OTHER Need help finding my dish angles

kdjuan

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Mar 5, 2006
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Hi guys, i have pulled my hair out trying to get my offset kuband set up on the arc. I need some help with figuring my elevation angle and declination angle. My zip code is 42240. I get a latitude and longitude as 36.8656N 87.4886W. Iam trying to set up a 1.2meter dish with a superjack positioner. NOT a H to H. so what should my elevation and declination be. whats the best way to figure it up.
Thanks.
 
Hi guys, i have pulled my hair out trying to get my offset kuband set up on the arc. I need some help with figuring my elevation angle and declination angle. My zip code is 42240. I get a latitude and longitude as 36.8656N 87.4886W. Iam trying to set up a 1.2meter dish with a superjack positioner. NOT a H to H. so what should my elevation and declination be. whats the best way to figure it up.
Thanks.
 
I have been told to intere my zip and click on motorized. It gives me an elevation of like 30 degrees is that correct.

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In order to calculate your angles you need to know the offset angle of your dish. What brand is it? Most ku dishes have an offset about 25°. This angle is added to the declination angle, say about 5° for a total of about 30°. So a line across the face of the dish will be 30° less than the axis angle the dish rotates on. The axis is perpendicular to the elevation angle. So post some pictures front and back of your dish and mount so we know what you are working with. Here is a thread explaining some details of setting up a 1.2m on a old C-Band mount. ? offset angle Primestar 1.2m
 
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Here are some pictures.
20200522_181722.jpeg
20200522_181712.jpeg


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Yikes! A Tek2000 :( This an odd duck for sure. And they don't supply all the specs of the dish either. More hair pulling in your future me thinks. ;)
 
So make sure pole is plumb. Set the elevation per Dish pointer where I marked. Now move the dish through your declination adjustment looking for best signal quality.
 

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BTW There is a parallelthread running at rick's.

So there is some double work being done, by members in both forums.

I believe there is a nettiquette-rule, that if you run parallel threads (when there really is a need for that?), that you mention this in your threads.
So that members don't spend much effort writing what was already written, or what has already proven irrelevant, or done.
This is a pity. :-(


greetz,
A33
 
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BTW There is a parallelthread running at rick's.

So there is some double work being done, by members in both forums.

I believe there is a nettiquette-rule, that if you run parallel threads (when there really is a need for that?), that you mention this in your threads.
So that members don't spend much effort writing what was already written, or what has already proven irrelevant, or done.
This is a pity. :-(


greetz,
A33
All due respect, I don't understand why no one knows the offset angle on this dish. He's just needing some help getting his dish on point. It's atrocious that someone can spend hundreds of dollars in good equipment and not be given any instructions.
 
Need installation support? Call or email the seller's tech support department. What has been the seller's response to the setting angle and offset angle questions?

Why has the product been sold without install instructions or posted specifications? Obviously none of us have purchased or installed this dish, or we would have provided the answers.

BTW... Quite a bit of rust for a new dish.
All due respect, I don't understand why no one knows the offset angle on this dish. He's just needing some help getting his dish on point. It's atrocious that someone can spend hundreds of dollars in good equipment and not be given any instructions.
 
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arlo :

Edit: I first wrote something here about this method (taken from satsig.net I presume).
I erased it, as I cannot confirm my first thoughts about it.

I'm not sure, if that test from satsig.net should be done at the center of the dish, or at the deepest point.
However, I think it is a very difficult test for something that can much easier be calculated, from simple measurements. So I don't know if I will ever analyze that method properly...

The rest of my post is still unedited:



At Rick's forum I calculated the offset angle for kdjuan (based on his own measurements).

Easiest formula is: cos offset = width / height (when it is in fact a flatfaced paraboloid offset dish) .

When you know the exact location of the focal point, you can also calculate the offset angle from the triangle focal point - top of dish - bottom of dish.
The website of MacFarlane/JavaJive has that, IIRC

For a non-flat dishface dish, the equation for the offset angle is somewhat more complicated. I recently derived a formula for that, not needing the 'water method'. :)

When you like formulas and so of offset dishes, see the very good article by John Legon.

greetz,
A33
 
I'm not sure, if that test from satsig.net should be done at the center of the dish, or at the deepest point.

I just read the instructions carefully, to try to understand what they are doing.

With this method, they are quasi sending a beam back in satellite-direction, instead of the other way round.
That way, you'll find the boresight direction for this dish (you mark that on the piece of paper), which has obviously an angle to the dish's face of exactly the offset angle.
Then, with marking the needed elevation angle for a certain satellite to that line, plus an angle of 90 degrees, you get the line angle which you have to make exactly plumb in your dish setup.

A fun method, to do it. How practical it is, I'll leave to your assessment.


Now that I checked what the method is about, I can say: it isn't necessary to place the mirror at the center, you can place the mirror at any height of the dish, as all reflections from the dish will go in boresight direction. Don't know why they don't mention this.


I'd prefer simple measuring tape, a calculator (or cosine table), and an inclinometer, for a task like this.
And that's not, just because I don't have a laser pointer. ;);)

Greetz,
A33
 
hell. i was just scanning for info on the tek dish for you too. didn't even have my coffee yet.
yeah. we can go all einstein on it. but it's a tek dish. good luck on that.
i saw a digital inclinometer in the pic. saw a rogue actuator there too.
figured there might just be a laser in that there digital gauge too. what's a dollar store laser? 2 bucks?
that's how i did it with an old wild blue dish fitted with a sub reflector and tria.
id stick the thing in the air and set my lnb on 0. get a general direction of a hot transponder.
use dish pointer and a landmark. unhook the actuator. get the dish in the general direction and elevation.
and start hunting for a signal the good old fashioned way.
looks like youre fishing for precise measurements for a not so precise dish.
good luck. tell us how you do.
 
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