jAzEl is a free calculator for java enabled handheld devices that provides antenna aiming coordinates (Azimuth and Elevation), magnetic variation (declination) and estimated Polarisation skew based on the user's Lat/Lon location input. It is stand-alone, meaning it doesn't send/fetch information over the internet.


More:

It is compiled Java for mobile devices (Java ME, formerly known to as J2ME), and should work with any Java-enabled device that is CLDC1.1/MIDP2.0, or higher (nearly everything these days).  Check your phone specs Here, and scroll down to the J2ME section.

Computes magnetic declination based on WMM 2005 world magnetic model. In itself, a useful tool.

The bad:

I have no idea what it will look like an any given device..  even within
devices from the same manufacturer - it displays differently, depending on the
generation of Java it has. Maybe it will use the phone's theme for fonts and
colors, or maybe it won't. Maybe it will show adjacent screen items on the same line, or maybe not. It is very basic, and is currently designed to fit on the smallest displays, 128x160 (WxH). 

Standard "Round Earth" calculations. does not compensate for inclined-orbit
satellites, nor the fact that the earth is not a perfect sphere.

NOTE: JAzEl, In it's current state, does not support JSR-239 (i18n). Therefore, the program may have problems in locales that use a COMMA for a decimalpoint on the input textFields. This is only an issue if the device is JSR-239, such as Nokia N70 (S60 platform), and set for a locale that uses the "," as decimalpoint.


Installation:

New versions! Currently includes +165 countries. Europe and Asia locations have been verified. North and South America are not included yet, but I'm working on it. BEWARE that previous versions may crash if you exit the program while an entry field (lat/lon) is empty, and you will need to re-install it.

Please remember, this software is for CLDC1.1/MIDP2.0 devices. It is NOT for desktop Java - unless you have a mobile environment emulator, like sun's wtk2.x.x. It will run on some MIDP1.0 phones, but CLDC1.1 is a must.

Method one: Download the JAR file to your PC, then copy it to your mobile device by cable, bluetooth, memorycard, etc.. After it is transferred to the device, find the file with the file manager on the device, and select it. Your device will verify the JAR's integrity, then should ask if and where you want to install it. After installation, the program can be executed from wherever you chose to install it. Example: "Applications".

jazel11.jar - Latest, two satellites, output table (59.9k)

Install method two is OTA, or "Over The Air". For this, your device needs to have internet access, put the URL of the JAD file into your phone's web-browser. This can be either from a menu option of "go to", "go to url" or something similar - type in one of the following JAD links:

HTTP://www.nexred.com/pub/jazel01.jad (Old Version)
HTTP://www.nexred.com/pub/jazel11.jad

Your phone will download the tiny .JAD descriptor, show you the information, and request what you want to do next - depending on the browser/device. Options would be to install it, downoad it, or do nothing.


Credits:

jAzEl is free (for non-comercial use) to respect the copyrighted work of others, which has been adapted for a specific purpose. The sourcecode is also available upon request.

Nikolay Klimchuk for atan() and atan2() methods
Ed Williams for magnetic model and julian date Java methods


Development:

Currently working on adding the Americas to the "world" version's location database, and versions for blackberry and iPhone - not necessarily in that order.

If you are interested in the source code, or assisting in testing and development - please email me: jack[at]nexred.com.