I would like to see the picture. If no one else is interested you can
email the picture. My email is in the clear.


On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 20:33:16 -0700 (PDT), "Sal M. Onella"
wrote:


There's a lot of sports programming available in the clear, both
analog and digital. On a far west C-band satellite (135-degrees West,
I think) I could still get the Alaska network digital feeds until
recently in San Diego. ( I took down my 10-foot C-band dish a few
years ago, so my knowledge is getting stale.)

Much info is available on skyvision.com and satelliteguys.us . Also
see lyngsat.com and sadoun.com . The science of cataloging what's
available is not perfected, as the programmers don't care that we know
what's on -- unless we're paying customers. :-(

The fun is building the gear, especially antennas and mounts. I hand-
built a geometrically-correct polar mount out of the pipe from a
DirecTV wall mount and an ordinary TV antenna rotor. It tracked the
arc perfectly for a small Ku dish. I still have it and I'll post a
picture if anybody wants to see it.

I hope this helps.

"Sal"
John Ferrell W8CCW

On Aug 13, 10:27*am, John Ferrell wrote:
I would like to see the picture. If no one else is interested you can
email the picture. My email is in the clear.

On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 20:33:16 -0700 (PDT), "Sal M. Onella"





wrote:
There's a lot of sports programming available in the clear, both
analog and digital. *On a far west C-band satellite (135-degrees West,
I think) I could still get the Alaska network digital feeds until
recently in San Diego. ( I took down my 10-foot C-band dish a few
years ago, so my knowledge is getting stale.)

Much info is available on skyvision.com and satelliteguys.us . *Also
see lyngsat.com and sadoun.com . *The science of cataloging what's
available is not perfected, as the programmers don't care that we know
what's on -- unless we're paying customers. *:-(

The fun is building the gear, especially antennas and mounts. * I hand-
built a geometrically-correct polar mount out of the pipe from a
DirecTV wall mount and an ordinary TV antenna rotor. *It tracked the
arc perfectly for a small Ku dish. *I still have it and I'll post a
picture if anybody wants to see it.

I hope this helps.

"Sal"

John Ferrell W8CCW

OK. I dug it out and I'll snap some pix later.

Questions: Do you understand the geometry involved in a polar mount?
How about the concept of declination, whereby you compensate for the
fact that you are not on the Equator? When I bought my 10-foot dish
(1986) it came with instructions that included a table of declination
vs. latitude and a corresponding adjustment scale on the mount
itself. With a do-it-yourself dish, you have to "do it yourself." hi
hi.

I ask because the web has a number of tutorials on the subject of
backyard dishes. If you don't already have the knowledge, you may
wish to search now. Not a big deal, but if you fail to apply the
correction, you can't track the arc faithfully.

On the side: We are discussing herein a polar mount, whose operation
adjusts azimuth and elevation simultaneously. There is also an AZ-EL
mount that permits you to manually aim at each satellite, based on
pointing info derived for your location. Simpler, but not much fun
to build.

"Sal"
KD6VKW
(Vicious Killer Weasel)

On Aug 13, 10:27*am, John Ferrell wrote:
I would like to see the picture. If no one else is interested you can
email the picture. My email is in the clear.

John Ferrell W8CCW

OK, I sent two pictures in a private email to your address on
qrz.com. For some reason, I only see part of your email address
here. (My email provider discontinued Newsgroups this year and I'm
still getting the hang of Google Groups. Maybe I should try Yahoo
Groups or pay for a real NG server.)

"Sal"

On Sat, 14 Aug 2010 22:27:13 -0700 (PDT), "Sal M. Onella"
wrote:

or pay for a real NG server.

Try:
http://www.forteinc.com/apn/index.php

for $3 a month you get 12 Gigabytes download capacity.

At the rate I draw from that capacity (in the Kilobytes) I should have
to pay a penny a year instead - but they don't offer that kind of
plan.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

I got them!
I think it will be a while but I am slowly accumulating stuff for the
project. I am especially interested in how mechanical problems are
handled.

I use a few concrete blocks on my antenna projects too!

Thanks for the info,

On Sat, 14 Aug 2010 22:27:13 -0700 (PDT), "Sal M. Onella"
wrote:

On Aug 13, 10:27*am, John Ferrell wrote:
I would like to see the picture. If no one else is interested you can
email the picture. My email is in the clear.

John Ferrell W8CCW

OK, I sent two pictures in a private email to your address on
qrz.com. For some reason, I only see part of your email address
here. (My email provider discontinued Newsgroups this year and I'm
still getting the hang of Google Groups. Maybe I should try Yahoo
Groups or pay for a real NG server.)

"Sal"
John Ferrell W8CCW

On Aug 15, 11:48*am, John Ferrell wrote:
I got them!
I think it will be a while but I am slowly accumulating stuff for the
project. I am especially interested in how mechanical problems are
handled.

I use a few concrete blocks on my antenna projects too!

Thanks for the info,

John Ferrell W8CCW

You're welcome. The OP said his dish was 2.5m; how big is yours? Or
do you have one yet?

I had a 2m solid dish for a few years (unused) and finally gave it
away. That thing was heavy. I never had the whole mount for it --
just a tripod frame off the back of the dish -- so I can't offer any
direct suggestions. One idea, if you have a communications company
nearby, like the area cable-tv provider, maybe a friendly tech will
let you into their yard, where you can examine how their dishes
mount. Just a thought.

My other dish, a ten-foot mesh unit with which I watched premium
programs for fifteen years, is now in EME service a few miles from
here. Are you thinking EME?

"Sal"