Radio pass details
get_radio_passRadio details for one pass of a satellite over a location: its known downlink (and uplink) frequencies, the Doppler swing, when to tune to what frequency (at 10 and 30 degrees up and closest approach), and a table (at most 40 evenly spaced rows) of time, azimuth, elevation, range and receive frequency for pointing an antenna and tuning a radio. Uses the next pass above minElevation, or the one peaking nearest time (past or future, within 30 days of the orbital elements' epoch). A satellite that never sets here (geosynchronous) gets the next 24 hours instead. Give frequencyMHz to use a frequency other than the default downlink; the default is the most recently heard downlink when SatNOGS heard one, else the catalog's. Downlinks carry reception from SatNOGS Network observations when known: { state (heard, silent: stations tried and heard nothing, or unknown: no observations, never a sign it is dead), heardLast48h, heardLast7d, heardLast30d, failedLast30d, lastHeard }, listed most recently heard first; receptionSource names the source (CC BY-SA 4.0). Predictions from published elements: the transmitter's own frequency offset is unknown, so the curve's shape is what to compare.
Tool call template
Replace each placeholder with a value matching the input schema. Only required parameters are included; add optional parameters as needed.
{
"id": 1,
"jsonrpc": "2.0",
"method": "tools/call",
"params": {
"arguments": {
"satellite": "<satellite>"
},
"name": "get_radio_pass"
}
}Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| lat | No | observer latitude in decimal degrees, north positive (-90 to 90). Give it with lon, or give location instead. | |
| lon | No | observer longitude in decimal degrees, east positive and west negative (-180 to 180). | |
| time | No | a time near the wanted pass's peak (e.g. from find_passes), past or future. Default: the next pass. ISO 8601 with Z or an offset, e.g. "2026-11-14T21:00:00-06:00"; a time with no offset, e.g. "2026-11-14T21:00", is read in the observer's time zone, and the result echoes how it was read (interpretedAs). A local time the clocks skip at a daylight-saving change is moved forward, with a note. | |
| minElev | No | old name for minElevation; still accepted. | |
| location | No | where the observer is, when lat and lon are not given (they win when both are): a Maidenhead grid square (EN52, EN52ve, EN52ve12), coordinates in any common form ("41.88, -87.63", "41.88N 87.63W", "41°52'48"N 87°37'48"W", a Google Maps link or geo: URI), all read locally, or a place name (city, address, landmark) looked up with OpenStreetMap. Prefer lat and lon, or a grid square, when you have them: a place name is a network lookup. | |
| passTime | No | old name for time; still accepted. | |
| satellite | Yes | NORAD catalog number (as a number or a string) or a name, e.g. 25544, "25544" or "iss". e.g. "so-50" or 27607. | |
| windowHours | No | how far ahead to look, in hours, up to 240 (10 days). Default 48. How far past the start to look for a pass. | |
| frequencyMHz | No | the downlink to compute Doppler for, in MHz. Default: the satellite's default known downlink. | |
| minElevation | No | lowest elevation that counts: a pass must climb above it, and rise and set are when it crosses it, in degrees above the horizon (0 to 90). Default 10. | |
| minElevationDeg | No | old name for minElevation; still accepted. |