On 6/4/2011 5:31 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Sat, 04 Jun 2011 12:26:33 -0500, John
wrote:

On 5/23/2011 5:53 PM, 'Captain' Kirk DeHaan wrote:

This is the repeater I am trying to access, 146.780, K7JEP. I have been
playing with Google Earth and getting coordinates so I can go over to my
neighbors property and stand on the ridge between our properties and see
if I can see the repeater and my house. Hopefully that will help me
locate the suspect trees.


Suspend a heavy object from a rope over level ground. If I have plugged
in the correct numbers, the repeater will be on a line drawn by the
shadow of the rope at 12:55. That is, the repeater will be directly
below the sun at that time.

Maybe you can get an idea of the path to the repeater that way.

73,
John

Clever trick, but methinks I have an easier way. I've sighted 1
degree beamwidth microwave dishes this way:

Easier than what I suggested? Actually, all he has to do is step outside
at 12:54 and look at the Sun's location. (I admit it is more accurate to
do this in the winter.)

1. Place a road map on a flat surface[1]. If you can't find a road
map, print a Google Maps or equivalent road map on a piece of
paper[2].
2. Pound a nail or push pin into the map at your location.
3. Find a distant mountain, that's also visible. Pound a nail into
the map at its location and sight between the two nails to the distant
mountain.
4. Without moving the map, find the distant repeater location on the
map and pound in a 3rd nail or push pin.
5. Sight from the nail at your location, to the nail at the repeater
location. What you see is where it's located.


[1] Yes, the earth really is flat.
[2] When I didn't have a printed map handy, I've used my laptop LCD
screen and 3ea flat head screws.

I am afraid I cannot tell whether items [1] and [2] are just screwing
with me or that you are sincere.

John

On 6/4/2011 5:39 PM, John S wrote:
On 6/4/2011 5:31 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

By the way, Jeff, you have a great deal to offer the group by way of
your vast experience. If I have been disrespectful of that, then I
apologize.

73,
John

On Sat, 04 Jun 2011 17:39:03 -0500, John S
wrote:

Easier than what I suggested? Actually, all he has to do is step outside
at 12:54 and look at the Sun's location. (I admit it is more accurate to
do this in the winter.)

Well, your method only works at exactly 12:54PM, requires remembering
daylight savings time, requires dark glasses to avoid blindness, works
badly in fog, need to get it right the first time, and offers no way
to document the results. At 12:54PM, the sun is almost directly over
head with no point of reference, as you would have at the horizon.
Manually translating the sun's overhead direction, to azimuth at the
horizon, requires considerable guesswork. A plumb line might helpful.

Incidentally, trees are a very real problem with antenna sighting:
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/DBS/index.html
That's my view of the DirecTV bird at 101 degrees. The photos were
taken during the bi-annual solar outage, where the sun gets behind the
satellite belt.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_outage
Note the branch shadows on the dish, which are blocking the signal.

[1] Yes, the earth really is flat.
[2] When I didn't have a printed map handy, I've used my laptop LCD
screen and 3ea flat head screws.

I am afraid I cannot tell whether items [1] and [2] are just screwing
with me or that you are sincere.

As far as this measurement is concerned, the earth is essentially flat
over fairly small areas. No spherical geometry required. Even the
United Nations has adopted the flat earth map for its flag.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Flag_of_the_United_Nations.svg
Antarctica is a collection of icicles around the outer edge.

The 2nd item is for real. I was on top of a mountain, trying to aim a
dish without a map. I had Street Atlas USA v5 on my then ancient
Toshiblah 100CS laptop, which I used for my initial bearing. Other
than having a difficult time holding the laptop, problems viewing the
screen in the sunlight, and too short a base line, it worked.

By the way, Jeff, you have a great deal to offer the group by way of
your vast experience. If I have been disrespectful of that, then I
apologize.

Thanks and not a problem. You have a long way to go before such
comments become a problem.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558