Will be ordering my motorized FTA System on Monday....

[digiblur]

Sorry if I hijack your thread but I didn't want to start another FTA newbie thread. I'm seriously thinking of ordering the M1 system pack from Sadoun with the $15 dish upgrade. Anything else I should know about this thing? I currently have a DishNetwork HD 119/110/61.5 system that I self installed so I'm pretty knowledgable when it comes to this satellite stuff. Back in '95 I had a 10 foot BUD that I self installed, took an hour or so to get it perfectly tracking the belt but I thought it was a piece of cake, too bad I moved since then and had to give it up. My ZIP is 70791 if anyone is curious.

I'm thinking of mounting this thing in the yard as I don't want the thing attached to the house. I'm going to have to shoot under a tree that is behind the dish and over a tree but I'm confident I can do it as I am doing it just fine with the DishNet setup right now. I've got some pipe that I will concrete in the ground so which mounting assembly should I get? The U-bolt type so I can slide it up and down the pipe as needed?

 

[kc5qih]

The compass heading of 174.1 was with my magnetic deviation included in it. The true south position if IA5 is something around 179.1; but taking the magnetic deviation into account it comes out to the 174.1 or something like that..can you explain the cutting out of a cardboard triangle a little better im not sure i'm following you on that. thanks

 

[mr.crane]

                       Woodway, TX 76712
          Latitude 31° 30.306'N Longitude 97° 13.866'W

                        Sat Name Sat Lng Az(t) Az(m)   El  Skew
---------------------------------------------------------------
                                
