Build a platform or sink a pole?

[penguinsix]

I'm looking to move beyond the "don't touch it because it works just where it is" phase of my FTA setup, and am considering two options.

1) Build a small platform 3 - 5 feet off the ground with a flat/level surface on the top where I can mount the dish, or

2) Sink in concrete a perfectly plumb pole and then attach the dish to it.

I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience with either. I'd like to do the pole (less visual clutter) but I'm worried the weight of the dish may slightly skew the pole after I've sunk it in concrete and adjustments / expansion wouldn't be as easy as if I had a platform.

 

[rainmaker]

I prefer the pole in concrete method. it gives a good solid mount for your dish.

 

[john green]

I used a tripod on a pallet and it works just fine.I plan on mounting a pole in the ground when I move into a new house.

 

[john green]

There are pics somewhere on this site of my setup along with a similar setup by Jarhead.Search for Motorized dish on a tripod?

 

[PSB]

I have been digging holes for poles for years! Have a one in my back yard. But the latest thing I have been using is a small platform to mount all my experimental dish at ground level.

The nice thing is its not permanent and can be positioned anywhere in the yard depending on the time of year and tree growth!

As long as you have good line of sight to the satellite/s you are after ground level is the BEST place for a satellite dish!

See picture below!

 

[mastermesh]

If you plan on getting a motor, get a roof mount from Soudon. I got one of those a while back and they are awesome. Just make sure to get the one that promises to give a level plumb. There's another one at Soudon that doesn't do that. I like the dish on the roof option since you don't have to dig a big hole, or put anything on the ground that has to be mowed around, etc. Roof is also nice because down the road, if you move, you can take it with you pretty easy. Just throw up some patches and another shingle and off you go.

Also, it sort of helps to make sure that kids in the neigborhood won't fiddle with it because most kids don't have ladders that they carry around with them.

 

[PSB]

The roof is the LAST option for a satellite dish! I LAUGH at all the satellite dish I see installed right at the apex of roof, seems some people think the higher a dish is the better the signal will be With satellites being 22,500 miles above the equator a few feet closer makes NO DIFFERENCE!

If you drill holes in a roof THEY WILL LEAK, maybe not today but one day they will leak. Professional installers ONLY put a dish on a roof if the customer understands the above and signs off on it. If it JUST has to be on a roof, make sure to put it on the overhang or even better a garage as no matter how well you seal it one day it will leak!

Add to the above ground level is best if you live in a cold area, if it snows you can simply wipe the snow off your dish and you are back in action! If its on the roof you will have to wait until the snow melts, its also SO MUCH easier to service your dish at ground level!

 

[iafirebuff]

Good points! I would like to add that if you live where it freezes - don't forget to make sure your pole is deeper than the frost line. Frost heave can wreck havoc

 

[PSB]

Up here in Minnesnowta I dig poles 3' deep!

 

[iafirebuff]

Up here in Minnesnowta I dig poles 3' deep!

I was just going ask - how deep to go to beat the frost line - THANKS! If it freezes deeper than 36", I don't want to be in that area

 

[partyharty]

Personally I would go with a pole in the ground setup unless there is a good reason not to.

Our expectation is to move within the next 2 years so we decided against sinking a pole (although I really thought about it). We went with a pole in the bucket setup instead (although we did use a bit bigger bucket then most).

So far no problems whatsoever (and we have had some good storms).

 

[i4tas]

Height sometime is important. If you were to have a motor dish somewhere with many trees and houses up on the roof is the only spot where you can see the whole southern sky without obstructions. If i mount i dish on the roof, the mast is drilled into the wood on the corners of the house or up at the chimney.

 

[PSB]

Did not even get around to mentioning wind load

Sometimes it causes more trouble than RAIN fade!

 

[drhydro]

I was just going ask - how deep to go to beat the frost line - THANKS! If it freezes deeper than 36", I don't want to be in that area

Where I am at in Northern Vt the frost line is 40". When I put my BUD mount in, I went down 5 feet just to make sure, did not want 17 bags worth of concrete shifting on me. ;-)

I had to put my smaller dishs on my roof because my treeline is so close and the only way to clear it is to get up on the roof. When I put my new metal roof on in the fall I have to figure out where I am going to put my dishs, not looking forward to that but NO WAY am I putting a hole in a new metal roof.

 

[iafirebuff]

Why not build a small shed and mount the dishes on it, and have your switches, cables and supplies housed in the shed? My utility shed has turned into a mini cable plant

 

[drhydro]

Why not build a small shed and mount the dishes on it, and have your switches, cables and supplies housed in the shed? My utility shed has turned into a mini cable plant

The problem is height, if i build a shed it would have to be as tall as my house, all my smaller dishs are near the peak of my roof

 

[Wildeye]

The roof is the LAST option for a satellite dish! I LAUGH at all the satellite dish I see installed right at the apex of roof, seems some people think the higher a dish is the better the signal will be With satellites being 22,500 miles above the equator a few feet closer makes NO DIFFERENCE!

If you drill holes in a roof THEY WILL LEAK, maybe not today but one day they will leak. Professional installers ONLY put a dish on a roof if the customer understands the above and signs off on it. If it JUST has to be on a roof, make sure to put it on the overhang or even better a garage as no matter how well you seal it one day it will leak!

Add to the above ground level is best if you live in a cold area, if it snows you can simply wipe the snow off your dish and you are back in action! If its on the roof you will have to wait until the snow melts, its also SO MUCH easier to service your dish at ground level!

I used a roof mount for my dish. You can get them at home depot. Basicly it slides under the shingles. Then you just mount the dish on top. All holes are coverd by the shingles, no leaks to worry about. I've seen a lot of people just screw them into the roof in my are

 

[PSB]

I seen them recently at our local hardware store (Menards - Save BIG money)

Great idea, I also noticed they had two sizes, FTA dish will require the bigger of the two!

 

[voomvoom]

My utility shed has turned into a mini cable plant

I use my well house for my switch's, but I don't have any dishes mounted to it. All my dishes are on poles.

Al

 

[Sat_addict]

I started by finding a place in my yard I thought was good for estetics and clearing distant trees. I confirmed that I would clear the tree line by taping a straw on a protractor for the desired angle and then taping the protractor with the straw on a level. I then held the contraption at the sky standing at the place I thought was good in my yard observing where the straw pointed to in the sky.

Once I was convinced with the site I picked, I created a temporary dish stand with a 4x4 post and plywood. This simulated a pole mount to confirm once again with a working setup that I picked the right spot in my yard. After using this setup for a couple days, I dug the hole, and cemeted a post for the permanent dish mount in the same exact spot.

It may sound like alot of interim steps but I was fooled in the past and actually had to take a post out of the ground at my previous house. I don't like anything on my roof because it may cause leakage problems and it would be a pain to align.