How do I use the declination angle?

[satr]

I installed the DG 280 with a 120 cm dish. My true south is 192.6 my declination angle is 3.1 and the dish elevation is 32. Can you explain me what to do with the 3.1 declination angle in adjusting the dish?

[Vitruvius]

Satr, It is really all just geometry that you are setting up. In the back of the manual you have the info you need.
1. Set the motor to match your latitude. If you are at 33.99 degrees north, set the motor latitude to 34. The motor should have latitude on one side, and elevation on the other. The elevation is the true angle off the ground and is usually 90 degrees minus the latitude of your location. Example, 90 - 34 = 56. Your elevation angle will be 56 degrees.
2. By the chart in the back of the manual, just get the dish angle and set the angle of the dish to the Dish Bracket Angle. Don't mess with the Declination angle... You do not need to set that on anything. So on the 34 latitude, you need to set the Dish Bracket Angle to 29.5 degrees and you are done. I hope this helps...

[Vitruvius]

Ok, my numbers above are just an example. Given your declination angle of 3.1, per the manuals chart, you are at Latitude 18, and your Dish Bracket Angle is to be set at 31.9.

Don't worry about the declination angles needs...

goodluck...

[satr]

Thank you very much Vitruvius.

[Vitruvius]

Satr, How did it go?

[TexRedNK]

Hey Vitruvius, Thanks for your explanations. I set my lattitude on the motor bracket..then experimentally adjusted the dish bracket for the strongest signal with a Dish Signal Meter.
My understanding of the declination angle table data is this :
Because I am on the SURFACE of Earth and not at it's CENTER, the length of the distance to the satellite is SHORTER, and NOT on the same line because I am NOT at the Equator. Therefore.. the Trig function of this triangle is the DECLANATION ANGLE listed in the table. Correct me if I am off target. Thanks again.. George (aka TexRedNk)
___________________________________________
Location: North Texas 32.6N 96.4W
Fortec-Star 31 inch dish, DG-280B motor
Receiver: Mercury II, Three Hughes HTL-HD (DirecTV)

[satr]

I only found quality in Galaxy 3C 95 lineal. In the others satellites that I can see in my latitude and longitude I can not get quality with dish elevation at 32 and latitude 18.1

[Vitruvius]

Satr,

That is good you have a satillite locked in...
Per the DG280 I see for Latitude 18 your motor angle should be set to 18 degrees on the Latitude side or 72 degrees on the Elevation side. Then your dish bracket should be set to 31.9. I like to set my dish towards 97 even though it is not my south elevation. It give a stronger signal than 74 or 79 sats. Then set your receiver to the correct lat and long for your location. I turn the receiver to the 97 satellite which moves the motor the correct amount. Then I slowly move the dish assembly left and right 1 degree steps until I get a good strong signal.
Give us your Lat and Long... and what equipment do you have?

[satr]

Latitud= 18.101 N
Longitude= -66.169 W
Azimuth Magnetic=192.6
Receiver=Captive Works 800s.
Dish= 120

[Vitruvius]

Satr, So you are in Puerto Rico. Very nice.
I don't know much about the Captive Works receiver but you should be able to input your position in it. In a Mercury II you would put in 18.1 Lat and 66.2 Longitude. You should round to the closest possible number and 66.169 would be 66.2 in the Mercury II.

to tune into the 97 sat you would need a dish bigger than 105cm. I checked on the Lyngsat. You may still be able to get signal, but it may not be the best satellite to set your dish to.
Sat 72 needs a dish over 90cm.
Sat 30 needs a dish over 75cm.

I looked through a bunch of satellites on Lyngsat, and most of the sats will require you to have a very big dish. Tell us how big your dish is. You can look at lyngsat to see what sat you really want to look at and bring up the map of the coverage the transmitters have over the world. There does not seem to be many to Puerto Rico, which is surprising to me.

Perhaps you should set up your motor, your dish, find your most south direction of the dish the best you can. Then have your receiver move the dish to Sat 30 Hispasat.
Use your receiver and a tv next to the dish to tune in the sat. Once you move the dish to Sat 30, toggle through all the transponder frequencies in your receiver and see if you get stronger signals on the different frequencies.

Once the motor is pointed to this sat, slowly adjust the entire assembly left or right until you get the best signal you can. (check the different frequencies each time you do this). Once that is found, adjust your up and down of the dish at the dish, not the motor, up and down the same way until you get the strongest signal. Then do this process one more time horizontally and vertically to fine tune the best you can to the signal.

Good luck...

[Vitruvius]

Satr, sorry, I see you have a 120... That should be good for 97, but since the 30 sat gives you a good strong signal it may help you out... But it is always better to find your closest to south sat, if only it were strong enough...

95 is good...... although Lyngsat shows that Puerto Rico is outside of its range for a 120cm dish...

Best of luck...

[Vitruvius]

Hey TexRed... thanks for your explaination of the declination angle... I really tried to follow it and think of the geometries, but it made my brain hurt... I wonder if there is a good graphical explination of this on the internet that would help me... It sounded good... and reasonable to me...

Thanks again..

[satr]

Thank you very much. I will try to allign the dish with your recomendations.