I have to agree with Clint on this... don't overthink it. You only need a
compass or a map
to give you an idea where North is. If you have the antenna hand-held
or on a small tripod, you will use it more with your ears than eyes, like a
metal detector,
but pointed at the sky --- sweep back
Here's a quick and dirty trick for estimating elevation I learn in an astronomy
club. I'm pretty average so it works great for me.
Extend your arm position your hand facing back at you. On average, supposedly,
each finger width represents 2 degrees. Hence each hand span, including thumb,
is 10
... The other thought is that I have what I call a ball compass ...
Jimmy - do not over-think this.
The AMSAT data page you are using gives you the AOS (acquisition) and LOS (loss
of signal) compass points.
Just visualize those in your mind, and look at the compass point for the MAX
ALT.
I have one of these, it is cheap and works great. Mine is black for some
reason. Or you can just wave it around till you hear something.
http://www.amazon.com/Johnson-Level-Tool-700-Magnetic/dp/B4T807/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8qid=1339263365sr=8-1
73 W9KE Tom Doyle
On Sat, Jun 9, 2012 at 12:02 PM,
To measure elevation you can buy a simple elevation gauge or protractor.
Eyeballing the elevation should get you within 10 degrees of the
actual elevation which is well within the beam width of your antennas.
When using headphones it's easy to peak the antennas by ear. Simply
wave the
