Satellite Aiming Calculator for US / Canada / Mexico

[SatelliteAV]

SatelliteGuys Exclusive Notice:

SatelliteAV has just released the final beta test version of a new satellite aiming calculator GeoSatFinder at http://www.geosatfinder.com for the US, Canada and Mexico. Site locations can be located by using the Country, State/Province and City search, or using the Candian, USA, Mexico City (ZIP) Code, or by Longitude and Latitude.

The application uses the most current magnetic deviation/declination tables and both new and old satellite names. GeoSatFinder calculates the Azimuth, Magnetic Corrected Azimuth, Elevation, LNBF rotation and provides a printable PDF document. It will also identify what satellite is nearest to True South and print a complete list of satellites and the aiming coordinates for each.

GeoSatFinder includes all satellites with available beams into North America and Hawaii.

I used the application on my cell phone while performing a site check last week and would be interested how the application performs on different browsers and especially mobile applications.

Please test drive the application. Your input and suggestions would be appreciated!

P.S. Yes, we are adding mapping overlay!

 

[Mr Tony]

Holy crap....VERY NICE!!

I saw towns there I never heard of...and I live in MN

by the way...what state is MP??

only thing I noticed is when I click on the "my nearest south satellite" it shows the info for a fixed dish and not motorized.

one suggestion...maybe have an option to list all the KU only satellites from an area. When you pick "all common satellites" it shows everything including C-Band and satellites with no footprint in an area (like Brazilsat)

 

[sunelec]

My ku system has been operating perfectly for several months so I was only trying out your new calculater. I am located at 83.7 degrees W. longitude and your true south satellite calculation tells me to aim at Brazilsat 3 at 84 degrees W. longitude. Why would you tell me to aim at a C band satellite for a ku setup. When I installed my dish I used AMC 9 as my closest to true south ku band satellite.

 

[Mr Tony]

right now it looks like it doesn't know that part. It picks your closest satellite to be the true south

 

[sunelec]

That is exactly my point stated in a round-about way. It could confuse somebody new to aiming a dish.

 

[Mr Tony]

hence this suggestion

one suggestion...maybe have an option to list all the KU only satellites from an area. When you pick "all common satellites" it shows everything including C-Band and satellites with no footprint in an area (like Brazilsat)

 

[sunelec]

When I tried out the calculater and saw the problem I looked to see if I could choose Ku band only but I didn't see that option. So Iceberg I think your suggestion will be a necessity.

 

[Wescopc]

...what state is MP??

N. Mariana Islands
U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
Bob

 

[SatelliteAV]

Great suggestions! Thank You!

Next release will include:
1. C-Band or KU-Band installation selection
2. Show only satellites visible to the installation location


Keep your suggestions coming in. We are attempting to make a tool that is indispensible for any installation.

 

[mikekohl]

Take a good look at the manual latitude/longitude function.
The program tells you to enter West or East longitude.
(There are a couple of spots in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska that
are past the 180 degree mark, and are thus East longitude).
I entered East, and when the program calculated the angles,
it manually changed it to West longitude (with a wrong number).
The solution was to leave it in "West" configuration, and manually
convert your longitude number before entering (174 East would be
entered as 186 West).

One other improvement could be to add satellites down to 1 West, as
there are usable signals on the U.S. East Coast as well as in the Maritime region
of Canada. Don't know if it is necessary to have any Brasilsat satellites listed,
as the first thing that happens when a novice installer sees that on the list,
they expect it to work on their North American system.

The Mexican listings are a bit confusing. It appears that a decision was made
to list major locations first (Cabo San Lucas, La Paz) and then a small village
nearby. This can be confusing in the case of a less known snowbird hangout
such as Mulege, in Baja California Sur, which is not listed on its own.

 

[mikekohl]

A really tough request:
Exact skew readings for the Ku-band side of 103 West, which is off more
than 20 degrees from the "normal" polarization of other satellites.

 

[updatelee]

here is another tuff request.

I owned a T55 and recently sold it, now I have a T90, each time I mount a torodial I have to email wavefrontier and give them the list of sats and they email me back the elevation, skew, and lnb location.

is this possible to put into an online calc ?

 

[Mr Tony]

here is another tuff request.

I owned a T55 and recently sold it, now I have a T90, each time I mount a torodial I have to email wavefrontier and give them the list of sats and they email me back the elevation, skew, and lnb location.

is this possible to put into an online calc ?

you mean this?
http://sadoun.com/Sat/Products/WF/T90-90cm-toroidal-wave-frontier-multifeed-dish-antenna.htm#Aiming

or maybe this?
http://www.satlex.de/en/wavefrontier_calc.html

 

[Hermitman]

Getting really picky here but a couple of things.
1. Postal Codes - It appears that the listing used is not only of all postal codes but also of every post office within every postal code. Example: If Los Angeles CA is selected from the "Find by city" sub-menus, it returns a list of 10 locations covering 4 different postal codes (90001-3 ea, 90002-3 ea, 90003-2 ea, 90004-2 ea). And if you type in Los Angeles, CA into the "Search for location" block, it returns a list of over 200 locations even though the "Location Matches" area has a note stating that only the top 10 matches are shown. Also it appears that the lat/long locations are only given for postal codes and not individual post offices, causing redundancy in the database. There may be a better database out there that has postal codes-lat/long locations without breaking them down into post offices and maybe confusing people/taking up memory.

2. Magnetic Deviations - The program's calculator for figuring magnetic deviation may be using old data. Example: Location-Seanor, PA looking for Galaxy 10R at 123 degrees. Your program's result shows a compass heading of 245.5 and a true azimuth of 236.3, a deviation of 9.2. Using the NGDC online calculator, the deviation shows to be 9 deg 46 min using WMM 2005 data and 9 deg 47 min using IGRF10 data, approx .5 deg off. Checking other locations also shows magnetic deviation to be off slightly. I know it's less that a degree and no one would notice but I have too much time on my hands.

Thanks for the brain exercise. Good luck and have fun.

 

[updatelee]

you mean this?
http://sadoun.com/Sat/Products/WF/T90-90cm-toroidal-wave-frontier-multifeed-dish-antenna.htm#Aiming

or maybe this?
http://www.satlex.de/en/wavefrontier_calc.html

Thats an amazing sat calc ! wish I had known that before, I'll be letting some friends of mine know this url, thanks alot !

 

[Mr Tony]

no problem

I found that when I got my T90 and it comes in very handy

 

[GloryStar]

Mulege

T

The Mexican listings are a bit confusing. It appears that a decision was made
to list major locations first (Cabo San Lucas, La Paz) and then a small village
nearby. This can be confusing in the case of a less known snowbird hangout
such as Mulege, in Baja California Sur, which is not listed on its own.

Mulege was not overlooked, but you do need know the village “official” name or postal code.

You can search for this info at:
http://www.sepomex.gob.mx/Sepomex/Servicios/Busca+tu+Codigo+Postal/


HEROICA MULEGE, BCS 23900
Mexico

Latitude: 26.880 N
Longitude: 112.020 W

 

[mikekohl]

Kind of like BUENAVENTURA, CALIFORNIA
Listed as VENTURA on all of the Gringo maps that I have seen.
MULEGE is also the only way that most Northerners know how
to describe that community.

We learn something new every day!

 

[Mr Tony]

bumping this one up

 

[SatelliteAV]

Version Update v3.15.2007

The current version changes:

- Added satellites down to 0 degrees with beams and footprints covering North America.

-Corrected the East/West calculation error for satellites west of 180 degrees.