I just jumped into FTA. Digiwave (HD-9003PVR)
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Hi:
Thanks you for your assistance.
At my location, for G19, it says that the dish should be angled up about 35 degrees. So I took my compass, that has an inclinometer, and measured 55 to 60 degrees (35 + 20 or 25). At the 215 degree position from mag north, where G19 should be, the incline was right about at the top of the tree. So I was wondering if that could work to get the stronger transponders. Probably the only way to know is to try it and see. Also even though 125W is low on the horizon there is an opening in the treeline in that direction.
Right now i'm still trying to find a way to run a line for the coax to the outside and also how and where i'm gonna put the dish. This part will definitely take a bit of time.
Thanks, I just looked at that. I'll have to print it out for reference. Yes the receiver is DVB-S2. As for finding a solution for the trees, that's easier said than done.
I just want to thank everyone for their assistance. All help is appreciated. Right now I just gotta get coax line to the outside and then mount the dish. I will keep you updated.
Thanks
Thanks
If you can find where the Telco and cable tv enter the house, you may be able to fit the RG6 coax through one of those holes. I have run my coax through the hole for the air conditioning. You should have no problem running 100 feet of coax without any significant lose of signal. I would recommend mounting the dish where you can easily get to it if you plan on trying other sats. Mine are on the south side wall of the house and I can reach them with a 6 foot ladder. Drilling into the brick was time consuming to mount the anchors for the base plate as well with the 36" dish you will need the additional mast support arms.
Don't forget the coax grounding blocks at the point where the coax enters the house and a ground wire from the mast to a ground as well.
Running the coax inside the was another matter. From the basement I ran RG6 up along side heating ducts to the 2nd floor to the sat box. It took quite a bit of time but it is very tidy. From dish to sat box is about 85 feet of coax.
Careful planning now will pay of in the long run.
Don't forget the coax grounding blocks at the point where the coax enters the house and a ground wire from the mast to a ground as well.
Running the coax inside the was another matter. From the basement I ran RG6 up along side heating ducts to the 2nd floor to the sat box. It took quite a bit of time but it is very tidy. From dish to sat box is about 85 feet of coax.
Careful planning now will pay of in the long run.
The satellite is at 35 degrees elevation for your location. Don't add 20 or 25 degrees. I believe you are confusing the dish offset angle with the actual satellite elevation. No need to calculate for the dish offset when performing a site survey for the dish location.
Satellite signals do not pass through objects. If the tree is blocking the satellite, it is highly unlikely that any signal would be received. Make sure both the compass reading and the elevation angle of the selected satellite is completely clear with no trees, branches or structures.
Until you are receiving programming, I would be too concerned about running the coax. A small TV and the receiver next to the dish is all that is needed at this point. No need to put the cart in front of the horse.
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If your mast is level and plumb the elevation markings on the dish are generally a good place to start to adjust the dish.
Thank you for your assistance.
There are trees all around the house. There is also a factory directly behind the house, maybe 150 ft or so, to the south. There is an opening to a field to the west. That is about 30 ft from the house where I think I have a better chance for G19. I was thinking of getting a skid and putting one of those tripod mounts on it. Then load it down with rocks so the wind won't blow the dish over. This would be temporary just to play around with for now and learn with.
Thanks
The satellite is at 35 degrees elevation for your location. Don't add 20 or 25 degrees. I believe you are confusing the dish offset angle with the actual satellite elevation. No need to calculate for the dish offset when performing a site survey for the dish location.Satellite signals do not pass through objects. If the tree is blocking the satellite, it is highly unlikely that any signal would be received. Make sure both the compass reading and the elevation angle of the selected satellite is completely clear with no trees, branches or structures.Until you are receiving programming, I would be too concerned about running the coax. A small TV and the receiver next to the dish is all that is needed at this point. No need to put the cart in front of the horse.
Thank you for your assistance.
The elevation angle of 35 degrees for the dish is what was generated by the Dishpointer.com analysis for my location. A few posts back, JorgeK indicated that whatever angle the dish is pointed at that the satellite is actually 20-25 degress above that.
From what your saying I should just use the elevation angle and make sure that wherever it's pointed has no obstructions. So I went out there with the compass and found a spot about 30 ft from the house. As detailed in my last post, I think i'm gonna go the skid/tripod mount for now.
Thanks
That's what the dishes mount elevation scale should be set to. You'll probably notice that the dish face isn't 'that high'. And you'd be right. It's actually the 'offset' difference of the dishes face and where it's 'looking'.
Dishpointer also has an 'obstruction tool'. Click the box to enable it. Place the red marker along the satellite path on the obstruction and it will output the minimum height that will block the satellite from the dish.
