Look Angle vs. Elevation - Does Satellite beam signal high..

Archived from groups: alt.satellite.tv,rec.video.satellite.dbs (More info?)

I recall reading that a Direct TV satellite dish actually recieves the
signal from the satellite at an angle that's higher then the dishes
angle.

My dish needs to be at pointed at 33 degrees elevation. Is the "look
angle" higher then this angle and by how much? I thought the actual
signal comes in at a higher angle, reflects off the dish, and onto the
LNB pickup.

So if the dish is at 33 degrees, what is the angle of the satellite
beam?

I need to clear some trees so need the angle to the satellite vs angle
of the dish.

Archived from groups: alt.satellite.tv,rec.video.satellite.dbs (More info?)

dave wrote:
>
> I recall reading that a Direct TV satellite dish actually recieves the
> signal from the satellite at an angle that's higher then the dishes
> angle.
>
> My dish needs to be at pointed at 33 degrees elevation. Is the "look
> angle" higher then this angle and by how much? I thought the actual
> signal comes in at a higher angle, reflects off the dish, and onto the
> LNB pickup.
>
> So if the dish is at 33 degrees, what is the angle of the satellite
> beam?
>
> I need to clear some trees so need the angle to the satellite vs angle
> of the dish.

You can get the Az and elevation for a location at
http://www.dbsforums.com/azel.html and if that (or your receiver) says
the elevation is 33 degrees, it means that the signal will be coming in
at that angle. The arm holding the LNB isn't pointing at that angle -
the arm will be over 20° LOWER in elevation. When the dish is at a 33°
elevation, the arm will only be 11-12° elevation from the ground. The
"arm elevation" isn't ever used. You don't want to point the arm at
33°, you want to use the elevation scale on the dish. What you remember
reading is that the dish reflecting to the LNB is higher than the
elevation of the arm itself.

We are coming up on solar conjunction time and in a couple weeks, you
could just look at the sun at the precise time for your long and lat to
see exactly where each satellite is located. It would be an excellent
time to check if you are going to cut trees.
http://perso.numericable.fr/~gjullien/satellite.htm will give you the
date and time when the sun (and/or the moon) will next be at the
appropriate Az and/or elevation. If you enter your Long/Lat into the
Java applet and select 101 WEST for the Satellite, then click Calc 1st
date, I get Oct 7th as the 1st day the sun will be exactly at the right
Az AND elev but today at 10:40, the sun will be at the right elevation
(wrong Az). It lists other times when the sun/moon will be close to
either Az or elev. Repeat for other sat locations you want to get.

--

Bill Henley

Archived from groups: alt.satellite.tv,rec.video.satellite.dbs (More info?)

"dave" <davefr@gmail.com> wrote in news:1127227037.473635.160080
@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:

> I recall reading that a Direct TV satellite dish actually recieves the
> signal from the satellite at an angle that's higher then the dishes
> angle.
>

To the face of the dish, yes, the satellite is higher.

> My dish needs to be at pointed at 33 degrees elevation. Is the "look
> angle" higher then this angle and by how much? I thought the actual
> signal comes in at a higher angle, reflects off the dish, and onto the
> LNB pickup.
>


The guage on your dish is calibrated to account for the offset of the dish,
so you set the dish to the guage making the charts/calculators give.
33 degrees is the actual angle you the top of the dish looks at.