[aprssig] Satellite Predictions requires a) Beacon and b) Messaging IGate

[Lynn W. Deffenbaugh (Mr)]

A reminder: For the satellite pass query to work from RF, you MUST have 
beaconed a position AND be within range of a bi-directional, 
message-passing IGate.

I tried to track down a direct contact for LA9IRA who has been trying 
and trying (from LA9IRA-9) to get a pass prediction for the ISS.  
However, it appears that LA9IRA-9:

a) has not beaconed a position since 2011-06-03 13:36:22 UTC (136 days 
ago) (http://aprs.fi/info/LA9IRA-9)

b) is not in range of a message-gating IGate (based on retries 
http://aprs.fi/?c=raw&call=LA9IRA-9)

Here's the message trace from the SATSRV server for the most recent attempt:

2011-10-17T17:38:18.427 LA9IRA-9>ISS a{0
2011-10-17T17:38:18.428 ISS>LA9IRA-9 Please Beacon Position
2011-10-17T17:41:18.057 LA9IRA-9>ISS a{0
2011-10-17T17:41:18.057 ISS>LA9IRA-9 Please Beacon Position
2011-10-17T17:43:26.312 LA9IRA-9>ISS a{0
2011-10-17T17:43:26.312 ISS>LA9IRA-9 Please Beacon Position
2011-10-17T17:44:25.659 LA9IRA-9>ISS a{0
2011-10-17T17:44:25.659 ISS>LA9IRA-9 Please Beacon Position

If anyone knows of a way to contact Christian Langgard (from qrz.com, 
but no e-mail there), please forward this message on to him/her so as to 
not end up with a disgruntled user that believes the ISS query server 
just plain doesn't work.  It does, IF you tell it where you are and can 
hear it's responses.

Lynn (D) - KJ4ERJ - Author of APRSISCE for Windows Mobile and Win32

PS.  If you're trying to use the ISS pass predictor and aren't getting 
an answer, you can always check the raw packets at 
http://aprs.fi/?c=raw&call=ISS&limit=25&view=normal to see the server 
side of what's happening.   Substitute whatever satellite you are 
addressing for "ISS" in that URL.