"Dave Heil" wrote in message
...
Bob Miller wrote:
On Tue, 20 Nov 2007 04:20:23 GMT, "JERD"
wrote:

To track a celestial body like the sun, you may need an equitorial
mount as is used on telescopes. Do a Google search on that type of
mount, to see what it is. And then, if you can combine it with a TV
rotator, voila...

There is a simple, elegant and more expensive means: Buy a Yaesu az/el
rotor as for satellite operation. Connect the control box through a
SASI tracker or similar device and use Nova or some other sat tracking
program. Almost all of the Keplerian element lists include the sun.

Dave Heil K8MN

Yes, but I do believe it's overkill. The payback is in forever-land when
you're making a few dollars worth of juice per year. (Of course, if it's a
learning exercise, then the cost need not be a concern.)

More to the point, I did some checking on this very thing with a guy I know
who does EME and I can confirm it: The antenna auto-track software commonly
has the sun and moon ready to go. I wondered why at first, not so much for
the moon, but for the sun. Then he explained that the sun is an alignment
shortcut. i.e, if you set your rig to follow the sun, you can then
mechanically refine its alignment to the sun and it will presumably be
correct, as to its azimuth and elevation. Then, any other pointing it does
will presumably also be correct.

People who have actually done this, or been close-by, should feel free to
jump in if there is more that needs to be said.