Dish Alignment -- Ever thought of or done this?

[blucrabbie]

It was one of those sleepless nights at about 1AM and for some reason aligning the satellite dish became a project. I really do not have much difficulty aligning the dish but this came to me as a simple method to set the elevation. I have a level that reads an angle in digits. When daylight arrived I placed a straight edge across the face of the dish to determine the dish angle. Correct elevation at the location was 42.3 degrees. The level measured 69.3 so simply adding 27 degrees to the satellite elevation at your location would accurately set the elevation correctly. Even if the upright mast is not plumb it would not really matter using this method. I was curious if any of you have tried this method. Seems very simple and accurate.

[blucrabbie]

It was one of those sleepless nights at about 1AM and for some reason aligning the satellite dish became a project. I really do not have much difficulty aligning the dish but this came to me as a simple method to set the elevation. I have a level that reads an angle in digits. When daylight arrived I placed a straight edge across the face of the dish to determine the dish angle. Correct elevation at the location was 42.3 degrees. The level measured 69.3 so simply adding 27 degrees to the satellite elevation at your location would accurately set the elevation correctly. Even if the upright mast is not plumb it would not really matter using this method. I was curious if any of you have tried this method. Seems very simple and accurate.

[Sammie]

Blucrabbie, great idea. Where did you buy the level?

[Bill Adams]

You numbers may not be quite accurate for whatever reason. The correct difference is 24 degrees. If the dish was exactly vertical then your dish would be set to 24 degrees elevation. That's the difference set with the LNB offset.

[blucrabbie]

Bill, thanks for the correct offset. I did not do any research to determine the exact offset angle so I appreciate the exact setting. The next time I set the tripod I will add 24 degrees and test it again. When I did this actual test all the transponders were in the upper 90's so if I adjusted it the 3 degrees they may have been even better.

Sammie, it was a gift and is a Sears Craftsman. Here is the info on it but any similar one would work.

Craftsman 10 in. Digital LaserTrac® Level
Sears item# 00948292000 Mfr. model# 48292