anyone know a good Satellite finder app for android

[MoreWellie]

I had a look on play store but nothing stood out so wondered if anyone had an opinion on what to choose

just want to set up freesat for my son as the house he has moved to has a lot of german channels but nothing in english!

i looked up directions and inclination for 28.2E Astra and it looks straight forward enough to do it without an app but I was curious to see if an app would make it easier

 

[pedrobedro]

I used the web based dishpointer site and a compass to set mine up for freesat but I have a free app called satellite pointer on my 4s that gives you the elevation, azimuth and skew but you get some adverts with it. The app still only gives you the numbers same as the website but it works out your position from GPS instead of inputting your postcode.

 

[MattF]

A decent compass and one of those cheap inline sat meters, (one with an audio tone as well as a scale), will get you up and running in no time. It's easier, and generally more precise, to rely on the audio tone over the scale when aligning.

 

[pedrobedro]

I gave up with the meter. It locks on to the strongest signal but it is not necessarily the one you are looking for.

 

[MattF]

I gave up with the meter. It locks on to the strongest signal but it is not necessarily the one you are looking for.

That's why you use the compass first. If you place it near the LNB arm as you use it, and align the arm against the compass, the meter is just the finishing tweak. I carried a Silva orienteering compass for the job. The design of those gives you a line to sight against.

 

[wookie]

I usually align it roughly with the info from the dishpointer site and then use the signal strength meter on the satellite receiver to align the dish for best performance but it's Catch-22 as you need a signal first to tune in the satellite receiver.... So I either tune in the new receiver first using my dish at home or use an old sky box that is already set to look for Astra 28.2E, the best bit is people are throwing their old sky boxes out for free.

 

[MoreWellie]

job done, used dishpointer site and printed the picture. It would have been useful if we had had a ladder tall enough to see over the garage to the identified alignment points, I already had a meter so once satellite was found it was easy enough to get the strongest signal

minor annoyance in that I cannot find my Silva compass, it was one of the old ones that was actually radioactive as checked using my dads geiger counter. It will turn up some time but I hate having the right tool for the job and then not being able to find it

Thanks all

 

[fixerupper]

Can you find it with the geiger counter ?

 

[pedrobedro]

Can you find it with the geiger counter ?

I tried with a Geiger counter and I was getting nowhere, then it clicked ©