Augmented Reality Satellite Locator Apps

[SignalHill]

I have to relocate my C band dish as everything west of 99 degrees is obstructed by my house. I used the Dishpointer app on my old S3 for years until an upgrade made it unusable without an internet connection. Now that I have upgraded to a newer phone it will not work at all. Can someone recommend an app? I need something that works stand alone with the phones GPS without an internet connection.

 

[cyberham]

The free apps I have tried can be inaccurate but if used only as a general indication of where satellites are then they are useful. The one I use most is Satfinder Lite from droidwareuk. It's in the Google Store. Maybe the pay version would even be worth it at only $11.99.

I've been up Signal Hill several times. A very cool location.

 

[FTA4PA]

No apps here, just a compass and angle finder.

 

[cyberham]

No apps here, just a compass and angle finder.

With this method, and a temporary portable tripod, you can try a fixed dish to check for sure which satellites are receivable from a particular site. This is the way you can know for sure.

 

[SignalHill]

The free apps I have tried can be inaccurate but if used only as a general indication of where satellites are then they are useful. The one I use most is Satfinder Lite from droidwareuk. It's in the Google Store. Maybe the pay version would even be worth it at only $11.99.

I've been up Signal Hill several times. A very cool location.

When was and active amateur radio operator many years ago some of us would try to recreate Marconi's achievement on the exact date. Flying a kite up there is not easy due to the gusty winds, Never managed to keep a kite airborne for long enough to make a contact. In later years it would require permission from the local airport as Signal Hill is on an approach path to one of the runways. The local ham club has a station in Cabot Tower on Signal Hill if you want a QSl.

 

[jorgek]

When was and active amateur radio operator many years ago some of us would try to recreate Marconi's achievement on the exact date. Flying a kite up there is not easy due to the gusty winds, Never managed to keep a kite airborne for long enough to make a contact. In later years it would require permission from the local airport as Signal Hill is on an approach path to one of the runways. The local ham club has a station in Cabot Tower on Signal Hill if you want a QSl.

From the Marconi tower lookout, in the distance you can see Cape Spear, the most eastern point in Canada.

 

[cyberham]

...The local ham club has a station in Cabot Tower on Signal Hill if you want a QSl.

My former company, Icom Canada, provided the IC-7610 radio to the club.

 

[jorgek]

Is the mini castle on Signal Hill called Cabot? I've always referred to it as the Marconi Tower.

EDIT. OK I looked it up and Cabot is the correct name.

 

[jorgek]

No apps here, just a compass and angle finder.

With a KU band offset dish, where do you place the angle finder as well where do you place the compass so that it is not affected by the metal dish?

 

[Brct203]

With this method, and a temporary portable tripod, you can try a fixed dish to check for sure which satellites are receivable from a particular site. This is the way you can know for sure.

I agree... When I had to figure out a location for my C-band dish, I brought a small Ku dish there and determined the limits of what it could "see" by trial and error - with the understanding that those limits can vary with the seasons due to foliage.

Also, one can use a dish aimed at a specific satellite as a reference point for the app.

What I mean is that the apps are only as accurate as the phone compass, and in my experience the phone compasses are very suceptible to inteferences from anything metalic, from what I ate earlier that day and from horoscopes. So the apps give an accurate elevation information but the azimuth can be all over the place. So by having a dish aimed at a verified satellite, it can be used as a reference to validate that the app is giving correct azimuth information, or to show by how much the app is wrong.

another option is to use dishpointer on the computer to identify landmarks and geographical/landscape features that can help aim the dish (as in "from this vantage point I'll get 99 West if I aim the azimuth exactly at my neighbor's house chimney, or at that tall tree" )

 

[Brct203]

With a KU band offset dish, where do you place the angle finder as well where do you place the compass so that it is not affected by the metal dish?

for the elevation, what I find that works well is to aim at a fairly easy satellite by trial and error, and once fine-tuned, use the elevation as a reference point and extrapolate other satellite elevation from that one. This way it eliminate the problem of offset angles etc.

 

[cyberham]

With a KU band offset dish, where do you place the angle finder as well where do you place the compass so that it is not affected by the metal dish?

For azimuth, I stand behind the dish holding my smartphone with azimuth app running. I look down at the app and set the phone so its front edge is pointing at the correct azimuth. I then look up to sight where the dish should point. This is all just approximate since you're going to swing the dish either way anyway to find signal.

I use an angle finder app on my smartphone. I gently rest the edge of my smartphone on the front dish edge about midpoint on the dish to take a reading. This is all just approximate. Once you're in the ballpark for elevation, you just slowly lift and lower the dish to find a signal.