True North/South

  • WELCOME TO THE NEW SERVER!

    If you are seeing this you are on our new server WELCOME HOME!

    While the new server is online Scott is still working on the backend including the cachine. But the site is usable while the work is being completes!

    Thank you for your patience and again WELCOME HOME!

    CLICK THE X IN THE TOP RIGHT CORNER OF THE BOX TO DISMISS THIS MESSAGE
Status
Please reply by conversation.

Houston

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Mar 28, 2006
113
0
Houston, Tx USA
I’ve had a great deal of difficulty, finding out how I could determine true north, according to my Location. Kept on being referred to sites where they set up Sun Dials, and read about how to use a Post, marking the shadow, on locations on the ground. No doubt if I were to do that, something would go wrong given the complexity of having to be precise about the arc. But, I thought that maybe one of the sites that provided Maps, may know something like that, and I was right! Here’s what I did.

Logged on to www.topozone.com/viewmaps.asp
Typed in my Lat/Lon numbers, but one can use a street address or even Zip Code.
The map came up, I enlarged it to check if the little “+” was in the right place for my location.
Then looked at the bottom of the screen, and saw just how much to adjust for True.
So, just print the map out, or make a note of the Declination. And, it wouldn’t hurt if you clicked on the little Icon/link (What’s This) at the bottom of the map, to read the explanation of the Declination, I didn’t know it change from time to time.
I then adjusted the Declination on my Compass, it has a little “cheater” ring on it, which must have been out of adjustment for years.

No wonder I was winding up in Denver instead of El Paso :) !
 
True North/South – Continued

I greatly appreciate the help that was given in the reference to the threads, which addressed True North/South. (thanks G.M.) !

But, I’d really like to “confirm” my true south, and have herd of some site you can log on to, to get the time of day that the position of the Sun is at True South, at my location, and use a string across the Dish, to check that you’ve got it at True.

Does anyone know where that site is?
 
I was having a difficult time getting my BUD set up for my true south, so, last night, I went outside, tied a rope around the base of the post, walked in the southerly direction, turned around, located the Big Dipper, then I located the North star, I lined up the rope so that it was in direct line of the Big Dipper and north star, placed the rope onthe ground, and then moved the dish so that it was lined up with the rope. Then I adjusted my elevation and BAM! 90 percent strength on analog signals. Getting digital as well.

Here is a link that gives more detail.
http://www.builditsolar.com/SiteSurvey/FindingSouth.htm
 
Here is a freeware link to StarCalc which is a simple astronomy program allowing you to determine things like time of day sun crosses true south. Polaris works fine when aligning north for the polar shaft at night although it can be as much as .8 degrees off which I suspect is still closer than one can get with a magnetic compass.

http://www.m31.spb.ru/StarCalc/
 
I found out exactly what time the sun was crossing 'true south' (it was like 11:53 or so) and stuck a large pole in the ground. When the sun was 'true south' I stuck about five pencils in the ground along the shadow of the pole. I then laid the pole on the ground next to the pencils and had a great 'true south' line from which to adjust the dish.
 
Thank all of you for your replies, it's going to take me a while, to visit and read all that info.
Thanks
Houston
 
If it gets to be to much of a hassle you can just drop me a PM listing your time zone with accurate lattitude and longitude and I will return the correct time of crossing the following day.

SD
 
Status
Please reply by conversation.

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)