From: slwork@netcom.com (Steve Work) Subject: Find location for dish with the sun Message-ID: Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 22:02:26 GMT The best way to figure out a suitable location for your dish is at the time the sun lines up with the satellites. There are only 2 times a year, in March and October, when you can do this. At the appropriate time of day, the places where the sun is shining are where you can put a dish, and shadows are where one won't work. Nothing is easier to do, but you only get 2 chances a year to do this. Anyone considering getting a dish ought to try this, and take a few pictures at the right time. Answers the questions about trees, buildings, use out of a window, etc. Anyone who wants to include this in a DBS FAQ or website is welcome to do so. Someone asked me to calculate the times for EIII and EIV, too. This is a little more complex because they are close to the horizon. I will see what I can do in the next couple weeks. ------------------------------------------------------------ X.X.X How can I use the sun to determine a location for my dish? During the early parts of the months of March and October, the sun lines up with the satellites which broadcast the DBS signals. This occurs in the the early afternoon, and is an ideal situation for determining if trees, buildings, etc. are blocking the view to your dish, or the place where you propose to put one. In early March, the dates are March 4-8, the further south in the US you are the later in this period the times are ideal. The time of day, according to your time zone in the US, is as follows: DSS Echostar Pacific (PST) 10:45am 12:05pm Mountain (MST) 11:55am 1:15pm Central (CST) 1:00pm 2:20pm Eastern (EST) 2:15pm 3:35pm In early October, the dates are October 4-8, the further north in the US you are the later in this period the times are ideal. The time of day, according to your time zone, is as follows: DSS Echostar Pacific (PDT) 11:20am 12:40pm Mountain (MDT) 12:30pm 1:50pm Central (CDT) 1:35pm 2:55pm Eastern (EDT) 2:50pm 4:10pm These times are not exact, but are within 5-10 minutes for almost everywhere. A more exact calcuation would be very complex and would require a computer program. As long as your dish is not sitting right against a sun/shade boundary you will be fine. Another way of calculating it is this: Start with 1:00pm Central (standard) time (spring), or 1:35pm Central (daylight) time (fall). Correct for your time zone. If you're on the west coast, move 15 minutes earlier, on the east coast 15 minutes later, if you're in the central US, make no change. Or adjust in a similar manner for your location, like if you are halfway between central and eastern US, add 8 minutes. This will be the time for DSS. For Echostar, add 1 hour 20 minutes. Should agree closely with times shown above. If you can't go outside on the exact date, try to go out as close as practical. Within a week is fine. 2-3 weeks will give you an idea. Remember that every day the sun gets higher in the spring and lower in the the fall, so you might want to consider this. In the summer or winter, you could get a rough idea close to these times, but keep in mind that the sun is about 25 degrees higher up than the sats in summer and about 15 degrees lower in the winter. Like at 2:00pm in the summer you can still find out which side of the house would suitable for a dish. For satellites other than DSS, use this correction. DSS is at 101 degrees west, Echostar is at 119 degrees west. The sun moves west at about 1 degree every 4 minutes. So you can adjust the times accordingly. For example, Alphastar is at 89 degrees west, 12 degrees east of DSS, so you could subtract 48 minutes from the DSS times to get the times for Alphastar. At the precise time the sun lines up with your dish, your signal will be weakened, but most 18-inch dishes will not be affected. However, at some other time on the same range of days you might lose a channel for awhile. Other satellites are used to relay DSS programming and these satellites might be affected by the sun.