Maybe that factory is far enough away to offer Line Of Sight (LOS) to some satellites?
Hi, MrPeter,
You can find out if you have Line Of Sight to satellite 97 W (Galaxy 19) by observing the Moon on July 14, at 7.30 PM. The Moon will be then almost exactly in the arc where the 97 W is. You can also choose proper place to locate and fasten your dish. I am also in Toronto, although in its Eastern part. For my place, the altitude for 97 W is 36.4 degree and the azimuth is 205 degree (25 degree West from due South). If this satellite is not on the list in your receiver, you have to add it as "New Satellite". After this, you just "ask" your receiver to blind scan this new satellite. Unfortunately, all depends on the weather, but it seems it will be OK. The face of the Moon will be visible only 38 %. For satellite 101 W (The Pentagon Channel) the Moon will show it at 7.49 PM. Cheers, polgyver
You can find out if you have Line Of Sight to satellite 97 W (Galaxy 19) by observing the Moon on July 14, at 7.30 PM. The Moon will be then almost exactly in the arc where the 97 W is. You can also choose proper place to locate and fasten your dish. I am also in Toronto, although in its Eastern part. For my place, the altitude for 97 W is 36.4 degree and the azimuth is 205 degree (25 degree West from due South). If this satellite is not on the list in your receiver, you have to add it as "New Satellite". After this, you just "ask" your receiver to blind scan this new satellite. Unfortunately, all depends on the weather, but it seems it will be OK. The face of the Moon will be visible only 38 %. For satellite 101 W (The Pentagon Channel) the Moon will show it at 7.49 PM. Cheers, polgyver
FaT Air, thank you for your assistance and sorry for replying somewhat later than I should have. However some things got in the way and I kind of let it slip a bit. But I am making some progress, just a bit slower than I would have hoped. Also I didn't want to post until I had some concrete results. Right now they are not as concrete as I would have liked. Your advice on the obstruction tool was very helpful. From your post
I noticed that. Even though I haven't attached the dish and the mount elevation scale yet, I took the mount elevation scale and adjusted for 36.5 degrees. I could see that the dish would be elevated at an angle quite a bit less than 36.5 degrees.
I used that to check for the G19-97W sat and I think I have a chance at that one. According to Dishpointer, using the obstruction tool, the trees are 35m away and the max height would be 26m. I did a crude estimation of their height. I used the inclinometer on my compass and used the distance from Dishpointer.com. I calculated a height of 17m. So that should work. This location, next to an apple tree, would give me from 97W to 125w. It is about 30ft away from the house and away from the factory.
As for the factory, the distance is about 300ft between the house and factory, with a bunch of trees in between. At about 150ft is the treeline and from there the max height for the factory using the dishpointer obstruction tool is 45m or 135ft. That is doable as the height of the factory is about 36-40ft. This would give me 101w to 30w. Going further west from the 101w limit there is a large stand of trees all the way for the rest of the arc that acts as a block. I tried to see if I could get G19-97W, from the house wall, through an opening but that doesn't look possible.
The thing is that I don't want to go all the way back there at this time at least. Just too much cable to run. I originally wanted to use a tripod on a skid. However I couldn't find a tripod. I checked a few places around here. However I got the idea to use a 5 gallon bucket with a 6.5ft pole I found. I stuck 2 bricks in the bottom of the bucket and stuck the pole between the two and used a smaller piece of brick to brace the pole from behind. Then used gravel fill upto 3/4 of the way. Redid the brick bracing again near the top. This should give decent stability. However the dish is quite large and this would need bracing 1/2 way up the pole or so because it would probably fall over from the wind. So I was out there by the apple tree wondering how i'm gonna brace this when I thought why not just tack the S-pole that came with the dish to the tree. I would have to do some serious pruning of the overhang. It would be somewhat awkward but might work. Not sure yet. I also found where I am going to run the coax into the house. It's going to be tricky but I have a hole already made for it. Just have to fish it through a portion of closed ceiling.
So that's where I am right now. I'm getting there but it's going a bit slower than I would have liked.
Thanks once again for your assistance.
I will keep the thread updated.
I noticed that. Even though I haven't attached the dish and the mount elevation scale yet, I took the mount elevation scale and adjusted for 36.5 degrees. I could see that the dish would be elevated at an angle quite a bit less than 36.5 degrees.
I used that to check for the G19-97W sat and I think I have a chance at that one. According to Dishpointer, using the obstruction tool, the trees are 35m away and the max height would be 26m. I did a crude estimation of their height. I used the inclinometer on my compass and used the distance from Dishpointer.com. I calculated a height of 17m. So that should work. This location, next to an apple tree, would give me from 97W to 125w. It is about 30ft away from the house and away from the factory.
