What is my true SOUTH satellite?

[crankbooster]

Originally Posted by Admin

We get this question quite often.

Basically your True South satellite is the one that has the same Longitude as your location or the closest one to your location.

For example, if you live in New York, NY, then your Longitude is 74 W. Taking a look at the satellites list here Satellites List for Free To Air Channels, American, Arabic, Chinese, Persian, Turkish, Kurdish TV you will find that SBS6 is the satellite located at 74 W. So that is your True South satellite.

Then based on that, you should consider the magnetic deviation for that location when looking at the compass to establish True South direction for your motorized dish. The Magnetic deviation for New York is +14. That means the True South direction should be equal to 180 +14 = 194 degrees on the compass.

What is the magnetic deviation for Houston Texas 95, 38.630' WEST from my phone GPS system and 29, 39.172' North

[pmb1010]

Originally Posted by crankbooster

What is the magnetic deviation for Houston Texas 95, 38.630' WEST from my phone GPS system and 29, 39.172' North

-4 degrees.

So to line up a motor at "0" put it at 180-4 = 176 deg on a compass.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by pmb1010

-4 degrees.

So to line up a motor at "0" put it at 180-4 = 176 deg on a compass.

You're correct about the 176 on the compass, but that's usually referred to as a "PLUS" declination, not a minus.

[pmb1010]

Yeah, trying not to confuse things as much as possible.

I really think the lines on the cart, and then the description below - make folks baffy

Satellite Look Angles Satellite Heading Calculator Azimuth Elevation Skew Tilt LNBF Latitude and Longitude values

[mlove30]

Hi Guys.

My lat is 32.78, Long is 97, az is 180 and elevation is 40 for Irving TX. My signal strength is 80 but Quality is 0. I live in an apartment with a south facing balcony. I am not able to point west, I can point S to SE. Any ideas?

[crankbooster]

Originally Posted by mlove30

Hi Guys.

My lat is 32.78, Long is 97, az is 180 and elevation is 40 for Irving TX. My signal strength is 80 but Quality is 0. I live in an apartment with a south facing balcony. I am not able to point west, I can point S to SE. Any ideas?

be sure of your elevation and declination angle

[boroda1]

Have you tried to aim your dish using Sun?
hxxp://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/AltAz.html
For example, tomorrow, if you aim your dish at Sun exactly at 12:41 PM CST, set motor declination to specs and play a little bit with Dish elevation, you should have a signal from IA-5. Also, make sure to set LNB type in receiver to match your actual LNB type.
For balcony, it would be easier to use sun as a guide instead of compass, because there might be too many metal objects.

[manaman]

Can any one help me finding SBS 6? I am not sure if SBS6 pointing straight to my true south or do i have to move the dish to get it. (really confused). The only reason im trying to find it is beacause some body suggested finding my true south bird first before any other bird, but i don't understand why.I am using a SG 2100 motor with a Mercury II reciver. My lat is 41.5 my longitude is 74. But bird that I am really interested in is Hispasat 30W. My true south should be 193 ,my dish elevation should be 23 degrees and motor latitude should be 42. Please correct me if i have anything wrong. Almost forgot, when the reciver asks me for the kind of positioner, should I use USAL or DiSEqC 1.2? I was told to use USALS, but I want to know what you guys say.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by manaman

Can any one help me finding SBS 6? I am not sure if SBS6 pointing straight to my true south or do i have to move the dish to get it. (really confused). The only reason im trying to find it is beacause some body suggested finding my true south bird first before any other bird, but i don't understand why.I am using a SG 2100 motor with a Mercury II reciver. My lat is 41.5 my longitude is 74. But bird that I am really interested in is Hispasat 30W. My true south should be 193 ,my dish elevation should be 23 degrees and motor latitude should be 42. Please correct me if i have anything wrong. Almost forgot, when the reciver asks me for the kind of positioner, should I use USAL or DiSEqC 1.2? I was told to use USALS, but I want to know what you guys say.

Since your longitude is 74, the sat that is due south of you is the one which is located at that same longitude, and that is SBS6. When you install a motorized system it is recommended to first find your true south sat even if that isn't what you are looking for, because finding that sat allows you to accurately adjust your dish elevation. Setting the motor elevation to a bit over 42 is fine, and a starting point for dish elevation would be a bit more than 24 deg (not 23), but dish elevation can be off considerably, and to accurately set the dish elevation, you need to peak on your due south satellite.

Re USALS or DiseqC1.2, either will work with your hardware, but USALS will certainly be much easier to get you started. You may eventually find that DiseqC might give you better results, but I wouldn't recommend using DiseqC1.2 until you have the system aligned.

[manaman]

Originally Posted by wejones

Since your longitude is 74, the sat that is due south of you is the one which is located at that same longitude, and that is SBS6. When you install a motorized system it is recommended to first find your true south sat even if that isn't what you are looking for, because finding that sat allows you to accurately adjust your dish elevation.

