I was having trouble with trees blocking my LOS so did some hunting around on the Internet and found plans for a paper inclinometer here:
Math Explorer: How High? Making Your Inclinometers
I wanted something a little more durable than paper so made one out of wood, plus a plastic drinking straw for sighting. I made mine out of a scrap of pine, cutting a groove on the top edge to glue the straw into. For the protractor, I printed out the one included with the link above, cut it out, and glued it to the side of the block of wood. What you do is sight through the straw to the top of the tree or other obstacle, allowing the weight to swing freely, clamp the string against the protractor with your finger, then read the angle. If the angle of the obstacle is lower than the elevation of the satellite you're trying to get in that direction, you have LOS. You use this in conjuction with a compass to see which direction to look for obstacles. I had two straws to choose from; I used the Dunkin Donuts one because it was the thinner than the Wendy's straw. For the weight I used a washer but you could use just about anything to weight down the string. In the best FTA tradition I used only materials on hand so out of pocket cost was zero. If you're a professional installer you probably want to spring for the $150 model so that people won't look at you funny but we hobbyists can get away with this sort of thing. Using this I was finally able to find a spot where I could see G10.
Math Explorer: How High? Making Your Inclinometers
I wanted something a little more durable than paper so made one out of wood, plus a plastic drinking straw for sighting. I made mine out of a scrap of pine, cutting a groove on the top edge to glue the straw into. For the protractor, I printed out the one included with the link above, cut it out, and glued it to the side of the block of wood. What you do is sight through the straw to the top of the tree or other obstacle, allowing the weight to swing freely, clamp the string against the protractor with your finger, then read the angle. If the angle of the obstacle is lower than the elevation of the satellite you're trying to get in that direction, you have LOS. You use this in conjuction with a compass to see which direction to look for obstacles. I had two straws to choose from; I used the Dunkin Donuts one because it was the thinner than the Wendy's straw. For the weight I used a washer but you could use just about anything to weight down the string. In the best FTA tradition I used only materials on hand so out of pocket cost was zero. If you're a professional installer you probably want to spring for the $150 model so that people won't look at you funny but we hobbyists can get away with this sort of thing. Using this I was finally able to find a spot where I could see G10.
