Fair enough, but what the picture doesn't show you is this is the antenna I was pointed at: http://plane.gritch.org/plane/tn/2013-09-08%2013.35.49.jpg.html I was only a bit further away from where I took this photo. So the angle was correct for my location (and yes, I did pan around quite a bit to make sure I had the strongest signal). I was looking up at the tower from where I was standing. Not too hard to sight in from that distance, no compass required. So do I need to have my MAC address added to a table somewhere for this to work, or is my problem elsewhere? On Sat, Oct 5, 2013 at 9:41 AM, Tom Hayward <esarfl@gmail.com> wrote:
On Sat, Oct 5, 2013 at 9:26 AM, Jeff Francis™ <jeff@gritch.org> wrote:
http://plane.gritch.org/plane/tn/2013-09-08%2014.18.42.jpg.html
If you look in the back of the truck, you can see precisely the same antenna setup that Tom is using laying on top of the spare tire (next to the stool). From the park, I was close enough I just propped the antenna up and did it that way. No need for the tripod (and the strange looks from other park-goers).
From that photo, I can tell you that it won't work. You're aimed at the sky. The beamwidth of these dishes is very narrow and they must be aimed precisely in both azimuth and elevation.
Here's my algorithm for aiming: - First, I calculate the bearing from my current location to a HamWAN site (your APRS client should be able to do this for you with the HamWAN* objects). - Then I sight that bearing with my compass. - With the Poynting on the tripod mast, I sight down the feedhorn of the Poynting and line it up with the same landmark I spotted with the compass, being sure to keep the feedhorn level in the elevation axis. - At this point the signal LEDs on the modem have usually registered something (I'm connected) and I can pan and tilt slightly in each directly to maximize signal.
This works really well for me because I have a sighting compass accurate to 1 degree and I know how to use it. Another technique is to plot the path on Google Earth and look for landmarks along the path. I've done this and sighted "between the two water towers." This technique requires more patience and panning.
This is microwave. It's a lot harder to get a signal than VHF, but it's really satisfying when you do (and faster than 1200 baud!).
Tom KD7LXL
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-- -=jeff=-