TELEsatélite - TELE-satellite International Magazine

FEATURE
Satellite Installation
iPhone, iPad and iPod Apps
for Antenna Alignment, or:
How your smartphone turns
into a great tool
for DXers and
installers
Thomas Haring
Smartphones are currently turning our mobile
world upside down and have conquered large
segments of the consumer market. They
allow us to not only stay in touch through
conventional phone calls but also to check our
mail, hook up to the Internet, stay up to date
on social networking platforms like Twitter
and Facebook, listen to music, shoot photos
and help us with all sorts of everyday tasks.
Yet, smartphones can also be used in the
professional realm – to help with the installation
of satellite antennas, for example.
If we look at all the shiny smartphones
on offer these days there is one particular
kind that seems to ride a gigantic
wave of success: Of course we’re talking
about the Apple iPhone which – in combination
with the iTunes store – offers
a wealth of additional applications (socalled
apps) to pimp it up.
TELE-satellite has looked at a range of
apps that might be handy with regard to
satellite reception.
DishPointer Compass
and DishPointer Maps
Some issues ago we introduced apps
from DishPointer (TELE-satellite issues
02-03/2008 and 12-01/2010) and obviously
they are featured in this overview
as well.
Both apps specifically deal with satellite
antenna installation and alignment and
they start out with determining the current
location with the help of the iPhone’s
buit-in GPS receiver.
Next, you enter the satellite position
you’d like to receive and the app then
calculates azimuth, elevation and skew
parameters. In theory, these values are
all you ever need to correctly set up your
dish, and most antennas feature a small
scale to help you find the correct position.
But if you don’t have a compass at our
disposal there’s one answer you still need
to find, even though the azimuth angle is
known: In which horizontal direction do
you need to move the antenna?
The DishPointer Maps app provides the
answer by looking up data from Google
Maps. On the phone’s display you see
your location and its surroundings in map
view, satellite view or hybrid view combining
both, with an arrow clearly indicating
which way your satellite antenna should
120 TELE-satellite — Global Digital TV Magazine — 12-01/2011 — www.TELE-satellite.com
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DishPointer Compass superimposes the Clarke Belt on
the camera to create augmented reality
point. Comparing certain striking points
on Google Maps with their real-world
counterparts quickly lets you achieve a
rough alignment of your antenna.
Another aspect that needs to be
addressed – preferably BEFORE starting
with the actual installation job – is evaluating
the local environment. DishPointer
Compass comes into play now as it finds
out whether or not a desired satellite position
can be received at the actual location
and which reception range a motorised
antenna is able to cover. Perhaps there
are trees, buildings or other obstructions
in the way of perfect reception?
After all, it’s of no use to do all the
tricky work and mount an antenna only to
find out afterwards that the signals you’re
looking for don’t reach the LNB.
With DishPointer Compass it’s easy to
avoid such disappointment. It let’s you
know which satellites can be received at