Skew Apps Just Puzzle Me

[masterdrago]

We camp often so move often to different locations. Skew settings always have me a bit puzzled as different apps give vastly different numbers for skew. It appears to be an issue with subtracting from 180 or not. We use a 1000.2 WA multi-lnb DPP and I know that we no longer have bird 129.

Skew just kills me.

If I use MyDISH and only enter the zip code, I get:
elev 48°
skew 121
azimuth 209° (which I know is true and know how to convert to magnetic).

If I use DishPointer - Align your satellite dish instead and enter lat & long and chose sat 110w & 119w, I get:
elev 51.2°
skew (?) 65.2
azimuth 208.9° true (205° mag) if I chose sat 110w & 119w. However I still use a 3 LNB setup.

If instead I use the old listing at DishPointer - Align your satellite dish for Satellite: Dish 1000.2 (110W, 119W, 129W), I get:
elev 48.8
skew 120.6
azimuth 215.9° True (212° mag).

Another app at Dish Pointer said the skew was (?) 59.4 at exactly the same lat & long?

The DishPointer - Align your satellite dish page where I manually enter the lat & long has always worked. But I've noticed until recently that I've always had to make a minor ~2° adjustment west to get the strongest signals on all 3 birds (now 2).

Is there some new info I should be using with the loss of 129 even though I still use the 3LNB setup feeding two cables into a pair of Wally receivers? Is skew really that critical? It seems not.

 

[masterdrago]

I decided to have a look at my 1000.2 skew scale. It runs from 40 to 140. That leads me to believe that I should use the app that gives me 3 digit figures for locations in central
Texas. ie DishPointer - Align your satellite dish where I input Lat & Long in decimal degrees and choose Dish 1000.2 (110W, 119W, 129W).

This gives:

Dish Setup Data
Elevation: 48.8°
Azimuth (true): 215.9°
Azimuth (magn.): 212.0°
Dish Skew [?]: 120.6°

 

[HipKat]

I decided to have a look at my 1000.2 skew scale. It runs from 40 to 140. That leads me to believe that I should use the app that gives me 3 digit figures for locations in central
Texas. ie DishPointer - Align your satellite dish where I input Lat & Long in decimal degrees and choose Dish 1000.2 (110W, 119W, 129W).

This gives:

Dish Setup Data
Elevation: 48.8°
Azimuth (true): 215.9°
Azimuth (magn.): 212.0°
Dish Skew [?]: 120.6°

I would say that 120 is way more accurate, although it's 120 I Central IL, too. and here's an easy way to tell. The dish is reflective. From behind the dish, the "eyes" left to right are 129, 119, 110 - the opposite of how they are situated in the sky, where 129 is the furthest west and yes, I know, 129 is gone but for this example, I'm using it.
129 is also the lowest in the sky, 110 the highest, which explains why it's the highest at the dish. Reflective. So it skews to the right.

Eastern arc, just the opposite. If you're standing behind the Dish pointing to the 61.5 and 72.1, the Dish would be skewed to the left, or the lower number. For here, it's 70.

 

[tjboston5676]

Unless you're traveling super long distances, you really won't need change the skew at all. In my work area I use the same skew in all cities and sometimes that can be a 150 mile radius (or 300 mile stretch) and I'm sure it would still be fine further than that.