cdebeling

Hey HN community!

I've recently fallen down the rabbit hole of ham radio and antennas/satellites. While experimenting with a handheld directional YAGI antenna, I realized there must have been a better way than pulling out my compass app and continuously checking to make sure I was getting the right angle. So I built STAR! It uses your device's built-in motion sensors and location to precisely align your antenna with any satellite orbiting around Earth.

Honestly, I didn't know you could access a device's motion data from the web so that was super fun to play around with. I've been able to get some great images from NOAA weather satellites and learn about some fun math that makes this all work.

PSA: You can build your own YAGI antenna for about $10 in materials. Just look up a "tape measurer antenna" and thank me later for the fun project :)

Thx! Will add a search box this weekend

Good point, just added a link to a demo using the ISS id. Thx!

Haha that was the goal!! Glad you like it

giantg2 is right! The position and velocities are already known in the form of a Two-line element set (TLE). That makes it quite easy to calculate its current location using orbit propagation algorithms.

If you want to go down a fun path I suggest reading more into TLE data. They are currently in the process of adapting the standard to allow for more satellites since in its current form it can only track 99,999 satellites

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