Postscript Output

The user may get hardcopy output in Postscript format from ground This Postscript output will contain all the information normally appearing on the screen, plus additional information. The final filesize will differ depending on the length of the ground track desired. The ground output file will be at least 400K in length and takes approx. 10 mins on a Hewlett Packard Laserjet 3 printer to print out. Since we do not implement color postscript output, the differing colors of the ground tracks are instead represented by differing line textures and densities. A description of how to use this facility is give below.

The `F10' key activates the Postscript printing/hardcopy mode. Once the key is depressed ground will stay in Postscript mode until it is depressed again. The kind of plot produced depends on the subsequent actions taken. The user is asked for a filename with a default filename provided in square brackets "[grplot1.ps]". If the name chosen by the user corresponds to an already existing file, ground queries the user about whether or not to overwrite the already existing file. If the file is not to be overwritten, a file extension number will be added automatically to the file name, starting with `1'. If the user chooses to create a second plot, the F10 key must be toggled off and then on again. If this is not done, ground will automatically overwrite the contents of the file previously created. It is possible to increment the filename up to 99, which is the maximum increment possible under DOS filename rule. The number incrementing feature applies only to the default filenames and will not work with user specified filenames.

If Postscript mode is selected, bf ground will still create a screen plot of the ground tracks, but will create the Postscript output immediately after the screen plot has finished. If the user hits the Escape key while ground is running in Postscript mode, the program will stop immediately and place the program into the initial start mode again. Under normal operation, ground will first draw the world map, created by reading in the longitude and latitude coordinates from the file binps.map. Ground then plots the station locations, followed by the ground tracks themselves. The plot will use all currently specified parameters and cannot be programmed to produce plots which differ from the screen plot. This is meant to help ensure that the user doesn't waste time previewing or printing plots that are not needed.

See Figure on p. for a Postscript plot of RADIOASTRON ground coverage.

See Figure on p. for a Postscript plot of VSOP ground coverage.