Dish Protractor
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is the weight tied to the orange or the white saftey pin in the middle of the board ?
and that really cool you don't mind if I try that setup do you. i don't want to step on any patents LOL!!!!!!
and that really cool you don't mind if I try that setup do you. i don't want to step on any patents LOL!!!!!!
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OK, I am missing something. What assumption are you making and what does it tell you? Obviuosly you are reading some sort of offset.
You need to know the off-set angle of the dish and then do the math for the reading on the protractor. If you don't know the off-set you can use the "Satellite Antenna Alignment" program. You can download it free here:
SAT - Satellite Antenna Alignment (Satellite Dish Alignment)
With this program you enter in the width and height of your dish and it will calculate the off-set.
Bob
Gremlin411, don't forget to use the 3/4" conduit clamp on the top edge of the board, it slips over the top edge of the dish and holds the board in place while you adjust with elevation micro adjuster (shown in another thread) It's cheesy but it works.
Rvipop: Yes, my dish has a 24 degree offset so If my elevation is 42.2 degrees at true south then I subtract the 24 degree offset or 18.2 degrees is what I want to read on the protractor plumb bob. You can just make out that I extended the lines with a pencil down the board. But this really comes in handy when you are installing a h-h motor. It gets confusing with what you set the motor elevation to and what the dish elevation scale should read. This is a fast accurate check of your motor and dish and plumb settings. the dish should always read your true south elevation that was calcuated from your lat and lon. But this same device would work on a c-band dish also if you make the board a wee bit longer. Measurng off the back of the dish bracket just isn't accurate. There will be a slight differance due to dish design.
Rvipop: Yes, my dish has a 24 degree offset so If my elevation is 42.2 degrees at true south then I subtract the 24 degree offset or 18.2 degrees is what I want to read on the protractor plumb bob. You can just make out that I extended the lines with a pencil down the board. But this really comes in handy when you are installing a h-h motor. It gets confusing with what you set the motor elevation to and what the dish elevation scale should read. This is a fast accurate check of your motor and dish and plumb settings. the dish should always read your true south elevation that was calcuated from your lat and lon. But this same device would work on a c-band dish also if you make the board a wee bit longer. Measurng off the back of the dish bracket just isn't accurate. There will be a slight differance due to dish design.
Gremlin411, I forgot to answer your question. the orange pin is the pivot for the plumb bob which uses a Water Gremlin Dipsey Swivel Sinker (MADE IN AMERICA) I got at Wally World (Wal-Mart) Note that the protractor is parallel to the upper side of the 1x4x4 and that is pretty much parallel to the dish face.
For a c-band dish you need a longer board and the protractor is slide down the board to a position past the lower edge of the dish so you don't have to climb into the dish to view it.
For a c-band dish you need a longer board and the protractor is slide down the board to a position past the lower edge of the dish so you don't have to climb into the dish to view it.
Thanks for the information. I am having a little trouble ... I can get G25 with ease. The rest are not quite so easy.... Practice!
rv1POP,
I see you are into amature radio. Wa9tmh is my call sign. Be great if we had a Ham Page on this site! I have a TS 820 Kenwood.
I see you are into amature radio. Wa9tmh is my call sign. Be great if we had a Ham Page on this site! I have a TS 820 Kenwood.
Yes, if it was not for ham radio operators, there probably would not be FTA. I have an ICOM IC 730 for HF, RatShack HTX-252 and others for VHF and UHF. MFJ 259B for tune up antennas and checking Freqs.
Rvipop: Yes, my dish has a 24 degree offset so If my elevation is 42.2 degrees at true south then I subtract the 24 degree offset or 18.2 degrees is what I want to read on the protractor plumb bob.
Ok when youu say this does this mean even if I have a fix offset I need to take the offset degree and subtract it from my elevation to get the right alignment to the sat.
If so that is some must needed info for a newbie tester like myself
Ok when youu say this does this mean even if I have a fix offset I need to take the offset degree and subtract it from my elevation to get the right alignment to the sat.
If so that is some must needed info for a newbie tester like myself
WELL....
I have Channelmaster / Primestar dishes. The width is greater than the height. I can not seem to get this program to do anything for me. I did realize the mark for the Elevation was above the bolt instead of below it
, so now that seems to be working better. I had my AZ figured out almost perfectly, but could not get a signal. I went to the top of the bolt and got the signal just as soon as The mark lined up. A little lean to the east and every thing came in strong.BUT, I need to know the offset of the dish because one install I will need to do, the pole can not be aligned plumb.
