True South?

[kelleyga]

I live in Tampa Fl.
Coordinates
Latitude: 27° 58' North
Longitude: 82° 32' West

In finding my true south satellite for installation purposes, does the True South means the closer satelite to 82°? If so, where can I find a map or something showing what is close to 82 for Tampa?

Thanks for your help.

 

[CharredPC]

Your True South Satellite appears to be Nimiq 2. To use it, though, you'll need a circular polarized lnb. The closest linear bird to your TS is at 83, which is AMC9. That isn't the most active satellite (stationary-TP-wise) but I believe you could home in on the DirecWay transponder for tuning purposes. If this is too much technical jargon, just say so, and I or others will explain

A full list is found here: http://www.lyngsat.com/america.html
... oh, and welcome to the FTA Forum!

 

[bigOleB]

Are you installing with a motor or stationary? If you are installing with a motor you can set the motor at true south to the best of your ability, then use USALS to move the dish to nearest sat. Tune it then go to the other side of the arc and see how close it tracks the arc. This is a little harder than a true south bird install but it does work.

 

[kelleyga]

Guys, THANKS a lot for your help. This is my situation. I do have any experience doing C-Dish at all. The most I have done ever related with sats is install a Dishnetwork dish, which was not difficult. I got a C-Band dish from a friend, it has everything dish, feedhorn, mover, lnb (all works ok). I will buy a receiver today (Pantsat 3500). I want to install it this weekend and have been readying since monday and of course I am NOT technical at all at this. So to your question CharredPC, YES, it is too much technical because I still get confused. But I am not stupid, I am learning fast I just need more help.

Now, once I get my satellite mounted and wired, etc. I need to polarized the lnb (which translate in english to me as align it to get satellites, right?).
Now, I read to get this done I need to do it finding my true south? WHat is true south? My closest satellite to my positon? Then as you guys mentioned it is AMC9 at 83? So... Do I then need to manually align my 10 foot dish to point to AMC9 FIRST? and that will do it?

Questic, sorry if this is kind of stupid question but what is USALS (I am looking at it on the web once I finish here)? Is that in the receiver? Now, setting the motor (or mover right?) to true south means to AMC9 at 83 for me? Once I tune that you said I should go to the other side of the arc? What is that? How do I do that? Track the arc??

What is a true south bird install? Is it when I do it manually versus USALS?

I have another question. Will my mover once install be able to sweep all sat from east to west? Could I get sat PAS 3R and Satmex 5? or only one? I read somewhere that the movers will go south to east and viceversa OR south to west or viceversa, but NOT both....??

Thanks for helping a desperate newbie trying to get its new C-Band install soon.

 

[bigOleB]

Sorry, I should have been more specific...


USALS is a protocol used by FTA recievers to move a dish mounted on a Horizon to Horizon motor such as the SG2100 or STAB-90. If you plan on tracking the Clark Belt (all FTA satellites) you may want to invest in one of these motors. They will work with most popular FTA recievers. I personally wouldn't do it any other way.

If you are using C-Band dish (over 1.2 meters/40"inches) you will most likely need a different type of motor/actuator. There are plenty of people here who could help you with that, although you may need to post the question in the C-Band forum.

Your true south bird is directly related to your location. Example, My location coordinates are 80W/34N, My true south bird is 79W AMC5. You should look at your "West" coordinate and pick the nearest satellite east or west to that number.

Your true south bird should be Nimiq2. You may also try AMC 9 as mentioned earlier in this thread.

Hope this helps.

 

[pokey31]

im in Ohio and my buddy Mike is in Chicago, we are setting up the same systems....wondering if anyone can confirm our true south sats.......i think i did mine right, but was a little unsure of myself.

My coords:
zip 45680 (37.43 ... 82.55)

Mikes coords
zip 60130 (41.874373 N, 87.810624 W)

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Arion]

Your true S. sat is set by your longitude.

For you at 82deg long your true S. sat would be AMC-9. But I warn you that with a 76cm dish you will be at a disadvantage as it's a little too small to really get a good lock on non DBS satellites. You might get watchable channels all right but they may go away in even a light rain. There are no full time mpeg2 carriers on AMC-9 for you to watch but there is an encrypted one that you can use to tune to. It scans in as "AETV" and can be found at 12020V sr 30000 and set your FEC to auto.

For your freind at about 88 degrees longitude he should use AMC3. There are several carriers that are 24/7 on this bird. He can use 11736V sr 6102 and also set FEC to auto. This is the MTA Muslim Tv Bouquet with several channels.

Warning....Neither of these sats are powerhouses by any means and are quite close to much stronger birds. Even if you use a sat meter your going to need to slowly point away from the strongest satellite and adjust the sensitivity on your meter to compensate.

 

[MikeC55]

Airon,

Thanks for the helping with the "true south" determination.

Mike (a/k/a Pokey31's friend in Chicago)

 

[Technojunky]

I am in Jensen Beach , Fl, Lat 27° 14.136N Lon 80° 13.662W I used Satellite Finder and I'm not sure what I am looking at. First, how do you figure true south? Second, when I see EchoStar 3 61.5W 143.5 149.5 52.0 -32.0 What does it mean? Who can break this down so an idiot can understand it? I will have a HH motor to install on a 36: Fotec dish by the middle of the week. I will hope to know enough to do it by then. Thanks for all the great help you guys provide for us greenhorns. Joe

Edit: I did a little cross checking based on what others were told for their Longitude. I figured that my Logitude is 80°. so my true south satellite must be either AMC 5 or DirecTV 3. Am I correct? my zip is 34957

Thanks to all that help.. Joe



Tampa, FL 33647

I live in Tampa Fl.
Coordinates
Latitude: 27° 58' North
Longitude: 82° 32' West

In finding my true south satellite for installation purposes, does the True South means the closer satelite to 82°? If so, where can I find a map or something showing what is close to 82 for Tampa?

