Generate your personal azimuthal map

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Andrew (grayhat)
Posts: 280
Joined: Sat May 28, 2022 5:56 am
Location: JN63pn

Generate your personal azimuthal map

Post by Andrew (grayhat) »

From time to time one may need to have a quick reference to the bearing from his position to a given location, for example to aim an antenna, now a good way to have such a reference is using an azimuthal map centered on the desired location; what follows shows how to generate such a map centered on whatever desired location and, the resulting map may then also be used to cover some empty spot on a wall of the shack :D

The first thing we'll need is a Maidenhead grid square locator, if we already know it, then we may just proceed to the next step, otherwise there are several websites, including this one

https://www.karhukoti.com/maidenhead-gr ... re-locator

which allow to easily find the desired locator, just pan/zoom the map until you'll find the desired spot at that point you'll see three informations just above the map, the Lat/Lon coordinates and the locator, the latter is a string of letters and numbers, let me make an example, let's say we want to center our map on a spot in Raleigh, NC (just an example :D) and the info placed above the map shows "35.7934518, -78.6243992, FM05qt" now, that "FM05qt" is our maidenhead locator

With the locator in our hands, we can now proceed to generate our map, to do so, we'll go to this websitte

https://ns6t.net/azimuth/

and enter (or paste) the "FM05qt" in "location", for the moment let's leave all the other parameters at their default, aside from the "paper size" which if we want may be different, now just click the "create map" button and wait for the code to generate our personalized map, in a short we'll be presented with a PDF file containing our map in vector graphic format

The map may then be printed at the desired size (there are a number of services or softwares which allow to split a large image into a number of sheets which, once placed side by side will result in a very large map) and used to aim our antenna, or, printing it in small size, it may even be used as the dial for our antenna rotator :)

That's all, just feel free to play with the various map generation parameter to understand what they do and how they may be useful

If then you're curious and want further informations about the map generator, just point your browser here

https://ns6t.net/word/?page_id=10

to conclude, the map generated using the above locator "FM05qt" (centered in Raleigh, NC) will look like this (kept the zoom low to show as much of the map as possible)


Image
k4pkm
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri May 27, 2022 12:57 pm

Re: Generate your personal azimuthal map

Post by k4pkm »

Great resource, thanks!
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rodneyj
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2022 11:29 pm

Re: Generate your personal azimuthal map

Post by rodneyj »

Printed one up for my little (electrically) quiet corner of the basement. ;)

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Andrew (grayhat)
Posts: 280
Joined: Sat May 28, 2022 5:56 am
Location: JN63pn

Re: Generate your personal azimuthal map

Post by Andrew (grayhat) »

rodneyj wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 4:09 am Printed one up for my little (electrically) quiet corner of the basement. ;)
NICE

which kind of loop is the one hanging on the wall ?

also (I'm curious) which antenna is connected to that coax going out, through the window frame ?
Blubby
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2022 5:52 am

Re: Generate your personal azimuthal map

Post by Blubby »

Thank you so much for this! I have it stashed as a PDF now. I have looked for this before and could not
find it.
Again...Thank You!
Jon•
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2022 11:50 pm

Re: Generate your personal azimuthal map

Post by Jon• »

The loop on the wall appears to be one of Theo's (SV2CZF) antennas. Here's a link to what looks to be the same antenna:

https://www.sv2czf.com/pl250c.html

In addition to selling on SV2CZF.com, Theo has most of his products available on eBay, as well.
Dave613
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 11:28 pm

Re: Generate your personal azimuthal map

Post by Dave613 »

Thank you for this post, very useful!
Dave.
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rodneyj
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2022 11:29 pm

Re: Generate your personal azimuthal map

Post by rodneyj »

Andrew (grayhat) wrote: Fri Jun 10, 2022 5:18 pm
rodneyj wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 4:09 am Printed one up for my little (electrically) quiet corner of the basement. ;)
NICE

which kind of loop is the one hanging on the wall ?

also (I'm curious) which antenna is connected to that coax going out, through the window frame ?
Here's the URL to my logs and other ephemera As well as the antennas I'm currently using:

http://swldx.tumblr.com
SWL Log based in Plymouth, Minnesota, USA using Sangean ATS-505 and Etón e1XM receivers with various Antennas including a Kaito KA33 Active Loop (usually indoors) and an MLA-30 Active Loop (both battery powered). Other antennas used as denoted in logs: Fence: ~230 feet (~70 meters) of chain link fence surrounding a rectangular backyard. BoG (Beverage-on-Ground): 250 feet (~76 meters) of Kev-Flex wire laying (unterminated) on the ground West(feed) to East near a pond. Backyard Gutter: ~75 feet (~23 meters) of rain gutter running north/south. Additional Equipment: MFJ-1020C active antenna (used as a preselector) and MFJ-901B antenna tuner (High-pass T network). All times given are Zulu (GMT/UTC).
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rodneyj
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2022 11:29 pm

Re: Generate your personal azimuthal map

Post by rodneyj »

Jon• wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 3:54 am The loop on the wall appears to be one of Theo's (SV2CZF) antennas. Here's a link to what looks to be the same antenna:

https://www.sv2czf.com/pl250c.html

In addition to selling on SV2CZF.com, Theo has most of his products available on eBay, as well.
That's correct. I haven't found a good use for this antenna yet. Maybe from a mountaintop or on a 6m scavenger hunt!

Cheers!

-Rodney
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