Help please to accurately find Eutelsat 7W sat position with a magnetic compass.

FREETV

According to Lyngsat the azimuth for Balbriggan for 7W is 181.4 degrees but I am wondering where exactly to find it on a small engineers directional compass and how to allow for the four degrees or so difference between magnetic and true readings. I presume that I just look for the azimuth mentioned above on the compass to find the satellite position for the dish? There is no reading for 7W on the magnetic compass.

snaps

your best bet is to align to 8 west first. much much stronger. A compass really is no good. You need a proper satellite meter.

Ronnie Raygun

A meter won't tell you where to look in the 1st place. However, something like dishpointer can be as much use as a compass for this purpose. 7 - 8 degrees west isn't far off due south in eastern Ireland.

PogMoThoin

Put it in here
http://www.dishpointer.com/

FREETV

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Put it in here
http://www.dishpointer.com/

I cannot find my house with that unfortunately, living in the sticks.

PogMoThoin

FREETV wrote: »

I cannot find my house with that unfortunately, living in the sticks.

Why not, it's Google Maps? You could always pick somewhere near, it wouldn't be that far off.

Ronnie Raygun

Dishpointer is only any real use if you're in the high-res. areas, allowing easy location of landmarks for aiming the dish. "Somewhere near" is no good for that purpose.

PogMoThoin

Ronnie Raygun wrote: »

Dishpointer is only any real use if you're in the high-res. areas, allowing easy location of landmarks for aiming the dish. "Somewhere near" is no good for that purpose.

Why not, The difference between Balbriggan and somewhere more east like Lucan is .3 of a degree

Address: Balbriggan Dublin
Latitude: 53.6083°
Longitude: -6.1821°

Satellite: 7.3W EUTELSAT 7 West A
Elevation: 28.8°
Azimuth (true): 181.4°
Azimuth (magn.): 185.4°

Address: Lucan Dublin
Latitude: 53.3572°
Longitude: -6.4498°

Satellite: 7.3W EUTELSAT 7 West A
Elevation: 29.0°
Azimuth (true): 181.1°
Azimuth (magn.): 185.2°

Ronnie Raygun

That's not the point. You can get map info. & satellite az./el. from a no. of sites. I go to dishpointer for the line on the map that gives me a landmark to point the dish at & you have to get a decent hi-res. image of the location concerned for that purpose.

FREETV

Ronnie Raygun wrote: »

That's not the point. You can get map info. & satellite az./el. from a no. of sites. I go to dishpointer for the line on the map that gives me a landmark to point the dish at & you have to get a decent hi-res. image of the location concerned for that purpose.

So true Ronnie, I cannot even make out the houses, farm buildings, sheds etc the resolution is so poor, I'll just have to be patient tomorrow.

PogMoThoin

You haven't a hope of tuning it without a meter though, compass is only for the general direction

FREETV

PogMoThoin wrote: »

You haven't a hope of tuning it without a meter though, compass is only for the general direction

I will try the Satellite Director application.