As for the factory, the distance is about 300ft between the house and factory, with a bunch of trees in between. At about 150ft is the treeline and from there the max height for the factory using the dishpointer obstruction tool is 45m or 135ft. That is doable as the height of the factory is about 36-40ft. This would give me 101w to 30w. Going further west from the 101w limit there is a large stand of trees all the way for the rest of the arc that acts as a block. I tried to see if I could get G19-97W, from the house wall, through an opening but that doesn't look possible.
The thing is that I don't want to go all the way back there at this time at least. Just too much cable to run. I originally wanted to use a tripod on a skid. However I couldn't find a tripod. I checked a few places around here. However I got the idea to use a 5 gallon bucket with a 6.5ft pole I found. I stuck 2 bricks in the bottom of the bucket and stuck the pole between the two and used a smaller piece of brick to brace the pole from behind. Then used gravel fill upto 3/4 of the way. Redid the brick bracing again near the top. This should give decent stability. However the dish is quite large and this would need bracing 1/2 way up the pole or so because it would probably fall over from the wind. So I was out there by the apple tree wondering how i'm gonna brace this when I thought why not just tack the S-pole that came with the dish to the tree. I would have to do some serious pruning of the overhang. It would be somewhat awkward but might work. Not sure yet. I also found where I am going to run the coax into the house. It's going to be tricky but I have a hole already made for it. Just have to fish it through a portion of closed ceiling.
So that's where I am right now. I'm getting there but it's going a bit slower than I would have liked.
Thanks once again for your assistance.
I will keep the thread updated.
Thank you polgyver for this tip. I will definitely check this out. I assume that the arc will be right at the center of the moon. Is that correct?
Just barely stable enough to test with
5 gallon plastic buckets have too small a bottom for something like a 36" dish.
Modest breeze will tip it over
And especially not for use with a motor.
I have built some and tried 'em.
Mine are filled with concrete.
They work fine for the smaller DBS dishes.
I suppose you could dig down about one foot and drop the bucket in the hole to stabilize it, but that kinda defeats the purpose.
What has worked for members is a plastic tub which is larger in diameter.
.
5 gallon plastic buckets have too small a bottom for something like a 36" dish.
Modest breeze will tip it over
And especially not for use with a motor.
I have built some and tried 'em.
Mine are filled with concrete.
They work fine for the smaller DBS dishes.
I suppose you could dig down about one foot and drop the bucket in the hole to stabilize it, but that kinda defeats the purpose.
What has worked for members is a plastic tub which is larger in diameter.
.
Here's a calculator to find the Moon at any time from any location: http://www.dailymoonposition.com/default.aspx
5 gallon plastic buckets have too small a bottom for something like a 36" dish.
Modest breeze will tip it over
And especially not for use with a motor.
I have built some and tried 'em.
Mine are filled with concrete.
They work fine for the smaller DBS dishes.
I suppose you could dig down about one foot and drop the bucket in the hole to stabilize it, but that kinda defeats the purpose.
What has worked for members is a plastic tub which is larger in diameter.
.
Hi:
Thanks for the tip. Yeah, I don't trust the pail to be stable enough on its own. It is a big dish and I could easily see it falling over. That's why I was trying to figure out how I could brace it to something. I'm still working on that. I'll have to see if I can devise something that I am satisfied with .The plastic tub is a good idea. However right now I can't use it as I've never poured concrete. That would be a longer term solution. though. We'll have to see.
Once again thanks for your assistance.
I've seen some members brace a bucket & pole to the railing on their deck.
Just a thought.
Im not crazy for concrete, but you buy a few 60-80 lb bags of readi-mix and stir it up with some water right in the bucket/pail/tub of choice.
It's cheap; you follow instructions on the bag; works first time.
Keep the pipe short.
Maybe this isn't best for you.
Might want to consider alternatives.
What about a small pallet?
Just bolt the foot and leg of the dish mount to it.
If there are extra braces for the pole (leg), attach them to the pallet.
Drop a few cinder blocks on your pallet to hold it in place.
Sorry if this has been mentioned - too many similar threads.
.
Just a thought.
Im not crazy for concrete, but you buy a few 60-80 lb bags of readi-mix and stir it up with some water right in the bucket/pail/tub of choice.
It's cheap; you follow instructions on the bag; works first time.
Keep the pipe short.
Maybe this isn't best for you.
Might want to consider alternatives.
What about a small pallet?
Just bolt the foot and leg of the dish mount to it.
If there are extra braces for the pole (leg), attach them to the pallet.
Drop a few cinder blocks on your pallet to hold it in place.
Sorry if this has been mentioned - too many similar threads.
.
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