How do you Specify your Own Observing Location?

C2A contains by default a file of pre-defined observing locations (the Wap.loc file in the C2A installation directory). Instead of changing this file, you can create your own observing locations in a file named User.loc. This file can be found in the catalogues directory which, by default, is the C2A installation directory (this directory can be changed in the Paths tab of the options dialogue box). However, it is advised to copy and update this file in the folder "C:\Users\<user name>\My Documents\C2aw" (under Windows 7) which is the folder that contains the user files. By default, C2A will look for the User.loc file first in this folder, and if it is not found, it will look for it in the folder "C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Local\C2aw" (under Windows 7) and then in the installation folder (by default "C:\Program Files\C2A", or "C:\Program Files (x86)\C2A").

Each observation location is specified in a line corresponding to the following syntax:

<Place name>, <Country>, <Latitude>, <Longitude>, <Altitude>, <Offset UTC>[, <Shortcut number>]

Latitude is expressed in the form d°m's"X where X should be either N (latitude north) or S (latitude south). White spaces can be used instead of characters °, ' and ".

Longitude is expressed in the form d°m's"X where X should be either E (longitude east) or W (longitude west). White spaces can be used instead of characters °, ' and ".

Altitude is expressed in meters.

Offset UTC is the difference in hours between local winter time and Universal Coordinated Time (UTC). Universal Coordinated Time (UTC, which is a compromise between the English CUT, Coordinated Universal Time, and the French TUC, Temps Universel Coordonné) is a time standard adopted by many countries as the basis of international civil time.

The shortcut number is optional. If it is specified, it must be an integer between 1 and 9. No two entries in the file can have the same shortcut number. When running C2A, this number lets you quickly change between locations using the key sequence Ctrl+N where N is the shortcut number. Ctrl+0 lets you display a dialogue box listing the shortcuts defined in this file.

Here is an example of a User.loc file:

Sydney, Australia, 33°53'00"S, 151°12'00"E, 0, UTC+10, 4

or:

Sydney, Australia, 33 53 00 S, 151 12 00 E, 0, UTC+10, 4

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