True South

[pbriffa]

I have just got a dish/motor and the setup says I need to first point the motor to TRUE SOUTH... I have a compass and know my Lat/Long which is 539750,170250. It says I can use a compass and the magnetic variation table... No Idea what that is... Can anyone help please..

 

[stevo]

I have just got a dish/motor and the setup says I need to first point the motor to TRUE SOUTH... I have a compass and know my Lat/Long which is 539750,170250. It says I can use a compass and the magnetic variation table... No Idea what that is... Can anyone help please..

first of all make sure the pole is dead straight,or you get the true arc,im no expert but i did my own set up,point the motor true south on a compass this is ovious ly south,true south is a degree or two out from magnetic south,but this is defonutly the right direction,titen the bolts on the motor to the pole,right put your dish on secure that,there should be a line or somthing on the motor to help sqare this off,go in the house and set the motor to goto astra 1,it shouldnt have to move to far,once you have this signal try and get somthing else like hotbird.and so on if you swing round to 30 west or hispasat and thers no signal,try moving dish slightly left or right to see how fare you are out,if this fails just reset motor back to magnetic south and try again with astra 1 or 1 west maybe,it does take time,but as long as that pole is dead straight,and the motors pointing at compass south your 3/4 of the way there,(anybody fell free to correct me,but this is the way i did it and mines been working for 2 years)

good luck!!! stevo

 

[rolfw]

If you are located at 17 degrees east, then you can use Eutelsat 16 East as a reference point.