Motor Elevation: 33.53
Dish Elevation: 24.55
True Azimuth: 117.7
Magn. Azimuth: 104.83
Re Motor/Dish Elevation..... This is the conventional method, which will be off by ~0.6 deg at the extremes.
Re Dish Elevation... ALSO, you can't know this without knowing the bend in his motor shaft, which hasn't indicated, so in addition to subtracting the wrong declination, it's been subtracted from a number that could be 15 deg off, depending upon what motor he has.
Re Azimuth,..... I don't know what this azimuth is "to". Perhaps to one of the 2 sats mentioned, but if so, there isn't any way for this info to be used with a motorized system.
Mike,
Don't get confused with trying to compute your declination and using each member's unique calculation method. Review the motor installation guides that are available in the FTA FAQ area. The receiver models in the guides are different, but if you apply the principals of the outlined procedure, you will be successful! Simply set the motor latitude scale to match the latitude of your location then set the dish elevation angle using the chart provided with your motor. The chart provided in the motor's owners manual will be close enough for you to locate then peak the satellite arc of satellites.
Advice.... Use the USALS motor control method to install. Fixating on locating the satellite that is directly south of your location is so outdated and old school!!!! The true key to a successful install is to start with a PERFECTLY plumb, level and stable post.
While I agree that if you use the {incorrect} charts included with most motors, that you will be close enough to lock most sats, but as you mention, it is "close enough for you to locate then peak the satellite arc of satellites", which means that many people will be unhappy enough with the results to end up spending hours tweaking this and that, making things worse before better. I really think that it's better to start aiming at the correct values, because it will end up with less frustration in the long run.
Re the use of USALS, all things being perfect, I agree that USALS SHOULD make alignment much easier, however all things aren't perfect. USALS can only work at all if the motor's zero position is correct, and that isn't always the case. My motor was off be about 2 degrees right from the factory, and has a habit of getting off by as much as 12-15 deg at times. USALS will not work if the zero position is off. Also, as has been discussed in other threads in this forum, most receivers do not calculate USALS properly anyway, at least at high delta longitude values.
All things being perfect, and if USALS was working properly, you should be able to send the dish to any sat, then peak on that, and you'd be aligned, but I really believe that it is much preferable to manually go to your true south sat, because that is where the motor and dish elevation adjustments are most critical, and that is where the actual sat elevation varies the least from sat to sat, so if you use a true south sat, adjust your motor elevation via the modified declination method, and peak on a sat using dish elevation, then you will be MUCH closer to the proper motor/dish elevation, even if your motor's zero is off, and all you will need to do to tack the arc perfectly will be to tweak the motor's azimuth on the pole while on an extreme sat, an adjustment which works best if you can also tweak the motor east/west via diseqC-1.2 for best signal while peaking the azimuth. I use USALS to get close to sats, but use diseqC-1.2 after I've found it. I also try to use USALS for the initial true south sat, but I don't trust it... ie I check the motor's longitude on the scale at the motor shaft to make sure that USALS has sent it to the right place, which as often as not, is not the case.
Anyway, I agree that your advise will usually quickly get people operational, but I really think that your advise will also generally leave people in a situation where they'll end up spending hours tweaking things.