THOUGHT: Do I just put the board up, read what I see and add/subtract from what I know is the elevation, or vise versa and use that? As in the case you listed I would read 18.2 subtract that from the elevation of 42.2 to and come up with an offset of 24, Then use that offset (24) in my future calculations? If this is the case, once we found a working satellite, anyone could figure the offset that would work every time!
POP
What I did was go to the manufacturers website (Winegard) and found that my dish has a 24 degree offset. Then I used a popular website and found my true south elevation. Then I subtracted that to get the reading on the protractor. Yes, you can work it backwords to find something close to your dish offset. However, in working it backwords you are adding in your out of plumb.
Don't be concerned about this true south stuff. My true south is -88.9 degrees but for install purposes throw that away and go for your true south satellite signal. mine is G28 at 89 degrees. when I line up the satellite and then put the board on the dish it will read 18.2 degrees with 24 degrees offset. When I move the dish to AMC3 it will still read the 18.2 degrees because there is so little change.
Don't be concerned about this true south stuff. My true south is -88.9 degrees but for install purposes throw that away and go for your true south satellite signal. mine is G28 at 89 degrees. when I line up the satellite and then put the board on the dish it will read 18.2 degrees with 24 degrees offset. When I move the dish to AMC3 it will still read the 18.2 degrees because there is so little change.
RV1pop;
Interesting I went to the andrew site to see if I could find the spec. for your dish. Over the years I've done tons of commercial business with them. There site is difficult to find info. I think it would be interesting to use the board on your true south satellite and determine your dish offset from that and then contact customer service at andrew and get the spec sheet for your Channel Master/ Andrew dish.
I'll go out on the limb here and generalize. The vertical plain of the dish is what you set the elevation to. An eliptical dish only widens the aperature east to west. Of course that is important if you want a wider scan of the arc like direct tv or dishnetwork. They all have high power transponders and can suffer the losses of an eliptical dish over multiple dishes. Mostly because of consumer desire for astetics and lower installation costs.
Interesting I went to the andrew site to see if I could find the spec. for your dish. Over the years I've done tons of commercial business with them. There site is difficult to find info. I think it would be interesting to use the board on your true south satellite and determine your dish offset from that and then contact customer service at andrew and get the spec sheet for your Channel Master/ Andrew dish.
I'll go out on the limb here and generalize. The vertical plain of the dish is what you set the elevation to. An eliptical dish only widens the aperature east to west. Of course that is important if you want a wider scan of the arc like direct tv or dishnetwork. They all have high power transponders and can suffer the losses of an eliptical dish over multiple dishes. Mostly because of consumer desire for astetics and lower installation costs.
You are correct, this program only works for elliptical dishes that are taller then they are wide. When we speak of "elliptical dishes" I fear we are using the term for an egg shaped dish with out thinking about horizontal or vertical. I believe this program is using vertical - with the thinking that both the LNBF and the satellite are viewing a circle. It does the math for the amount number of degrees you would need to tilt the dish away from the LNBF so that the dish appears to be a circle. That would then be the offset degrees number.WELL....
I have Channelmaster / Primestar dishes. The width is greater than the height. I can not seem to get this program to do anything for me. I did realize the mark for the Elevation was above the bolt instead of below it
BUT, I need to know the offset of the dish because one install I will need to do, the pole can not be aligned plumb.
THOUGHT: Do I just put the board up, read what I see and add/subtract from what I know is the elevation, or vise versa and use that? As in the case you listed I would read 18.2 subtract that from the elevation of 42.2 to and come up with an offset of 24, Then use that offset (24) in my future calculations? If this is the case, once we found a working satellite, anyone could figure the offset that would work every time!
POP
BTW I think the protractor measurement can only be relied upon when the dish is straight up and down. When the dish is skewed the protractor/plumb bob would not work.
Bob
Yes, If you have a dish with a skew setting such as dishnetwork then it will not work. This is really most useful to check a motorized setup where ther are many errors introduced by the mechanical alignment. It is only a cross check for the set up. If you are aiming the dish at you longitudanel matching satellite, due south then it can be accurate.
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