Map and sidebar
World map
The map shows the satellite sub-satellite point (where it is over the Earth), its ground track, and a footprint (rough visibility circle). Your station is marked on the map.
- Click a satellite name or its footprint to select it. Clicking empty map leaves the current satellite selected.
- Labels use the preferred name from the transponder database when an entry exists (matched by NORAD ID or name). Otherwise they show the TLE catalogue name. Rename satellites under Satellites & TLEs.
- Tab to the map, then use arrow keys to change the selected satellite (keyboard shortcuts).
- Coloured footprints help you see which satellites are near your horizon.
- Optional day/night greyline (Settings → Appearance) shades the night side of the map; footprints and tracks draw on top and follow map time when you scrub.
- Optional next-orbit ground track (Settings → Appearance) draws a faded line behind the focused satellite's current track, showing where it will go on its next orbit.
- Map centre longitude (Settings → Appearance) can stay on Greenwich, follow your station gridsquare, or use a custom longitude.
- A small arrow inside each footprint shows the direction the satellite is moving along its ground track.
- Your station is marked on the map. A saved DX station (remote grid) appears as an orange diamond.
- Press S to show only the selected satellite on the map and sky plot; press S again to restore all (shortcuts).
Pass elevation timeline
Below the world map, a collapsible pass elevation timeline shows upcoming passes as filled elevation shapes on a horizontal time axis (sometimes called a “mountain chart”). Each shape is one pass: height is elevation (0–90° on the left scale), width is pass duration, and the satellite name sits at the peak. Times follow your local / UTC display setting.
- Click a pass to focus that satellite on the map, sky plot, and sidebar (same as clicking a pass row).
- Hover a pass for AOS, LOS, max elevation, and duration.
- Scroll the mouse wheel over the chart to zoom the time window. Scroll up for a shorter window (down to 30 minutes); scroll down for a longer window (up to 6 hours). The current length is shown on the time axis (for example 2 h).
- The focused satellite’s pass is drawn on top with a stronger colour.
- During a pass in progress, the fill is brighter from AOS up to the current time.
- A vertical line marks now (solid when map time is live; dashed when you are previewing another time).
- A dashed 45° grid line helps you spot high passes at a glance.
- Only passes above your minimum elevation (Settings → Tracking) are shown, the same filter as the sidebar pass list.
- Up to 50 passes are drawn within the lookahead window (default 120 minutes).
The timeline follows map time when you scrub with the status-bar −15m / −5m / Now / +5m / +15m buttons, so you can preview how passes line up later in the day. Rotator, radio CAT, pass recording, and voice announcements stay on live time.
Use Window → Pass elevation timeline to show or hide the panel, or press the small ✕ at the top-right of the chart. Use the detach control next to ✕ to open the chart in a separate window you can drag to another screen; close that window (or untick Pass elevation timeline) to return it to the bottom of the main window. Drag the grip at the top of the docked panel to make it taller or shorter (about 80–280 pixels). OscarWatch remembers whether the panel is open, whether it is detached, the floating window position/size, the zoomed time window, and how tall you left the docked panel.
Advanced: the lookahead window (default 120 minutes), panel height, open/closed state, and detach state are stored in settings.json as TimelineWindowMinutes (30–360), TimelinePanelHeightPx, IsTimelineExpanded, IsTimelineDetached, and TimelineDetachedWindow* bounds. Wheel zoom on the chart updates TimelineWindowMinutes for the next session.
DX station monitor
Use this when you are working a contact at another location — for example a rover in a different grid — and want to see where they are and whether the focused satellite is up in their sky.
- Click the small orange diamond button at the top-right of the map.
- Enter a Maidenhead grid square (4 or 6 characters, e.g.
JO22orJO22lk). - The remote location is marked on the map. A compact panel shows Az (their sky) and El (their sky) for whichever satellite you have selected, updated every second.
Drag the panel by its title bar (⠿) to move it. Use ▼ / ▶ to collapse or expand, same as the frequencies panel. OscarWatch remembers the grid, panel position, and collapsed state between sessions. Press Clear to remove the remote station and close the panel.
If a grid is already saved, the map marker stays visible when you start OscarWatch; click the diamond button again to open the compact monitor. For pass times visible from two stations at once, use Passes → Mutual pass finder (pass planning).
