North, South,East or West

[Richard-R]

Very confused which direction i will need to have the dish pointing for Astra 2
Logic would say north? But have read south.not to up on 28.2 e of s.If i point my compass north and line up the degree so 0 is north would i be right in thinking about 160 from north.

Many Thanks
Richard( Aude)



1802 (2004 ME THINK'S ALSO)
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour;
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,


Wordworth

[A_Redman]

LAST EDITED ON 04-Feb-04 AT 05:08 PM (GMT)

> would i be right in thinking about 160 from north. Many Thanks
>Richard( Aude) Presume you meant 152 degress ( 180- 28) ?

The Azimuth you need is about 145 degrees ( 35 degrees east of South ) and the inclination is 33 degrees. The satellite has a notional position over the equator betwen Kinshassa and Nairobi.

The inclination and bearing varies as you move South( or North) and East or West.

Mazan posted a good link on this about a month ago.

[JohnM]

The satellites are over the equator and shine a beam onto the UK. If you imagine hanging a torch in the centre of your ceiling, some light will spill all over the room, but there will probably be a bright area in the middle of the beam (point it near to one wall and pretend that it's on the UK). As you get further from the centre of the beam, the intesity reduces... imagine that France is in this area. The same applies to the beam from a satellite. It "shines" onto the UK, but there is a reduced signal in France.

28.2 east of 0 is somewhere near the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. If you were at 0 longitude on the equator you would point your dish exactly east (90). If you were at the North pole you would point your dish 28.2. In France or UK it is always south of you, but the number of degrees east will vary depending on where you are. I wish I could draw this it would be so much simpler. Is that as clear as mud?

John

[gynfreeman]

Not a great deal of help at this time of the year, but due south is midday (GMT) of course, so marking the direction of a shadow from a vertical stick will give you that. If the sun moves 360 deg in 24 hrs, then it must move 15 deg per hour, or .25 deg / minute. Therefore 27.5 e (of s) is 14.00GMT 10 minutes (thats 10 x .25 deg ), or 13.50 GMT.
All you need now is the sun!

In fact, if you sight the sun from the back of the dish down the arm towards the LNB you can get near enough to start with - it won't be accurate, as I don't think the satellites ARE dead on 27.5 deg.