OscarWatch Terminal
Typed packet contacts through satellites such as the ISS.
Type a call and a message, and OscarWatch Terminal turns it into tones, keys your radio and sends it up to the satellite, which repeats it for everyone in its footprint. It lives inside OscarWatch Tracker under Tools, with our own 1200 and 9600 baud sound modems, so there is no Direwolf to install.
OscarWatch Terminal is in beta. It works on the air, and we are still refining it with feedback from operators.
Who is it for?
Operators who want packet contacts through the ISS and other satellites with a digipeater, without running a separate soundmodem, terminal and logger. A 2 m FM radio with USB audio or a sound interface is enough. Many contacts are made with 25 to 50 W into a small vertical or a handheld Yagi.
Built for the pass
A packet contact takes a few half-second frames. OscarWatch Terminal handles the radio, the timing and the paperwork so you can make them count.
Our own sound modems
1200 baud AFSK and 9600 baud G3RUH are built in, and the right one is picked for the satellite. No Direwolf or UZ7HO to set up.
Doppler and the horizon
Your radio keeps following Doppler through the pass, and nothing is transmitted while the satellite is below the horizon.
Half or full duplex
On one-frequency satellites like the ISS it waits for a quiet channel before sending. On crossband satellites it listens while you transmit.
Macros on F1 to F8
CQ with your grid, a report, a roger and 73, each one key away. Click a heard station to answer it.
Know the satellite heard you
Your own frames that come back through the digipeater are marked MY DIGI, with the delay, so you know you are getting in.
Contacts log themselves
Once grids or reports and a roger or 73 have gone both ways, the contact is saved to the OscarWatch Logbook as PKT and queued for Cloudlog.
A map of who is in range
APRS positions fill in grid, distance and bearing for heard stations, and the Terminal Map shows them with the satellite footprint.
UHM built in
With a free OscarWatch account, You Heard Me tells you when a station you heard has also heard you, even if their reply was lost.
BPSK satellites such as IO-117 and GMSK satellites still need an external modem. OscarWatch Terminal can connect to Direwolf, UZ7HO or a KISS TNC for those.
Get on the air
- 1 Download and install OscarWatch Tracker. It is free.
- 2 Connect your radio, then open Tools and choose OscarWatch Terminal.
- 3 In Terminal settings, pick your sound interface, set the levels and how your radio keys PTT.
- 4 Focus the ISS or another packet satellite, then press F1 to call CQ or click a station to answer.