Compass for sat dishes

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Hi I am trying to find some sort of compass app/ digital compass that can used without a satellite dish affecting it.
 
I can't see how it could be possible if using magnetic fields, they are always going to be distorted somewhat by metal objects like dishes.
 
I tried the compass app on my iPhone the other week and it worked quite well until I went anywhere near the dish (which I found odd because I thought the compass app used GPS)
 
Some phones have built in compasses. GPS isn't much use for direction finding unless you are moving, and even then it can't show the direction your phone is pointing in, just the direction you are travelling in.
 
What you need instead is a dish that won't affect the compass. Like a fibreglass one.
 
But doesn't that still have a metal base in the fibreglass to reflect the signals? Plus the mount can be a problem too.
 
There seem to be several for Windows phones/Android/i pads and i phones etc. I guess they use gps and the orientation of your phone somehow. (Not having a smart phone of any kind, I'm a bit hazy about this).

Certainly you can't use a magnetic compass near a dish, even a fibreglass one has a metallic layer I believe. I've never used a compass to set up a dish, relying on a meter of some sort instead.
 
I've found that compasses give wildly inaccurate results when in close proximity to buildings regardless of whether there is an evident mass of metal present. A fairly pointless exercise, IMHO.

Surely Dishpointer is a far better resource?
 
The compass is quite useless but you can use landmarks. The red line points to 19E :)
 

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If you don't have a smart phone you can find a landmark with your PC ;)

www.dishpointer.com/


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Yes, sorry, forgot about the metal base and the mount. Would aluminium affect the magnetic field?

But, yes, agree with others re dishpointer.
 
smoggy07 said:
I tried the compass app on my iPhone the other week and it worked quite well until I went anywhere near the dish (which I found odd because I thought the compass app used GPS)
Click to expand...
That was my point, it's gps based.
 
GPS can only pin point you to a point on earth not tell your phone which way it is looking. You need a compass in the phone to do that.
 
I've just found this on one of the crapple sites

They primarily use a magnetometer chip to sense the the earth's field relative to the device. The chip senses the field in three directions, and from that can figure where the magnetic field pointing north is. It can also detect direction of movement with accelerometers and GPS.

Answered by Brodyn W from Perth
  • 23-May-2013
hxxp://store.apple.com/uk/question/answers/iphone/is-the-compass-in-my-iphone-magnetic-or-gps-generated/QFJAXH2FFTU9A9X7X
Click to expand...

I never knew that
 
smoggy07 said:
I've just found this on one of the crapple sites



I never knew that
Click to expand...
Smartphones with a compass feature use what is described in your quote (electronic compass on a chip). This is sometimes also found in up-scale digital watches.
Smart-phones also have built-in inclonometers (mechanical, but almost on-a-chip - they come in a package you either surface mount or solder to the edge of the PCB along with the rest of the electronics. This is used for many things, not just to provide a compass, but e.g. to turn display on if phone is moved suddenly (e.g. taken away from ear so the screen can be interacted with). They are also used in device the monitor windows being opened, container doors being opened etc.
These features are what disphpointer-the-app uses to make the augmented reality display shoing where the sats are.
I find you get resonable results, even when holding phone next to metallic dish.
But for correct alignment, I use a dish and a meter, and some patience... ;)
 
Don't stand so close to the dish, about ten feet away would work fine.
 
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