When setting up and aiming a satellite dish three settings are very important to finding the satellite target - azimuth, elevation and skew / tilt.  If you have a plumb mast on your tripod, the elevation and skew / tilt settings should be fairly close to the markings stamped into the frame of the satellite dish, with just a little tweaking to max the signal.

The azimuth setting is not quite so predictable as it requires using a compass to find the correct heading.  If there is no outside interference with the compass reading, then this setting is pretty straight forward when using our eZee-Aim© system.  Just point the tripod, install the dish and you are almost right on target.

However, there are often outside influences, either natural or man-made, that can and will effect the needle of the compass to pull it away from pointing directly at magnetic North.  These influences can be the steel in your RV or tow vehicle that might be parked nearby, metal fencing around the site, high tension electrical wires overhead, even ore deposits underground.  All of these things, and more, can deflect the compass needle as much as 20 to 25 degrees.

In preparing this article I performed a small experiment to see if I could find a way around this problem by shielding the compass from the source of interference.  I held a small pocket magnet about 10" from the compass to pull the compass needle off the mark.   Then I inserted a heavy aluminum griddle between the magnet and the compass to see if I could block the magnetic field.  The test failed.  Magnetic fields do not travel in a straight line.  Instead, they form a "field" around the objects the are effecting.  I would need to encase the compass completely within a box to have the effect I want, but that is not a viable solution.

It would seem there is no easy solution to this problem. Try to stay far away from objects that can effect the compass when setting up the tripod.  Just being aware that it can happen will make it less frustrating when you aim the dish and there is no signal.  On those occasions, be prepared to swing the dish both left and right, maintaining the correct elevation, until you hit the signal.

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                         NEW PRODUCTS

We have been very busy this past month developing two new products to our line.  Actually, one new product and one re-designed product.

We re-designed the mast assembly that is included in our Heavy-Duty Tripod, Heavy-Duty Combo, Apartment / Condo Renter's, and Heavy-Duty Mast Assembly packages.  The original mast used a galvanized pipe as the base and was clad in PVC.The re-designed mast is machined from solid aluminum and will provide even greater aiming accuracy and weather resistance.  See photo to the right.

We are also introducing our new Medium-Duty Tripod.  The new tripod has many of the popular features of our Heavy-Duty model -- removable, easily adjustable mast, eZee-Aim scale, adjustable legs, and sturdy construction.

The legs of the Medium-Duty Tripod are twice the size of our Standard-Duty Model making it an ideal choice for those RVers mounting a single or dual LNB dish for year-round use.  It is not intended for use with the larger, high-definition dishes.  We recommend using our Heavy-Duty Tripod for those size dishes.

Our approximate release date for this new product is August 8th.  Check our website, www.tv4rv.com , for further updates on this new item.