SimpleScanner

Summary:This is a simplistic script to automatically record satellite contact locations, and call them with two button presses. Recommended use is to leave it alone for a while and do something else, and come back every now and then to see if it found anyone worthwhile. Setup: Set d0 to your satellite dish. Set d1 to a 3-position dial. This is your mode control. Set d2 to a ​pushbutton. This is your recall button. Optional setup: Set d3, d4 and d5 to LED displays. (You really want d3, the system won't crash but you won't know how many contacts you found.) Turn your dial to mode 2. Mode control: Mode -1 is booting up. It is not part of normal operation, and should show only after exporting code to the IC. Mode 0 is standby. Satellite dish will shut off. It will reactivate upon switching to a different mode. Mode 1 is call mode. The satellite dish will point to traders previously located when you push your recall button. Mode 2 is scan mode. The system will search for traders and attempt to pin their locations. Displays: LED 1 shows the current number of contacts. LED 2 shows the current mode. LED 3 shows position in scan/call mode, or timer in standby mode. The socket shows current function, for troubleshooting. Bugs and other quirks: The IC can't distinguish between traders and infosats. I have no control over this. You'll just have to hope it finds more traders than sats. The IC won't find every contact. In fact, it won't find most of them. This is for two reasons: The satellite dish only reports the highest-strength contact, so contacts near the default vertical setting tend to eclipse others. You'll get between 3 to 6 per pass. The precision on signal strength is really pretty bad. As a result, the IC can't find contacts far away from default vertical setting without a lot of luck. A better algorithm could fix this, but in the meantime ask the devs for 3- or 4-digit precision on satellite signal strength. Frequently, in call mode you will not find a signal. This