It's in the sky, but where?

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Rickles

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#303791 9-Mar-2023 12:54

My grandson asked an intersting question while we were re-tuning a satellite receiver.

Optus D1 is stated to be at 160 degrees east, BUT the dish physically points to the north-west.

How is this so? 😁

Bung

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#3048077 9-Mar-2023 13:21

It's 160⁰ East of Greenwich which goes from pole to pole approx midway between Aus and NZ.

Rickles

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#3048117 9-Mar-2023 15:09

DOH !!! Of course, such measurements are based on readings from Greenwich.

😋

neb

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#3048142 9-Mar-2023 16:22

Bung: It's 160⁰ East of Greenwich which goes from pole to pole approx midway between Aus and NZ.

Aw geeze, he's explaining it to his grandson who's possibly quite young, and you're going to tell him this? What actually happens is that the signal is captured by atmospheric lensing and bent around earth's gravity well so it travels around the earth and comes in from the other side. Ever heard of signal polarisation? The dish you bought was accidentally polarised horizontally rather than vertically so by pointing it in the other direction and catching the wave from the other side you can still use it and don't have to send it back for a replacement.

You're welcome.

Rickles

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#3048243 9-Mar-2023 17:08

I think we should change the names of the East India Trading companies and the East Indies to the West Indies, because that's how we get to them 😄