Robert_W and Krisman,
Knowing that Krisman's longitude is 84.5 degrees west, his closest due south satellite should be 85.0W. Since 85.0W may not provide the best transponder and channel signals, another satellite may have to be used.
89.0W is obvously not going to be the best of choice as it is 4.5 degrees off from his true due south satellite. However, this is not as critical as you might think (for a quality receiver with a true and certified USALS program).
In basic strategy, if you were to set the dish elevation and motor latitude alignments precisely to the degrees recommended and you have entered the exact longitude and latitude coordinates of the installation site within the receiver's menus, then the only variable remaining would (theoretically) be the azimuth positioning of the entire assembly.
If you were to command the receiver to drive the motor to 89.0W, then the motor will move the dish assembly and properly compensate for the correct polarization of the LNBF and the elevation adjustment required to aim the dish at 89.0W... Still leaving azimuth positioning as the only remaining variable.
Therefore (theoretically) all that the person installing the dish would be required to do is pan the entire assembly between east and west near about the general azimuth location of satellite 89.0W and fix the azimuth on that satellites signal.
Therefore, it is not entirely necessary to use the true due south satellite, although it is highly recommended for the best and most expediant results.
In this specific case, I detect several rather obvious and distinct problems which interfere with this objective. The first is that the elevation scale on Krisman's dish is not laid out with fine resolution, so it will be more difficult to judge the accuracy of this angle. Secondly, I have a hard time believing that the USALS program of the Sonic View 360 receiver is any where near legitimate nor accurate.
Both of these items pose a major dilemna. I think Krisman could overcome, adapt and improvise for the dish elevation scale problem. But, from what Walrus and I observed of the USALS operation of the SV receiver, this is going to make the entire project a great headache for him. If the USALS positioning cannot be trusted, it is really going to screw the whole alignment setup.
With a Coolsat 4000, 5000 or 6000 receiver, this would all be possible with some extra attention and persistence. However, I could barely operate my own SV 360 with a dish and motor which are almost perfectly aligned already! So definitely there is going be a big problem trying to align a motorized dish from scratch using the SV receiver.
Obviously what really bugs me is the fact that the SV does not wear the official USALS logo or seal of approval.
I hope that my conclusions are not erroneous and derived from one faulty receiver. I only have tested one SV receiver that was sent to me from the manufacturer/distributor to test. I cannot imagine that they would allow a faulty receiver to be sent to a beta tester. I had to reply to them with my honest evaluation, which is the same as I state here.
If they took my evaluation seriously, maybe they have made corrections and improvements since, I cannot say. They never did respond back.
AcWxRadar