SimTX Guide
These guides explain how stations, satellites and rotators work in the SimTX desktop app, and how to use them. If you are new to SimTX, start with Getting Started.
Stations
A station is the place you transmit and receive from. It is a site on the ground with its own callsign, up to eight antennas and up to eight radios, saved to your SimTX account and usable on every server. Every transmission runs from one of your stations, and many transmit and receive sessions can share one station at the same time.
See SimTX Guide/Stations.
Satellites
A satellite is a station in orbit that you design and launch yourself. Its orbit, antennas, radios and attitude are fixed at launch. You can transmit from it, receive at it, follow it from the ground and, when you are done, deorbit it.
Rotators and tracking
An antenna on a rotator can be turned by hand or made to follow a satellite. It turns at a realistic speed, and its heading affects every band, not only satellite links. Tracking a satellite also corrects the Doppler shift of its signal.
See SimTX Guide/Rotators and tracking.
Where to find things
| Task | Where in the app |
|---|---|
| Create a ground station | Stations tab, Mine, New station |
| Edit or delete a station | Stations tab, select the station, Edit |
| Launch a satellite | Stations tab, Mine, Launch satellite |
| See when a satellite passes over you | Stations tab, select the satellite, Passes |
| Transmit from a station | Transmit tab, Station section, Transmit from |
| Receive at a station | Receive tab, Where you listen |
| Turn an antenna or follow a satellite | Station section of the Transmit or Receive tab, Rotator |
| Correct Doppler | Station section of the Transmit or Receive tab, Track a satellite |
See also
- Getting Started: install the app, sign in, create a station and make a first transmission.
- How to receive: listen with an SDR program.
- Antenna System: choose and tune an antenna.
- Propagation Basics: why a signal can or can't be heard.
- SimTX API: the reference for developers.