Research Concepts RC2500 - Manual (Page 151)

144 RC2500 Antenna Controller Appendix P Using the RC2500 with Az/El Antenna Mounts
Research Concepts, Inc. • 5420 Martindale Road • Shawnee, Kansas • 66218-9680 • USA www.researchconcepts.com
Appendix P – Using the RC2500
with Azimuth Over Elevation Antenna Mounts
A version of the RC2500 software is available that can perform inclined orbit satellite tracking with
azimuth over elevation type antenna mounts. Software versions that support azimuth over elevation
mounts have an ‘e’ in the third digit of the suffix appended to the software version number that is
displayed as the controller powers up. For example, ‘v1.13w_e__’ indicates support for azimuth over
elevation type mounts.
Antenna Setup
For azimuth over elevation type mounts, the controller assumes that the mount has been aligned such
that when the antenna is pointing south (true, not magnetic), changing the elevation angle by 1 degree
changes the antenna pointing angle by 1 degree. When the mount is adjusted in this manner and the
antenna is pointing either due east or due west, movement of the antenna in elevation just causes the
antenna polarization to change - there is no change in the antenna's pointing angle.
Another way to state this is that the mount must be configured in a manner similar to a polar mount which
has been adjusted to properly track the satellites in geostationary orbit. An azimuth over elevation mount
is basically a polar mount with a variable latitude angle and a declination value of zero.
Sometimes azimuth over elevation antenna mounts are configured such that when the mount is aligned
with the satellite of interest one degree of elevation movement results in one degree of antenna pointing
angle change. If this is the case specify the antenna longitude (via the Antenna Longitude CONFIG
mode item) to be the same as that of the satellite.
SMM, 2.14.00