Using this option, the program will skip over
element sets that already have visual data on line0. This file closely
resembles the select.dat file format the program uses. The Norad catalog
number appears first, followed by a colon then followed by the visual
magnitude data. The data is dependent on location within the file so it is
recommended you use Element Manager to create these files. |
| Replace Existing Mag Data - As above, however, all matching Norad
catalog numbers with magnitude data in the reference file will have that
visual data imported into the active display overwriting any previously
existing visual data in the element file. |
| Write Magnitude Data File - ALL visual data in the currently
active display will be written to the selected file. If previously saved
visual information for a bird exists in that file it will be overwritten.
The file will be sorted and duplicates removed. |
| Clear Mag Data from Active Sats - Strip out the visual magnitude
from the active satellites being displayed. |
|
| Radar Cross Section Data - This figure represents square meters of
reflected RF from a satellite.
| Import Radar Data
 | From Radar File (*.dat) - This option will add the radar cross
section data contained in the reference file "radarX.dat" (or any filename
you choose). That file also closely follows the format of the Mag and
Select file structure. The first 5 characters on each line are the Norad
catalog number of a satellite. That's followed by a colon and the radar
cross section. |
| From Satellite Situation Report (SSR) -
Available from the OIG site on the internet.
It's big! Look closely at the file. It usually comes zipped as four or 5
separate files. Each one contains a sub element. Lots of the data in this
file refers to birds that have decayed. So, you can greatly decrease your
import time if you select only the categories you wish to extract radar
cross sections from. You can either concatenate multiple files together
and do the entire job in one pass, or run an import on each sub file.
Importing is a two stage process. First the program grabs the data for all
the active satellites, then it saves that data to a disk file (for faster
retrieval later).
| Replace Existing Cross Sections - If an active satellite has
a cross section value, it is replaced with whatever is current in the
SSR. |
| Skip Existing Cross Sections - If an active satellite has a
cross section value, that value will be preserved. |
|
|
| Write Radar Data File - Only active satellites are written to a
file, so it's possible to create subsets of the radar data. |
| Clear Radar Data From Active Sats - Clear radar cross section
data from all satellites. |
|
| Export Norad IDs Only to File - A special request. All active
satellites will have their NORAD IDs only written to a file, one to a line. |
| Rip Sat Sit Report to CSV - Will
read the Satellite Situation Report and convert it to a comma delimited file. |
| Clock Pops up a clock that displays NORAD time. It's a
system hog and will stop the tracking program from updating. |