Wejones thank you for you response. But im still a bit confused as to weather I have to move the dish to get SBS6. The reason I say this is since I have it pointing at 193 which is my true South, doesn't moving the dish disaline it from my true south??? I also understand that you told me to try 24 for my dish elevation. Thanks for the help Wejones

[rainman]

Originally Posted by manaman

Wejones thank you for you response. But im still a bit confused as to weather I have to move the dish to get SBS6. The reason I say this is since I have it pointing at 193 which is my true South, doesn't moving the dish disaline it from my true south??? I also understand that you told me to try 24 for my dish elevation. Thanks for the help Wejones

yes you will have to move east and west some to get a lock do to a compass is not that accurate it will get you close then you will have to move a little to get the exact alignment.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by manaman

Wejones thank you for you response. But im still a bit confused as to weather I have to move the dish to get SBS6. The reason I say this is since I have it pointing at 193 which is my true South, doesn't moving the dish disaline it from my true south??? I also understand that you told me to try 24 for my dish elevation. Thanks for the help Wejones

I wasn't sure if by "move the dish to get SBS6" you were referring to rotating the whole mount on the pole (which is what Rainman is referring to), or giving the motor a command to goto that sat using USALS. Both these things are typically done on the south sat, although both will require or result in very little actual movement. In your case, the USALS movement won't result in anything if you enter the same longitude as the sat has. But like Rainman says, moving the whole mount might be necessary due to the innaccuracies of the compass. I'd recommend finding the sat first just by adjusting the dish elevation, and THEN move the whole mount on the pole, otherwise you might get completely lost, and have to start over. After you've peaked on the south sat this way, motor, using USALS to a more distant sat, like the Hispasat you're looking for, and peak this using only the rotating the whole mount on the pole (which will fine tune this adjustment) plus manually bumping the motor east/west using the buttons on the motor, until you get the best possible signal.

[pmb1010]

Here's what happens.

1) align motor at "zero" (centered) and point the whole mess at your "true south" HEADING (193)

2) Using USALS, put in your co-ordinates into the receivers' settings.

3) From there, using USALS to have your dish "move" to SBS6. It won't move very much.

Make sure you have active transponder for SBS6, and hunt for active signal by moving the dish elevation up and down - very slowly.
You might have to move the whole motor side to side a *very* small amount also - but use a marker to put an alighment mark before you do move the motor on pole.

The key thing to remember here is, you're using the USALS calculator to move from "zero" to your "true south Sat" - and it uses it's calculations to get there based on your coordinates. WHen done, all the rest of the satellites [should] now line up and you'll be on the arc.

[manaman]

Wejones thanks once againg, but can you please explain what you are trying to say below . I don't understand

Originally Posted by wejones

After you've peaked on the south sat this way, motor, using USALS to a more distant sat, like the Hispasat you're looking for, and peak this using only the rotating the whole mount on the pole (which will fine tune this adjustment) plus manually bumping the motor east/west using the buttons on the motor, until you get the best possible signal.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by manaman

Wejones thanks once againg, but can you please explain what you are trying to say below . I don't understand

Not easy with drawing a picture. I may try making a graphic later if I can.
However aligning a motorized system is a 3 step process, ie basically 3 angles to set, the declination, the motor elevation, and the north/south alignment of the motor axis. Usually you set the declination (=dish elevation on small offset dish) and/or the motor elevation while peaking on your due south satellite, then you leave this setting alone. The third angle, ie the north/south alignment is usually peaked on a satellite nearer your east or west horizon. You get close to the proper N/S alignment when aiming your system at your due south satellite, but this generally isn't accurate enough to get proper tracking. But you can get good accuracy with this alignment when on a sat to your east or west.

However the problem, is when you run the motor to one of these sats, and try to turn the mount on the pole to do this adjustment, even though the proper adjustment takes you to the arc, some times takes you to a spot on the arc that is no closer to the sat than you were before, ie it might take you to the arc a bit east or west of the sat, so to find out if you are in fact on the arc, you need to peak by moving the motor back and forth. With these small offset dish motors, if the motor's zero is properly centered, this shouldn't happen, and the bumping process isn't necessary, but if the zero position is off, it will.
I generally look at the quality reading for a channel on an extreme satellite, then move the whole mount on the pole by a very small amount, then, using the buttons on the motor peak this signal as good as you can get it. If it gives a better quality reading, then I know I'm moving in the right direction, if not I adjust in the other direction. Usually it only takes a couple adjustments like this to find the arc. With a big dish, I've found that often the proper direction for this adjustment is what seems to give you worse signal when you move the mount on the pole, because with a big dish, you are changing the sync as well as the n/s alignment, and you have originally "found" this sat out of sync. However, with these little offset dishes, you "normally" aren't that far off on sync since you've gone to the sat via USALS rather than going to the max signal, so there is often very little adjustment requirred here, and the bumping process I described may not even be necessary. However, if you happen to have a motor that is out of sync from the factory, then this bumping process can insure that you get to the arc properly even if the motor is out of sync. The out of sync thing with these small motors is basically when the motor isn't really aiming south when it's told to go to zero. My motor was off by a couple degrees. This means that when you tell the motor to go to some sat via USALS, it goes to the wrong place, so you have to do the bumping thing to find out if you are on the arc.
I know I didn't explain that very clearly.

[manaman]

Originally Posted by wejones

starting point for dish elevation would be a bit more than 24 deg (not 23), but dish elevation can be off considerably, and to accurately set the dish elevation, you need to peak on your due south satellite.

IS IT OK TO HAVE MY DEISH ELEVATION ON 20 INSTEAD OF 24???

Hey wejones once againg thanks for your advice. It's been a coiple of days since I haven't written back, since i've been trying to install this dish. And today i'm happy to say that I found my most south bird(SBS 6), but my concern is that the dish elevation I used to get SBS 6 is aprox 20 degrees, not 23 like I calculated nor 24 wejones adviced. This brings me to my first question. Will having my dish elevation set on 20 affect the dish from reciving signal from other birds? Second, when I try to scan Hispasat 30W it says that the positioner is moving, but from what I can see and hear the motor does'nt seem to move. I was trying to move from SBS6 to Hispasat. The motor DOES move fine from AMC6 to SBS6, but does not show some channel that lynsat says are to appaer. My last conern for today is the Transponders. How can I tell which transpoder is active or not? Thanks for the help and support.