How many inches equal one degree?

[trillion]

Hey folks...

I just set up a Satworks receiver to get Free To Air channels. Here I am in an apartment in Bloomington, Indiana with a window facing south. The numbers are: longitude -86 31 54.01 and latitude 39 09 53.00

I have AMC4 at 101 degrees west tuned in just fine, but I'm trying to tune into Telstar 6 transponder 7 at 93 degrees west. About how many inches should I rotate my dish to get to Telstar 6?

I've debated about buying a satellite finder, but I'm told the finder will only signal when the satellite is locked in which is also accomplished with a blind scan. Is this true, and is it worth investing in a finder? Can anyone recommend a good satellite finder? Thank you!!!

[bobkat]

Not sure how many inches you need to move the dish as we don't usually talk about inches -- we use degrees. I have no idea how many inches equals 1 degree. Move you dish 8 degrees east -- so that would be in reference to you standing behind the dish.

As for signal finders, don't bother. Just use the FTA receiver itself. Make sure you tune it to an active transponder on Telstar 6. The blind scan feature in your receiver has nothing to do with finding signal. As for those little "beeper" satellite finders, they do not work reliably with FTA satellites.

kat

[trillion]

Kat-

Thanks for the reply! Don't think I'll bother with the signal finder. I've been, for the most part, playing a guessing game using only a protractor and the blind scan funtion on the receiver and have had success pulling in a few other signals too.Though these where scrambled. No luck with Telstar 6 yet. Eight degrees is just a hair east from my current location. I'll try 8 degrees east again then post any further details.

Are the degrees laid out on the protractor the degrees I should refer to when positioning the satellite 8 degrees east or am I dealing with another type of meassurement here? :?

-trillion

[bobkat]

Originally Posted by trillion

Are the degrees laid out on the protractor the degrees I should refer to when positioning the satellite 8 degrees east or am I dealing with another type of meassurement here? :?

-trillion

I guess, yeah. 360 degrees is full circle so 8 degrees on the compass would be 8 degrees on a protractor. But take my advice - ditch the protractor - just grab the dish and nudge it a bit east. If you don't get a signal on T6 then tweak the elevation a couple of degrees; first up 1 degree then down 1 degree.

kat

BTW: You're not trying to aim the dish through the glass window are you?

[trillion]

Got it! No, the window is open with only the window screens in place. I get no Signal through the glass window.

Thanks,
-trillion