26 Jun 08 03:45, Richard Webb wrote to Roy Witt:

 ML>> i thought that was what the big dipper was for? ;)

 RW>> According to the photo that Roger sent me; the North star is the
 RW>> last star in the Little Dipper's handle. The Big Dipper's two stars
 RW>> that form the end of the cup, form a straight line that points at
 RW>> that star. I can't see the Little Dipper because of the lights, but
 RW>> I can see the Big Dipper and find the North Star using the above.

 RW> THat trick was something my xyl (wife for the non-hams) knew.  Before
 RW> we moved into this small town I was starting to make arrangements to
 RW> get my tri-band directional antenna up on the tower. ONly trouble is,
 RW> roads nor anything else runs square with the cardinal directions out
 RW> there, and we're in the woods.  I had a fairly good idea of my
 RW> cardinal directions, just from the feeling of the sun on my body etc.
 RW> sO the old blind man was thinking about getting a compass and going
 RW> that route.

I knew a blind CB operator back in the 60s who had the same problem.
Stacked 'Moonracker' antennas and no reference to north. Last I heard of
him, he's a HAM now and probably has the same problems.

 RW> THe wife went outside one clear night, found the dipper, pointed me
 RW> to due north toward the north star and I was able to then tie a stick
 RW> onto the tower which pointed away from the radio tower toward due
 RW> north.

Being a seeing person, I have a different method. I walk south side of my
antennas until I can line up the North star with them. I then place a
stake in the ground for reference in daylight. That stick is due south of
my antennas. I then synchronize both norths on the rotor controll box and
then set it to south. I mark the south side of the antenna pole with a
felt tip pen, then mount the rotor on the antenna pole. When I install the
antenna I point it south and tighten it in place.

 RW> wIth any directional antenna on a rotator I"m real concerned with
 RW> directional accuracy.  WIth high frequency it's not as important as
 RW> beamwidths are fairly wide, but if you're doing vhf and uhf such as
 RW> TV signals a degree or two either side and it's no signal time.

I've really got to get with the program. My antennas are mounted in the
plumbing breather pipe and the wind turned it a few degrees off of where I
had it set and I lost almost all of the channels. My day off today, so I
guess I better get with it.

                R\%/itt



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