Thanks for your help.

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Edit: I did a little cross checking based on what others were told for their Longitude. I figured that my Logitude is 80°. so my true south satellite must be either AMC 5 or DirecTV 3. Am I correct? my zip is 34957

Thanks to all that help.. Joe



Tampa, FL 33647

Right-I would use AMC 5. 11742 V 11110 SR (Utah Education) is a good transponder to use.

 

[Technojunky]

OK, I got that far, now, what do the number mean "11742 V 11110 SR " Also, in the Satellite Finder for AMC 5 it says 177.3 183.4 58.2 -2.4
can you explain any of that so a novice will understand?
My guess is that one of the numbers tells me how much I have to elevate my dish, but from where, and which number is it. I'm getting so close I can taste it now. Thanks for all of your help.. Joe

Right-I would use AMC 5. 11742 V 11110 SR (Utah Education) is a good transponder to use.

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

I am in Jensen Beach , Fl, Lat 27° 14.136N Lon 80° 13.662W I used Satellite Finder and I'm not sure what I am looking at. First, how do you figure true south? Second, when I see EchoStar 3 61.5W 143.5 149.5 52.0 -32.0 What does it mean? Who can break this down so an idiot can understand it?
Tampa, FL 33647

Sorry, I forgot to answer this part of your question.

EchoStar 3 61.5W

143.5=True Azimuth-disregard for now.
149.5=Magnetic Azimuth. You use this to aim the dish from a compass reading.
52.0=Dish Elevation if you are using a non-motorized setup.
-32.0=Skew if you are using a non-motorized setup.

If you use a motor it will set elevation and skew for you once it is setup correctly.


11742=Frequency
11110=Symbol Rate

You need to enter these if you scan manually. However this TP will probably be in the menu already so just select it.

 

[Technojunky]

OK, this is great, and by this , I mean you. You are easy to understand. So if you can fill the blanks on my proposed setup procedure, these few posts of from you will be my guide to setting everything up.

I will have a HH Motor, and the receiver will be a Lifetime Ultra. I plan to mount a pipe in the ground with a cement base. I know that it is important to get it as perfect as can be, so I bought a Johnson Magnetic Angle Locator. I intend to slide it around the pole until it is perfect. Maybe you can tell me how big of a diameter pole would be too big. I would like to use a fence pole, maybe 2" or so.

Once i get the pole mounted and I have the equipment on hand, I will mount the motor to the pole and get it set to zero when zero is AMC 5, or 79.0W. Is this a way to set a reference for zero, not really zero degree's, but zero degrees as far as my dish is concerned? So what happens when a Satellite is father than my zero, say Echostar 3 at 61.5 W, does this mean I can't get it? Does this mean that some people can get satellites that people in other parts of the country can not?

So once I get the motor on zero, I set my assemble dish on it. connect my LNB, Diseq, coax, ground it and run the coax into the house to my receiver. I think I next have to set my angle of elevation. I can probably use the Angle Locater to do that, so I will want to get as near 58.2 as possible, then tune it with my receiver, or the satellite meter that the dealer said he was including with setup. How am I doing so far? Joe

Sorry, I forgot to answer this part of your question.

EchoStar 3 61.5W

143.5=True Azimuth-disregard for now.
149.5=Magnetic Azimuth. You use this to aim the dish from a compass reading.
52.0=Dish Elevation if you are using a non-motorized setup.
-32.0=Skew if you are using a non-motorized setup.

If you use a motor it will set elevation and skew for you once it is setup correctly.


11742=Frequency
11110=Symbol Rate

You need to enter these if you scan manually. However this TP will probably be in the menu already so just select it.

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

I will have a HH Motor, and the receiver will be a Lifetime Ultra. I plan to mount a pipe in the ground with a cement base. I know that it is important to get it as perfect as can be, so I bought a Johnson Magnetic Angle Locator. I intend to slide it around the pole until it is perfect. Maybe you can tell me how big of a diameter pole would be too big. I would like to use a fence pole, maybe 2" or so.

The "standard' is 1 5/8 I believe. I don't know if 2 inches will work-maybe someone else will jump in on that.

Once i get the pole mounted and I have the equipment on hand, I will mount the motor to the pole and get it set to zero when zero is AMC 5, or 79.0W. Is this a way to set a reference for zero, not really zero degree's, but zero degrees as far as my dish is concerned? So what happens when a Satellite is father than my zero, say Echostar 3 at 61.5 W, does this mean I can't get it? Does this mean that some people can get satellites that people in other parts of the country can not?

So once I get the motor on zero, I set my assemble dish on it. connect my LNB, Diseq, coax, ground it and run the coax into the house to my receiver. I think I next have to set my angle of elevation. I can probably use the Angle Locater to do that, so I will want to get as near 58.2 as possible, then tune it with my receiver, or the satellite meter that the dealer said he was including with setup. How am I doing so far? Joe

Sounds like you're on the right track. Use the manual that came with the motor to determine your angles and then just set them on the motor and dish. With most receivers you can set a "zero position" if you wish. Here is a walkthrough I did and although the equipment is somewhat different the same principals will apply:


http://www.pbase.com/wtracyparnell/coolsat_4000_prosg2100

 

[Technojunky]

Your Newbie Walkthrough is great. Thanks for your help. BTW I am #1 on your list of FTA candidates..

73' Joe KQ4BX