Motorized dish

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robsadler

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Aug 10, 2004
41
0
Charleston, WV
Does a motorized dish move the elevation and the skew of the dish. I know it moves the azimuth but does it also do the elevation and skew?

Sorry a newbie here.
 
Yes, the dish is mounted on a shaft that is parallel to the earth's axis. When the dish rotates around that axis to follow the path of the satellites (know as the Clarke belt) it tilts (skew) and lowers as it approaches either horizon. It is straight up and at it's highest point when it is aimed at a satellite that is over your latitude. This satellite would be your true south (TS) bird.
Bob
 
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This is probably one of the best sites. Just keep asking questions - It is how we all learned.

If you think about a dish that is skewed - aiming at satellite near the horizon.

And you were at that satellite, the dish would look straight but the curvature of the earth would make the earth look as if it was running at an angle to the dish.

So it is all in your point of reference as to whether the dish is skewed OR the ground is skewed!
Bob
 
Read the FAQs in the FTA section of the forum. Basically, think about it like this - the dish has to stare directly at the equator. The equator is round, just like the earth is, so the dish needs to move in an arc to see the equator just like you have to turn your head to follow the horizon, except the dish isn't looking at the horizon... it's looking above it, at where the satellites are all hovering in the sky in a line called the clarke belt. To really understand how motors work, do some searches for poor man's htoh or poor man's horizon to horizon - that's a manual setup without a dish, where you make the dish sit on a pole that's directly at the angle that matches what a motor would be, and then since the pole is aligned to see the arc, you can tune in the dishes just moving the dish left and right on the pole as skew and elevation are accounted for if it's lined up right...
 
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