Taken a VAST Plunge

[Wilbor]

The elevation of the satellite ALWAYS remains the same. Only the direction (Left or right etc) is the problem one.
How about locating one of those small caravan spirit levels on the top of the dish to set the level & then just swing right or left in the direction to the right of North?
It's easy for me! The top deck of the houseboat is always level............ I just need a quick look at the compass & then some minor adjustments.

Bruce, I don't understand?? My tables have an elevation range from 43 in Tasmania to 72 at Thursday Isl

[Wilbor]

Russell so what was the brand of this finder and where did you get it.

Dirk

I have a "Digital Satellite Finder" SF-500. It only 'finds' the Vast satellite which is also the Foxtel satellite. You can program it for others if needed but it came pre-programmed for Vast. I have used a standard satellite finder and this one leaves it for dead. Audible tone and signal strength bar graphs make it easy as

[Craig]

I thought that was a funny comment from Bruce, but I figured he is correct if you don't move around the country .

[Wilbor]

I thought that was a funny comment from Bruce, but I figured he is correct if you don't move around the country .

Good point, the azimuth wouldn't need changing either As a matter of fact you'd only need to set it up once and forget it, provided a cyclone didn't send the dish on its merry way

[BruceS]

Well I was wrong. At least I admit it!
All the way from Murray Bridge right up to Morgan & back & never altered the elevation once.
I left it sitting on the floor of the top deck & simply swivelled it in the direction of the satellite.
In hindsight it MAY have improved the reception a little if I had tweaked it.... but I doubt it as digital reception appears to be either good or non existent.
Lucky you corrected me as I'm in the process of working out a motor driven rotator along these lines.
http://www.track-it-tv.com/

[dapope]

Elevation alters less in a similar arc to the satellite compared to travelling across the arc. Distance makes a bit of a difference too!

[Wilbor]

Well I was wrong. At least I admit it!
All the way from Murray Bridge right up to Morgan & back & never altered the elevation once.
I left it sitting on the floor of the top deck & simply swivelled it in the direction of the satellite.
In hindsight it MAY have improved the reception a little if I had tweaked it.... but I doubt it as digital reception appears to be either good or non existent.
Lucky you corrected me as I'm in the process of working out a motor driven rotator along these lines.
http://www.track-it-tv.com/

Bruce, I have a mate with one of those track-it setups, he has a steel boat and the magnetic interference is too much for it to cope while swinging on an anchor, he has taken it off and I'm sure would sell it if you are interested

[BruceS]

Thanks Rob! Perhaps PM me with a rough idea of what he'd want for it so I can consider my options.
I've got a very low geared 12V elec motor that came out of a large printer & is reversible in direction that I was looking at.
I considered mounting the dish alongside the TV antenna so depending on which I wanted to watch, they'd both move at the same time.
A bit like horses mounted on a merry go round!!!

[Wilbor]

I'll give him a ring. This beastie, once locked onto the satellite, keeps the dish at the same azimuth so if you were swinging slightly it stays locked onto the sat.

[Kelvin12]

Funny I was looking into making up a DIY tracker dish but gave the idea away because of the elevation thing and the twisting of the LNB. There is a heap of DIY stuff on the net.

Dirk