Sidebar — Live
Shows data for the selected satellite, updated every second (UTC clock at the bottom).
| Item | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Standby / Resume tracking | Browsing mode: parks rotator, pauses CAT. The heading switches from Live to Standby and Resume tracking is highlighted until you press it. Afterwards, click a pass or satellite to focus again. While in Standby, menu Rotator opens manual az/el control. |
| Az / El | Direction to point your antenna (degrees) |
| Range / Alt | Distance to the satellite and its altitude |
| Sunlight / Eclipse | Whether the spacecraft is sunlit (when data is available) |
| Rotator | Live az/el from your rotator controller, if connected |
| Stop (■) | Emergency halt — sends a stop command to the controller and pauses pass tracking until you press Resume (GS-232, SPID, and EasyComm SA SE) |
| Resume | Shown after an emergency stop; resumes automatic pass tracking |
| Home (⌂) | Sends park command to the rotator; tooltip shows Parked when at your configured park position |
| Radio | Last CAT-reported RX/TX, or overlay frequencies |
| Pause / Resume CAT (⏸ / ▶) | Pause icon stops frequency updates so you can tune manually; play icon resumes CAT |
Sky plot
A polar view as seen from your station: centre is overhead, the outer ring is the horizon. Click a satellite to select it, same as on the map, or tab to the plot and use the arrow keys. Expand or collapse the section with the Sky plot header — OscarWatch remembers which you prefer. Hover the plot for a short summary.
- Pass path — a coloured line shows the current or next pass for the selected satellite.
- Rotator crosshair — when the rotator is connected, a blue crosshair marks where it is pointing.
Upcoming Passes
A collapsible list of predicted passes for your enabled satellites. Expand or collapse the section with the Upcoming Passes header. OscarWatch remembers which you prefer. Times use your local display; the footer shows UTC. Click a row to select that satellite. Passes above your minimum elevation (Settings → Tracking) are included. When expanded, the list fills the space between Live/Sky plot and any roves panel; it scrolls when there are many passes.
Use the circle control on each row (or right-click Schedule pass) to mark passes you care about. Scheduled passes get a filled indicator. While OscarWatch is running, each scheduled pass plays a ding and shows an alert a few minutes before AOS (Settings → Voice → Scheduled passes).
If Settings → Integrations → OscarWatch is enabled, a small colour dot may appear beside the satellite name. It shows community On / Off / Telemetry status for the mode you last used on that satellite (or a default mode). Hover the dot for a per-mode breakdown. The frequency overlay shows a labelled chip for the mode currently selected there.
Badges on the right of a pass row:
| Badge | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Orange countdown | Pass starts within about 15 minutes (time until AOS) |
| Green Passing | Pass is in progress (between AOS and LOS) |
| Red REC | Audio is being recorded for this satellite (Settings → Recording) |
Rows may also be highlighted in amber (soon) or green (in progress) behind the text.
Right-click a pass row and choose View Pass Plot for a polar chart of that pass from your station, or Schedule pass / Remove from schedule. See Pass planning for details.
Upcoming Roves (hams.at)
When enabled in Settings → Integrations, a collapsible Upcoming Roves panel appears at the bottom of the sidebar. It lists satellite rove alerts from hams.at that are workable for your hams.at location (is_workable in the API) — callsign, grids, time window, satellite, and any comment. Set your observer location on hams.at if the panel is empty. Click a row to open that alert on hams.at in your browser. If Cloudlog is enabled in Settings → Integrations, use Test connection to load your logbooks and pick one — rove grid badges then show red grids you still need and muted badges for grids already in that logbook (satellite contacts only).
Rove grid badges
When Cloudlog grid check is enabled and a logbook is selected:
| Badge | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Red pill | Grid(s) you still need — not found in the chosen logbook on SAT |
| Muted outline pill | Grid(s) already worked on satellite in that logbook |
| Green pill | All grids shown together when Cloudlog lookup is off (no logbook selected or checkbox off) |
A rove with multiple grids may show two badges side by side — for example red NM48 and muted NM49 when you need one grid but have already worked the other. Several grids in the same category are combined in one badge (e.g. red NM48, NM49).
Enter your hams.at API key and refresh interval on the Integrations tab (stored locally like other credentials). Expand or collapse the section with its header; OscarWatch remembers your preference. When expanded, drag the grip at the top of the roves list to make it taller or shorter — your chosen height is saved automatically.
Status bar
Shows how old the TLE data is and how many satellites are enabled. If TLEs are very stale, refresh them before relying on pass times.
When GPS is enabled in Settings → Integrations → GPS, coloured labels appear to the left of the clock:
- GPS — green = valid fix; red = GPS on but no fix yet (or lost).
- GPS Time — shown only when Use GPS UTC for satellite tracking is on. Green = tracking is using GPS UTC; red = waiting for a fix with valid time.
Hover a label for a short tooltip. GPS indicators are hidden when GPS is disabled in Settings.
When Satellite link is enabled in Settings → Integrations → Satellite link, a Sat link label appears in the same area:
- amber — waiting for clients (port open, none connected yet)
- green — one or more logging clients connected
- red — could not start (port in use, permissions, etc.)
See Satellite link for setup and the developer API.
On the far right of the status bar, to the right of the clock, map time buttons let you preview footprints and satellite positions without changing real hardware control: −15m, −5m, Now, +5m, and +15m step the map and sky plot backward or forward (up to about two hours from live time). Press Now to return to the current time.
- While previewing, the UTC clock shows the map time and how far it is from now.
- The sidebar azimuth, elevation, range, and sunlight status follow the preview time.
- Rotator, radio CAT, pass recording, and voice announcements stay on live time so you do not drive the station from a preview.