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Originally Posted by radiobob
As someone once explained to me...you're aiming at something the size of an SUV some 22,000 miles away, so if you're off just a little-bitty bit, you're outta luck. So, if you're off plumb, you may be okay for a couple of satellites, but you'll be messed up for the rest. |
I know I've said this before, but the most important thing is that your pole is rigid, and doesn't flex, as Rainman said. Getting the pole PLUMB is important with respect to making things easier for you, but doesn't make it impossible to obtain perfect tracking. Years ago, one TVRO
installer supposedly perfectly aligned a polar mount that was on a pole sloping something like 45 degrees, just to illustrate that you didn't need a plumb pole. When I read this, I didn't beleive it, and actually made myself a wooden model of a dish/mount, that I would sit in my recliner and manipulate. I ended up proving to myself that this was true, Ie you can get absolutely perfect tracking with a pole that isn't plumb. Actually, with these little dish motors, I think it would be easier with DiseqC1.2 than with USALS though, because with a tilted pole, your motor will end up tilted, and the "zero" position won't be at your south sat. USALS pretty much assumes that the zero is your south sat, so you'd have to lie to it with respect to both your longitude AND with respect to the longitude of the sats, to get it to work. However with DiseqC1.2, the positions of the sats would just be stored where you find them, so there shouldn't be a problem. {Saying this part from theory, as I haven't tried it, but I'm tempted to give it a try some day. )
So a plumb pole is highly advised, but isn't an absolute necessity, and my first dish actually had a pole adapter at the top that allowed you to adjust the plumbness of a sloping pole. HOWEVER, a pole that is rigid IS a necessity. THere is no way to compensate for a pole that moves as the dish moves.
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Originally Posted by radiobob
I can dig the "fun" of working in the heat; .....
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I hate the heat, which is why we moved to Maine, however until this week it seems like the hot humid weather followed us up here. However the last week or so, it's been really cool up here. It's been going down into the 40s at night.
Got down to 45 last night. It has now warmed up to 60. My crazy wife just left to go out water skiing with some neighbors. {She's just the observer.}