Yep Vin Blanc, the Solarsat Dish was marketed by Solarsat.com, back in 1999, at the time I was working at Sky and Solarsat shipped me a sample for evaluation.
I was impressed, the Dish found the satellite first time every time, a Google for Solarsat Antenna will bring up some images.
A very simple idea, a std ofset 60cm Dish, that had a scale marked on the dish face in Deg East to West and from the LNB to the top of the Dish was a Plastic rod with numbers 1 to 5 molded in for setting of the correct elevation.
Think of a sun dial that was the basic principal.
Once you had located the satellite, the Plastic rod from the LNB could be simply unclipped of.
The Dish came with a CD which you ran on your laptop, all you had to do was enter your address, location and the satellite you want.
The program would give you the Deg, and Number to read of the Dish.
The system was 100% accurate, the only down side was that it needed a clear sunny sky, and the window for set up was from around 11am to 4pm.
Apart from that it was superb, in fact I am surprised that no one else is doing a similar set up for campers, as it could be added to almost any Dish, and the program could be used as an app in this modern age.
Hi Francais, we toyed with an inclinometer type device a few years back but found them to be an added complication if our kits were going to be simple to use, without our users getting bogged down with the science of it.
We find that both our easyfind kits and our standard satfinder kits have enough sensitivity to detect the 'broad' location of the satellite within a few degrees on the elevation so then it's an easy adjustment to fine tune the elevation to get the easyfind 'solid green' or the highest pitch on the satfinder. The beauty with Easyfind is that we pre-set the the kit to lead you to Astra 2 only - ignoring any other satellite. So if it doesn't work on the first 'sweep' just a simple tweak on the elevation will give success on the next! We always start with the dish practically vertical (looking from the side) and adjust upwards after an unsuccessful sweep by a degree or two.
I'll do a video in the coming weeks to demonstrate it from a starting point which is way off target and post it up to the website.
Thanks Darren but, EasyFind for the OP it was not, but I guess he must have got there in the end.
As a supplier of portable satellite equipment, I would have thought the Solarsat Antenna would have been right up your street, it could be worth exploring as you don't even need a reciever or LNB even to correctly align the Dish using the Solarsat method, how simple to do for the layman is that.
Yet another great idea that works, seems to have disappeared into the etha.
Quote: Originally posted by Satgear on 23/5/2016
Hi Francais, we toyed with an inclinometer type device a few years back but found them to be an added complication if our kits were going to be simple to use, without our users getting bogged down with the science of it.
Darren
Hi Satgear, I’m surprised that you thought that using the inclinometer would be difficult for your customers.
The only thing difficult in the method I devised for www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/elevation (Device 1) was actually making and calibrating the elevation mounting bracket to match the dish - That was the difficult part!
Placing an inclinometer onto the bracket and tilting the dish to the required degree of elevation is then so simple that even child can do it.
What’s more, the setting would be 100% accurate first time and would require no further adjustment.
Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not knocking the Satgear system, just surprised that you thought my system too difficult to use?
Vin Blanc (originator of the above)
PS. Darren, Google my write-up "The art of aiming a sat dish" Any comments would be welcome.
Post last edited on 23/05/2016 17:49:31
Post last edited on 23/05/2016 18:28:29
------------- Now retired from active caravanning. - really miss it!
Yep Vin Blanc you make a good point, calibrating the Dish by fitting a plate onto which a Angle Finder can be placed, involves some effort, and you have to find the satellite in the first place, to use as a reference point, but once that's done the Dish is good to go on it's first outing.
Of course some would argue that most satellite Dish's have the elevation marked onto the mounting bracket, but of course those markings are often way out, and only mean anything if the mount is totally plumb.
Yep, I think that ship has sailed, I still have the CD though, and I can't see why a std Dish could not me modified to work in the same way, just a case of getting the markings in the correct place I guess.
The CD obviously works out the positioning from the date and time of year, along with your location, a very clever bit of software.
The Dish went into a skip when we moved and downsized house back in 2013, a bit of a waste but hey ho.
When we get to the campsite, the Dish is the last bit to be set up, a nice easy job, with glass of vin rouge in hand, and the job is usually done early evening, when it gets a bit cooler, being the Cote d Azur in July.
I don't even think Solarsat.com exists as a Chinese company any more, I still have a business card from them, so will see if the email address on that still works, but we are going back almost 17 years!
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Topic: Satellite Sysyems
