I'll be posting pictures of my latest attempt at a "TRUE" Azmuth/Elevation mount for an 8-foot dish. This will not be the typical "Polar" or "Equatorial" nor will it be a modified "Horizon-to-Horizon" or "Clarke Belt" type mount. The real "Az-Ele" (A-E) mount, sometimes referred to as an "X-Y" mount is being built from the ground up. These A-E mounts are the variety one sees used with radar and other tracking, guidance, and search dishes. Having spent 2-years in the US Army's Costal Air Defense (ARADCOM*) and attached to the US Army Signal Corps, I confess that not all the designs are original ... but, don't tell Hughes Corporation.
Basically, all it has to do is provide 180 degrees of horizontal rotation ("X" axis) and 90 degrees of elevation (declination) in the "Y" axis. Since I'm in the Northern hemisphere, 180 degrees is more than ample to swing the dish through a usable arc (into space) regardless of the declination.
It should be noted that there is no practical reason (at this time) to point the dish in any of the Northern vectors since that is such a severe tangent angle to the Earth's surface from my latitude of 41.3 degrees. However, as most hams do, we can probably "create" a reason to build something and having a dish mount that can articulate 360 degrees horizontal and 180 degrees vertically wouldn't be much of a problem.
(*ARADCOM, Army Air Defense Command)
Note: "a" adjusts "Edge Illumination Correction."
