Handy Dandy Compass Extender

[spongella]

After using those tiny liquid compasses to get an idea of which way South is, came up with this handy dandy compass pointer.

Take an old fence post picket. Make sure one end is cut to a point. Draw a line through the middle of the picket, longways. Take a compass and glue it to the picket so that the compass needle is pointing South and in line with the line you have drawn on the wooden picket. Now you have a nice long reference pointer. See the pic.

You can make it as long as you want, mine's about 2 feet long. I aim it South and lay it on the ground in front of the dish to give an idea of where magnetic South is.

Sponge

 

[Lone Gunman]

On my BIG dishes I used a lensatic compass to help find due south by shooting an azmuth across the edge to edge face of the dish while looking for either 90* or 270* reading on the compass. Done all the ones I have setup that way and you can get pretty close by doing that. Here's a link to one like the one I use.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Lensati...067?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item46272c3033

 

[radio]

I'm simplistic, I guess...I used to get very close by throwing a broom or similar on the ground in the "extended" direction of what I needed from the compass in my hand for dish installs. Friends laughed that helped me install my dishes on my property, but they were amazed at how quickly we got the job done. I guess it is a bit "silly." I DO like the idea posted here, however!!!

 

[waylew]

My first dish I used a 2x4 and lined it up with a compass,now I just start with a good guess and go from there

 

[Magic Static]

Fortunately for me the city streets are lined up with the points on the compass. And so the houses are too. takes all the guess work out of it.

 

[Dee_Ann]

I have a 10 foot long cedar stick that's like 1" x 2" an very light. I use some of those squeezy clamps to attach the stick to the polar mounts of my BUD then I lay a compass that has a straight edge on one side (it folds up and says US ARMY on it) this lets me point the dish (or any dish) to precisely where it needs to be and holds the compass far enough away from the metal in the dish that I get a true reading. I did this many times at my old house with troublesome dishes and it really made a big difference.

 

[migold]

Since I live in the mountains where the magnetic deviation varies wildly, I avoid using a compass. I used the 'dishpointer.com' map to get a line from my dish pointing in the direction of the satellite. I find a feature on the far side of the yard, usually a tree, that is on that line. Then I aim the dish at that feature to set my azimuth. My true south is 0.1 deg off of AMC2, which, for my Ku dish, is to the left of my propane tank and across the right edge of my 8 ft dish on the far side of the yard. It really makes a quick and accurate setup for me.

 

[jorgek]

I used a felt marker on the patio stone beneath the dish pointing at true south as per Dishpointer. After a while you get good at finding sats without the compass.

 

[N6BY]

I have a really good compass. (Purchased and well used during my 7 years in Placer County Search and Rescue). What I do is set the compass at 180 (true south) and look through the compass site and pick out a distant landmark (like a tree). Then I just aim the dish at the landmark.

For elevation setting on KU offset dishes I magnetically attach a Craftsman Digital Level to the LNB arm. The difference between the dish aim and the digital level reading on the LNB ARM is constant, so I just add the difference to the digital readout and get the true elevation.

Here is the level I use: http://www.searsoutlet.com/10-in-Digital-LaserTrac-Level/d/product_details.jsp?pid=19264&mode=seeAll

 

[Dee_Ann]

What I really need is a talking compass that calls out the degrees every time it moves. Then I could clamp it to a long wooden stick, clamp that to the dish mounts (or TV antenna) and listen to it as I move the antenna.
That would be insanely useful to me..

 

[spongella]

These are all great ideas guys.

Sponge