Using the stars and Sun to do an install.

[MikeInAlaska]

Finding Clear Line Of Sight:

I am scouting a location for a 2nd six foot dish on my property for Dish 110 and 119. (Might as well get some strong signals...) I have a lot of trees around so I dont really trust my results with the crude compass I have, or an iPod compass, etc. Plus, I dont really want to buy any 1 time use hardware to do this install -- I want to land the satellites exactly between some tall spruce trees where there are no young trees seen growing at all.

"Stellarium" is a free software app. I added the positions of the three Dish satellites (I got the positions from another free software App - Orbitron ) You can see the three Dish satellites in this picture as green boxes. Those are 110 (left), 119 (middle) and 129 on the right.

Anyway... now all I need to do is go out at night and look for a bright star at the right time of night. From my latitude, Rigel, the bright foot of the constellation "Orion" will pass 1/2 degree below all three Dish satellites tomorrow night.

So I can run around my yard and find a spot where I can get 110 and 119 just by looking up at an incredibly bright star!

Aiming the Dish:

I do this in the daytime... I check Stellarium again and find when the Sun is exactly 90 degrees West of satellite 119, then simply turn the dish until I can look across the flat front rim of the Dish with the Sun exactly "cut in half" in my view by the dish edge.

This system worked great for putting my 129W dish in the back yard.

Hope I dont sound insane here : ) All you need is clear skies, and worst case, a pair of binoculars. With bright Rigel helping me out, I dont even need binoculars. Since Rigel passes 1/2 degree below each of the Dish birds (from my latitude only), I can spot out five or six clear line of sight Dish locations in about 30 seconds tops! I mark them on the ground with a spray paint dot and then come back for then next satellite pass about 1/2 hour later and test each spot for the next satellite.

 

[r10fret]

You need any possible obstructions to cast a shadow and only the sun can do that.
Try this, it will tell you when the sun is at the same azimuth as a satellite. Since at this time of year the sun's elevation is now lower than the satellite arc it should identify any obstructions that are below the satellite arc.

Place satellite dish using sun or moon

Otherwise you will have to wait for the solar transit season when the az and el line up with satellite's loaction for a few minutes for a few days in the fall and spring.

 

[MikeInAlaska]

Thanks for the link. I think the stars win out, since there are thousands more available and you simply have to be able to see the star to know its a good line of sight. The Sun and Moon rarely (if ever) crosses the exact line of the satellites here for example. I have a hard time knowing the line of sight is clear "40 degrees below where the Sun appears in the sky at 10:30 AM" (for a random example.)

How do installers do super accurate azimuth checking when they are down in the trees?

 

[viggen61]

Satellite tracking?

Great idea to use a star charting program. Does "Stellarium" also track satellites? If so, you could plug in the orbit elements for the EchoStar satellites, and see them plotted amongst the stars on your screen.

I did this a while back when a friend and I wanted to get satellite service. Gives you a good idea of the paths to aim the dish. And if you can take a laptop out on a night with a near-full moon, it'll illuminate your obstructions for you.

Good luck!