====== Site linking planning ======
One of the things that perplexes most people when planning site linking, is relating what you see on a map to what you can see with your eyes.  Yes those who do lots of it have some fancy GPS stuff to tell you what to do.  what about a bit of old school mixed with some google earth pro school?

I have all of the North East Vic repeater sites set as placemarks in google earth.  I have also loaded all the KML files from [[https://www.ve2dbe.com/rmonline_s.asp|Radio Mobile]] in there as well.

One fancy feature of Earth is the ruler.  you can draw straight lines between sites, just as you would on a map.
{{ :rwo:linking:screenshot_from_2020-03-01_21-33-35.png?800 |}}

The line between VK3RWO and VK3RWC has no major landmarks.

You then zoom into ground level view at the end that needs aiming and look at the line:
{{ :rwo:linking:screenshot_from_2020-02-22_16-18-36.png?800 |}}

Then when you are on site.  take an actual photo from the tower:
{{ :rwo:linking:actual-view.jpg?800 |}}

You can then compare the two to work out where you need to point the antenna:
{{ :rwo:linking:overlay.jpg?800 |}}
This picture was made by taking the real photograph, then overlaying an opaque version of the google ground view and adjusting the layer to line up.

And now I know where I need to point the link antenna!
{{ :rwo:linking:img_0058.jpg?800 |}}