Satellite Rotor Control, SatPC32/Green Heron Node Red-Flow

Alan

Along with my Flex 6600 and Q5 transporters, I have been using PST Rotor to control my Satellite station Azimuth and Elevation rotors. It has been a great program but it had more function than I needed and lacked a user interface that highlighted important information.

Also, I wanted to directly control the Green Heron Rotor Controller.

I  am able to get the DDE data broadcast from SatPC32. Mark, MKCM helped me with a DDE bridge, but I was later able to find a Node-Red DDE node, that I ended up using.

I use the commands shared by Andreas, N6NU for the Green Heron Controller.

Getting data to/from the Green Heron Rotor Controller into Node-Red was a challenge. I found the Node-Red Serial In/Out node really struggled with flow control and the result was very inconsistent. I switched over to a Serial to IP converter and found the flow control from the TCP in/out Node very good. Serial to TCP is my final solution.

Here is a screenshot of my Satellite Dashboard Rotor Control:

Here is a screenshot of the individual Rotor AZ and EL controllers. Note the button background color changes when the rotor position is equal to the button command:

Here is a screenshot of the Radio Control Panel:

And, here is a screenshot of my Satellite Tracking Station:

Alan - WA9WUD

Gray F

Hi Alan. Great set-up. I am slowly getting a sat set-up here, and will use Green Heron AZ-EL also with SatPC32. I have FlexSat software ready and Q5 transverters. I am assuming the native SatPC32 rotor interface does not work directly with Green Heron, since you have done this work? Just curious, as I have not gotten that far yet. Anything you can share on getting set-up here to do this with your set-up on the DDE bridge? 73, Gray WX4F

Alan

Gray

I initially, also, used FlexSatPC with SatPC32 and a Green Heron RT21. In that case, I found PST Rotor to be the best solution for interfacing the SatPC32 AZ EL to the GH Rotor Control. Both apps have built in connectors for one-another.

I really enjoyed using FlexSatPC as described, except, it would not work multiplex or with my Maestro. So...I built my own.

What you see published is my alternate solution for FlexSatPC, which, I have now customized much more to my liking, including automatic rotor control via the GH RT-21.

In summary, if you are happy with FlexSatPC, use PST Rotor.

I can help you set up your station in either case. E-Mail me and we can set up a Team View or Zoom session.

Alan. WA9WUD

a.alan.blind@gmail.com

Alan

Using the MKCM StreamDeck Plug-In and help from Mark, I added Satellite and Rotor StreamDeck Buttons.

E-Mail me if you want to add this functionality to the Satellite Control Node-Red system.

Alan. WA9WUD