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Originally Posted by be236
Really? I used an online calculator and with my zip code of 98037, trying to get IA5 (aka Telstar5), it shows it's at 147 deg. then I have to subtract my magnetic deviation for my area of (- 21 deg), so 147 - 21 = 126 degrees on compass, no?
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http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/geomag/jsp/Declination.jsp
This will give you 17 deg 36 min , not 21 deg.
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Originally Posted by be236
I just leave the default settings on my Fortec Classic NA receiver for IA 5 ... Using UNI LNB setting and the first/default transponder setting when trying to get my signal level on screen.... |
As a couple people suggested, you need an active transponder. There is no way to get a reading for the satellite, you have to tune in a transponder that is transmitting, and the transponder lists in the receivers are often out of date, and if the freq and SR values aren't nearly exact, you will get nothing. I just verified that the first 3 vertical Ku channels at Lyngsat are active, ie
11749/7232 , 11789/25000 and 11836/20765
If your first default transponder is one of these, then you are OK. If it is not, either choose one of the above, or tell us what it is, and we'll check to make sure the transponder is active. It's kind of like trying to tune in your TV on channel 5 if your city doesn't have a channel 5. You need a transponder with something on it.
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Originally Posted by be236
As for azimuth, I have a little (toy) compass that is the size of a big quarter and not sure of its accuracy. When it is steady it does seem to point to magnetic north as I would expect and then I look at what 130 (or 126 deg) would be and because compass is so small, how can I extrapolate to aim the dish (left or right) to that direction? Do I just make a guess at the LNB arm in that direction? At that right I could be off easily by 20 degrees or more of the 130 deg that I want.. d'oh...
-Andrew
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Someone posted a sun outage calculator a while back, ie:
http://www.satellite-calculations.co...lc/SUNcalc.htm
You should still be within the outage period. Enter your location, and choose the proper sat, and it will tell you what time the sun is coming from behind the sat in question. This will provide a fairly accurate azimuth. It won't help on the elevation, but for that, you'll have to move your dish up/down a bit to search for the signal. Before searching for the signal though, wait for the sun to go by, for 10 minutes or so.
It was funny, I tried using my little dish yesterday, for the first time in a few weeks, and I got almost no signal. I thought the thing had gotten out of alignment, until as I was watching it, the signal grew and grew... Turns out I just happened to turn it on exactly during a sun outage. What are the odds of that.