Portable RV tripod project: Where is my beam really pointing?

[manowell]

In big 'ol C-band days, it was easy to see. With the oval dishes with offset LNB, it's harder for me to visualize. I'm guessing about where the green arrow is pointing?

 

[manowell]

Then, how big of a "hole to the sky" do I need to get the three main DTV satellites? This is a view from the DishPointer Pro Android App.

I'm not saying this is enough of a window, but an example I can illustrate.

It seems to me at a hole at least the size of the slimline dish is needed, and a clear path from that oval up to these three points, that's where all the signal is coming from. (assuming the limbs don't wave back and forth, clear physical obstruction.

My limited practice on this so far has resulting in me finding a far bigger, wider view than I would assume I needed.

 

[slice1900]

Even if there was never any wind at all where you lived, that hole would be filled when spring arrives in a few months.

 

[primestar31]

Sight up the length of the bottom of the lnb arm, and that's where the satellites are. KU beamwidth is the diameter of a pencil or so, but satellites aren't up there like a photograph nailed to the wall. They move around in an area called "the box". So, you need as much sky as you can get completely open, and NOTHING that could get in that. Not a leaf, or a branch, or even a twig. Minimum IMO with KU, is at least twice the size of the dish you are using.

 

[manowell]

Even if there was never any wind at all where you lived, that hole would be filled when spring arrives in a few months.

"Portable" and "RV" are the keywords. Not worried at all about what's up there later.

 

[manowell]

Sight up the length of the bottom of the lnb arm, and that's where the satellites are. KU beamwidth is the diameter of a pencil or so, but satellites aren't up there like a photograph nailed to the wall. They move around in an area called "the box". So, you need as much sky as you can get completely open, and NOTHING that could get in that. Not a leaf, or a branch, or even a twig. Minimum IMO with KU, is at least twice the size of the dish you are using.

Sounds good, thanks.

Like this?

 

[primestar31]

Sounds good, thanks.

Like this?
View attachment 136468

Yep.

 

[raoul5788]

Yep.

Which is about where the green line is in the first picture.

 

[slice1900]

Sight up the length of the bottom of the lnb arm, and that's where the satellites are. KU beamwidth is the diameter of a pencil or so, but satellites aren't up there like a photograph nailed to the wall. They move around in an area called "the box". So, you need as much sky as you can get completely open, and NOTHING that could get in that. Not a leaf, or a branch, or even a twig. Minimum IMO with KU, is at least twice the size of the dish you are using.

The "box" they move in is tiny by comparison to the distance between the three satellites shown. Those red dots in the image are FAR larger than the box each satellite moves in.

 

[NYDutch]

It surprises me sometimes when I get usable signals in some locations. The screen capture below isn't completely accurate because the camera wasn't exactly in the LOS for the dish, but I did have solid signals from all three Dish eastern arc sats. This was a temporary RV location also, so seasonal changes were not a consideration.

 

[Claude Greiner]

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