                                
                    Intelsat 901   18.0W  95.7  90.2  0.5 -58.0
                                
                    Intelsat 603   20.0W  96.8  91.3  2.2 -57.9
                                
                           NSS 7   22.0W  97.8  92.4  3.9 -57.6
                                
                    Intelsat 905   24.5W  99.2  93.8  6.0 -57.3
                                
                    Intelsat 907   27.5W 100.9  95.5  8.6 -56.8
                                
                  Hispasat 1C/1D   30.0W 102.4  96.9 10.7 -56.4
                                
                    Intelsat 801   31.5W 103.3  97.8 12.0 -56.1
                                
                    Intelsat 903   34.5W 105.1  99.6 14.6 -55.4
                                
             AMC 12 & Telstar 11   37.5W 107.0 101.5 17.1 -54.6
                                
                         NSS 806   40.5W 108.9 103.5 19.7 -53.8
                                
                       PAS 6B/3R   43.0W 110.6 105.2 21.8 -52.9
                                
                          PAS 1R   45.0W 112.0 106.6 23.5 -52.2
                                
                    Intelsat 705   50.0W 115.8 110.4 27.7 -50.1
                                
                    Intelsat 707   53.0W 118.2 112.8 30.1 -48.7
                                
                    Intelsat 805   55.5W 120.4 114.9 32.2 -47.4
                                
                           PAS 9   58.0W 122.6 117.2 34.1 -45.9
                                
                        Amazonas   61.0W 125.5 120.1 36.5 -44.0
                                
          EchoStar 3 & Rainbow 1   61.5W 126.0 120.6 36.8 -43.6
                                
                Estrela do Sul 1   63.0W 127.5 122.1 38.0 -42.5
                                
                    Brasilsat B2   65.0W 129.7 124.2 39.4 -41.0
                                
                    Brasilsat B1   70.0W 135.4 130.0 42.9 -36.7
                                
                Nahuel 1 & AMC 6   72.0W 138.0 132.5 44.2 -34.8
                                
                           AMC 6   72.0W 138.0 132.5 44.2 -34.8
                                
                       DirecTV 5   72.5W 138.6 133.2 44.6 -34.3
                                
                           SBS 6   74.0W 140.6 135.2 45.5 -32.8
                                
                           AMC 5   79.0W 147.8 142.3 48.3 -27.0
                                
                         Nimiq 2   82.0W 152.5 147.0 49.7 -23.2
                                
                           AMC 9   83.0W 154.1 148.7 50.2 -21.9
                                
                    Brasilsat B3   84.0W 155.8 150.3 50.6 -20.5
                                
                          AMC 16   85.0W 157.5 152.0 51.0 -19.1
                                
                           AMC 3   87.0W 160.9 155.5 51.7 -16.2
                                
             Intelsat Americas 8   89.0W 164.5 159.1 52.2 -13.1
                                
                Galaxy 11/Nimiq1   91.0W 168.2 162.8 52.7 -10.0
                                
                    Brasilsat B4   92.0W 170.1 164.6 52.9  -8.5
                                
                       Telstar 6   93.0W 171.9 166.5 53.0  -6.9
                                
                       Galaxy 3C   95.0W 175.7 170.3 53.2  -3.6
                                
             Intelsat Americas 5   97.0W 179.6 174.1 53.3  -0.4
                                
                       Galaxy 4R   99.0W 183.4 177.9 53.3   2.9
                                
                           AMC 4  101.0W 187.2 181.7 53.1   6.1
                                
                           AMC 1  103.0W 190.9 185.5 52.8   9.3
                                
                          AMC 15  105.0W 194.6 189.2 52.3  12.4
                                
                         Anik F1  107.3W 198.8 193.3 51.7  15.9
                                
        DirecTV 6 & EchoStar 6/8  110.0W 203.4 198.0 50.8  19.8
                                
                         Anik F2  111.1W 205.3 199.8 50.3  21.4
                                
                   Solidaridad 2  113.0W 208.4 202.9 49.5  23.9
                                
                        SatMex 5  116.8W 214.2 208.8 47.6  28.7
                                
         EchoStar 7 & DirecTV 7S  119.0W 217.4 211.9 46.4  31.2
                                
 EchoStar 9/Intelsat Americas 13  121.0W 220.1 214.7 45.2  33.3
                                
                      Galaxy 10R  123.0W 222.7 217.3 43.9  35.3
                                
                       Galaxy 12  125.0W 225.2 219.8 42.6  37.2
                                
            Galaxy 13/Horizons 1  127.0W 227.6 222.1 41.2  39.0
                                
             Intelsat Americas 7  129.0W 229.8 224.4 39.8  40.7
                                
                          AMC 11  131.0W 232.0 226.6 38.3  42.2
                                
                       Galaxy 1R  133.0W 234.0 228.6 36.8  43.6
                                
                          AMC 10  135.0W 236.0 230.6 35.3  45.0
                                
                           AMC 7  137.0W 237.9 232.4 33.7  46.2
                                
                           AMC 8  139.0W 239.7 234.2 32.1  47.4
                                
                    EchoStar 1/2  148.0W 246.9 241.5 24.7  51.6

        Satellite Finder is (c) Copyright 2004, P. Lutus

You are lucky! Intelsat Americas 5 @ 97.0W is your true south satellite, so all you need to do is correctly setup your motor and dish elevation angles, find the satellite and you are more or less done.

The good news is all the elevation angles are pretty high so you should pull in a lot more of the Clarke belt than you think : )

pete: where can one get the software that you are using to calculate above?

 

[Cascade]

http://www.arachnoid.com/satfinder/

It's a Java app.

 

[mr.crane]

it say all satellites 61w to 161 west, how did you configured the lower satellites. like how did you get 18.0W?

 

[Mr Tony]

crane
It lokos like it lists any satellite that has a positive elevation...18W is at a .5 elevation, which really isn't possible

 

[smata67]

If you are looking for IA5 and it is 53.3 degrees from the horizon, cut out a cardboard right triangle with the following angles: 53.3, 90, 36.7. Sight along the long end with the bottom end horizontal and the 53.3 end at your eye. You can also use a measuring square with a piece of tape for the long side. A triangle with the following dimensions works: 12", 16", 20" with the right angle between the 12" and 16" sides.

 

[kc5qih]

Where exactly does and what does the 36.7 degree angle represent. At first I thought it was my latitude but my latitude is 31.50 or so....

 

[tobwco]

For true south, do we use True or Magnetic?

 

[kc5qih]

The way im understanding is; if you look at the chart that is above, it has a Azimuth(true) and azimuth(magnetic) I was understanding that the azimuth(magnetic)is taking into account magnetic deviation; for instance my true south satellite is IA5(which is apparently almost directly south of me)well i just have to point my dish at 174.1 degrees, even though the Satellite Is @ 179.1 or something(true south) Hope that makes sense..im just beginning to maybe understand all this. From what im understanding you have to point at your true south satellite(for motorized systems)and then take into account your areas magnetic deviation, to get the actual azimuth that you will be pointing your dish. If im wrong on this , someone please feel free to correct me. I'm learning here and I dont want to tell someone wrong if im not on the right track. Thanks
Chris