Placement of dish

[Caravan72]

Hi folks, the wife wants me to put the dish at the bottom of the garden and not near the front at the side where I want it. I still need to consider this, I've been looking at a Satlex link and found I can calculate the angles of obstacles, the question is how can I use this to work out if obstacles are blocking any of the sky?

and....where can I get good sat cable (coaxial) about 40m?

Cheers

[Mship]

Hi Caravan 72,

Have you tried DishPointer.com » Satellite Dish Pointer / Alignment Calculator with Google Maps

Also, download SAT - Satellite Antenna Alignment (Satellite Dish Alignment)

The last one sounds similar to the Satlex one you mentioned though.

I've used a few different places for cable, I think QVC was the last place but that doesn't mean it's the cheapest or best cable, just that it was handy because I ordered a load of other stuff from their

Kev

[Robbo]

Originally Posted by Caravan72

Hi folks, the wife wants me to put the dish at the bottom of the garden and not near the front at the side where I want it. I still need to consider this, I've been looking at a Satlex link and found I can calculate the angles of obstacles, the question is how can I use this to work out if obstacles are blocking any of the sky?

and....where can I get good sat cable (coaxial) about 40m?

Cheers

Hi,

Once you have used one of the dishpointing calculators and got the elevation and azimuth angles for the centre and the sides of your your arc ( however far you want to go, east and west ( +- 45 degrees is not too bad)), you can use some sort of inclometer to check whether your dish will be able to see over the obstacles. I use a spirit level with an adjustable bubble, or you can use a protractor with a piece of string on the end with a weight attached to it.

Or you can do it by calculation if you know the height and distance of the obstruction.
The angle = arctan (height/distance).

I get wf100 from satcure, he does the 50m reels. Also he sells F-connectors that he specifically matches to it for best fit.

[wod]

for that length of run wf100 or wf125 would be recommended

[Robbo]

Originally Posted by wod

for that length of run wf100 or wf125 would be recommended

Yes good point wod, he would probably be better off with the wf125 with 40m or more. Although at £60 per 100m its not cheap.

[wod]

yeah depends on what satellite dish pointing to and size of dish as well

[Caravan72]

Originally Posted by wod

yeah depends on what satellite dish pointing to and size of dish as well

Hi Guys, thanks for the advice, I must admit I find all these calculations a bit daunting. My dish is a 90cm foretec star and a lifetime 2 reciever.
My 1st choice position at the side of the house near the front has an obstacle angle of 19.2 degrees, at the bottom of the back garden I have a obstacle angle of 16.97 degrees straight in front but to my left with a set back terrace the angle is 23.72 degrees.
A S*y man was fitting a system next door and he said that the dish could be on the ground at the front of the house and still pick up Astra 28.2 so with this and my gut instinct I'll go with my first choice and lower the dish a little so the fence can hide some of it.
Pole arrinving this weekend but have to help the daughter to move house so may have to wait untill next weekend then the questions will begin!

[Robbo]

With any position you have to consider the required elevation angle and not just the azimuth. If your obstacles at the back of your house are far enough away and not too high they won't be a problem.

You could always have a little 'play' and see what you can pick up at the proposed locations, a makeshift tripod mount would do the trick.

If you have a clear line of site to all the satellites you want at the front, then from a technical point of view, yes I agree it sounds like the best option. Just being able to get 28.2E though, does not make this so. Hope your other half doesn't cause you too much grief.

[Caravan72]

Cheers Robbo,
Due south from the bottom of the back garden I'm 24.9 m to the middle of my house which is 7.6m high, then there's a break with a view of flats a little lower then left, the terraced houses are 17.3m to the middle 7.6m high.
The front at the side is 29m to the middle of the flats in front of me and they are 10.1 m high, all these buildings have pitched roofs but at this position it looks better for access to the east sky.
I'm still dithering!

[Robbo]

Ok( I have used Glasgow as your location)

For 1W elevation is 26 degrees,
28.2E it is 20 degrees
42E it is 14.5 degrees
30 W it is 22.5 degrees.

House ( 7.6m,24.9m) = 16.9 degrees
Terraced houses ( 7.6, 17.3m) = 23 degrees

Front of house ( 10m, 29m) = 19 degrees.

So with the dish at a height of 6 foot(1.8m) at the back of the house you should get 28E to 30W

tan-1 ( 5.8/17.3)= 18.5 degrees.

Although the roofs being sloping, means that the tallest bit is a bit futher away (say 2m) making it about 16.5 degrees.

So it is perfectly feasible at the back.

At the front you could mount it say 3 m high so get sat elevations down to 13.5 degrees.

So front, technically easier and better.
Asthetically, up to you.

Robbo