PlanePlotter 6.5.5.2 Released

[Triple7]

From Bev,

Hi,

PlanePlotter version 6.5.5.2 is on the web site now.
http://www.planeplotter.com#download

---Usual boilerplate---
Updates are free to registered users.

You may need to exercise your browser Refresh function to force it to show you the new version of the PlanePlotter web page. If you post a message complaining that the web page is still pointing to an earlier version, you pay a forfeit - unless I forgot to update the web page, in which case I pay a forfeit!

You can install the new version over the old one but you *must* close/exit PlanePlotter before installing the new one. Nic's installer will warn you if PlanePlotter is still running when you try to install the new version. Your settings from the previous installation will be preserved.

If you have a version-specific firewall, you may have to reassure it that the new version is permitted to access the Internet. Be aware that increasingly, security systems treat any new file as a threat without any justification except that it is new. Please don't write to me about it; write to your security system provider and ask them to make their program smarter.
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New in 6.5.5.2

This release adds a facility for PlanePlotter to automate photography of passing aircraft.

PlanePlotter already has the option to control the popular SkyWatcher telescope mount to track an aircraft.  However, this feature has always had the disadvantage that an aircraft flying close to the camera (eg overhead) exceeds the slew rate of the telescope mount in tracking mode.  This latest release of PlanePlotter overcomes that problem.

In addition to the existing "PlanePlotter...Options...SkyWatcher...Track designated aircraft", this release adds a new option "PlanePlotter..Options..SkyWatcher...Intercept designated aircraft". 

Instead of trying to track the aicraft, this new feature pre-positions the SkyWatcher mount in such a way as to direct the camera to the point of closest approach.  The mount does not attempt to follow the movement of the aircraft, instead it waits at the optimum spot and then fires the camera to capture an image of the aircraft at its closest point.  Ten seconds before the closest approach, PP issues a series of bleeps at one second intervals.  You could use this to fire the camera by hand at the optimum point.  However, a second or two before the closest approach, PP raises the RTL signal on the serial RS232 port that is controlling the SkyWatcher, for a few seconds.  A simple interface using an opto-isolator can connect the serial port RTL line (pin 7 in a 9-way D-type serial connector) to the exposure release connection of the camera.  It is recommended that you set the camera to multishot mode, if it has one, so that a series of images are captured, which will accommodate the one second uncertainty in the time of the passage of the aircraft through the camera frame.  I just captured this; the aircraft was not very close.  www.coaa.pt/PP-auto-capture.gif

This release also adds a new OLE/COM function "GetSkyWatcherStatus", which allows an external script to monitor progress of this automated interecept process so that it can can automatically capture an image of every flight that passes within a specified range of the camera, using this new "Intercept" functionality.  I am still battering the spherical trigonometry into submission but when it is complete, I will publish a script that will automate such photography using this release of PlanePlotter.

I wonder if I am the only PP user with a SkyWatcher mount.

It is explicity prohibited to use this function for the control of hostile weaponry. :-)

Enjoy!
Bev
COAA

Tim