Thuraya Look Angles and Elevations

Thuraya Look Angles and Elevations throughout Australia


Location Direction °True Altitude°
New South Wales
Broken Hill 300 30.9
Byron Bay 289 22.1
Canberra 295 23.2
Coffs Harbour 290 21.9
Cooma 296 22.8
Eden 296 21.8
Lightning Ridge 293 26.7
Sydney 293 22.1
Tibooburra 297 31.6
Wagga Wagga 297 24.7
Northern Territory
Alice Springs 300 41.8
Daly Waters 292 45.9
Darwin 289 50
Katherine 290 47.8
Nhulunbuy 285 43.9
Yulara 304 43.4
Queensland
Aurukun 283 38.3
Bundaberg 287 24.4
Cairns 285 33.2
Camaron Corner 298 32.9
Camooweal 292 39.7
Charleville 292 29.5
Cooktown 284 34.1
Cunnamulla 293 29.3
Hughenden 289 33.5
Longreach 291 32.5
Mackay 287 28.6
Normanton 288 37.7
Rockhampton 287 26.6
South Australia
Adelaide 304 31.4
Coober Pedy 304 38
Marree 301 34.9
Mount Gambier 304 28.1
Port Augusta 303 33.5
Port Lincoln 303 33.5
Renmark 302 30.3
Victor Harbour 305 31
Woomera 303 35.1
Tasmania
Hobart 300 20.7
Launceston 300 21.6
Strahan 302 22.4
Victoria
Ballarat 301 26
Bright 298 24.2
Lakes Entrance 298 22.8
Melbourne 300 25.1
Warrnambool 303 26
Western Australia
Albany 329 44.4
Boulder 320 46.3
Broome 305 55.7
Eucla 312 40.6
Exmouth 323 58.8
Geraldton 329 52
Kununurra 295 50.7
Leonora 319 48
Meekatharra 321 51.8
Newman 316 53.7
Norseman 321 44.9
Perth 329 48.3
Port Hedland 314 57

The first column indicates the bearing relative to true North. Throughout Australia it is close enough to say "roughly North West".

The second column indicates the height above the virtual horizon in degrees. The virtual horizon is what you would see as an horizon if the terrain was perfectly flat with no obstacles. Even 20 degrees is significantly above the virtual horizon. Most people underestimate the height by 1/3 to 1/2 ie. if you ask them to point out 45 degrees they will often see this as about 20 degrees!

If you don't find a location near you, anywhere within 500km will give you a good representation of the direction and height of the satellite. You do NOT need to point the antenna at the satellite - simply ensure the antenna has a clear view to the direction and height indicated.

There is much discussion about using Thuraya in Victoria and Tasmania, but it can be seen from this table that the elevation in Tasmania is only 1 degree lower than in Sydney! And heights above the horizon in Victoria are significantly higher than many parts of NSW.

In general you really need to be in a very steep sided valley or up against a precipitous hill / cliff facing South East to lose sight of the satellite. 99+ % of the time this will not be an issue.

Copyright Sat Phone Sales 2017

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