NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Request for beta testers
From: Hewitt Schlereth
Date: 2013 May 12, 14:53 -0700
From: Hewitt Schlereth
Date: 2013 May 12, 14:53 -0700
Stan -
Sounds interesting. I'd like to try it.
Hewitt Schlereth
Sent from my iPad
Sent from my iPad
Attached is a description of a computer program called Celestial Tools. The program, at least part of it, has been incorporated into the United States Power Squadrons Navigation course since the 2009 edition of the course. It is a celestial navigation program and more.
Another sight reduction program, you say? Yes, but it is different. It is not just a "bottom line" program - that is, it does not just give intercept and azimuth. It is designed to be an educational tool, to help students find errors in their pencil and paper work: My sight reduction seems wrong. Did I make a mistake calculating LHA or Dec or Altitude? OK - it was LHA. Do I have the wrong value of the hourly GHA, or was it the v value or v correction? Maybe the problem was with the declination. Did I use the wrong sign of d? Celestial Tools Sight Reduction might not give exactly the same values as extracted from the printed Nautical Almanac, but it will be able to answer these questions.
There is an extensive Help - over 13 pages of fine print when printed out - but the program is quite user-friendly, so the Help rarely needs to be consulted. (Accuracy details are in Help>General>"Almanac" accuracy.)
Earlier versions of Celestial Tools took first place in the Canadian Power & Sail Squadrons Toronto 2004 Training Aids competition and third place in the United States Power Squadrons 2005 Electronic Teaching Aids competition.
I have recently made some significant changes to Celestial Tools, and have sent betas to about a dozen and a half people who have acted as beta testers in the past. Unfortunately, this time of year people are preparing their boats for launching, or have already launched them, so feedback is slow in coming. I am hoping to get a broader base of beta testers by offering this "opportunity" to members of this on-line community.
If any of you would be interested in running Celestial Tools around the block a few times, please let me know.
Stan
Attached File: 123999.celestialtoolswebinfo.doc (no preview available)