Anyone know how far i down i should burry a pole that will support an 8ft solid cband dish? Also how about an 8ft paraclipse mesh? Thanks. I have some hard ground and dont want to go overkill on burying the pole.
C-band dish pole
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I would go down below the frost line, or it will shift. In my yard, I did a pear-shaped hole about 2.5'-3' deep. I used about 3 80lb bags of concrete, if I remember correctly. I can't emphasize enough how important it is to get the pole plumb.
Overkill is better than having the BUD blow over! I reused a pole wth the concrete still on it. We have to go 3 feet to get below our frost line and I went at least 4 feet down with about 6 feet above ground. I ended up encasing the concrete ball with another twelve 80 pound bags of concrete for my 10 foot Channel Master. We get some big winds here and the thing never moved!
I agree with all the above. I almost fell over when i pulled an 8' dish about 3 weeks ago out that had NO concrete, in relative loose soil, and only down about 2.5 feet in the ground and the dish was about 6.5 feet above the ground. It was plum when i pulled it out. Made a nice easy job to take down.
So with all that I would still say do at least 2 bags and mix up the concrete BEFORE putting it in the hole.
Good luck with the operation.
So with all that I would still say do at least 2 bags and mix up the concrete BEFORE putting it in the hole.
Good luck with the operation.
Posted my answer, to this same question, in another thread a few days ago: http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/280641-10-5-ft-raydx-dish-more.html#post2821658
No such thing as overkill, as there will always be an extrordinary event to test it. IE 4' heavy wet snow in a short time. A 3 week canadian cold front that drives the temp 20° below for 3 weeks and pushes frost down to 4-1/2 foot level. Freakish wind storms out of nowhere. I thought I was doing "Overkill" when I put my pole down 6' in over two yards of concrete. Recently had a wind that snapped a 10" diameter limb right off a tree near my dish. The dish didn't even wiggle . Oh and I filled the pole with concrete. This prevents build up of harmonic vibrations that can shake stuff pretty good.
. Oh and I filled the pole with concrete. This prevents build up of harmonic vibrations that can shake stuff pretty good.Thanks for the input! Ill make sure to bury it good then. I have a 6ft long steel bar that ill have to use to bust up the ground as i go. Hhaaarrdd packed dirt. Almost sandstone but not quite about 2ft down.
Yeah they are all over. Most (99%) of the mesh ones are destroyed from the snow though. Still lots of solid dishes. There is one good mesh dish I saw that looks like a ten foot sami or paraclipse cant tell from the road. Going to ask about it one of these days soon. Some of the solid dishes i see have lnb holder arms that seem to be screwed together at the peak with a coffee can at the center and the lnb is inside. The coffee can like object was flimsy and deformed and the lnb's are always mis-aimed as a result. What a poor design.
Some of those "junk" dishes might be a good souce for actuators, feedhorns or just some extra mesh or ??? You might even find a horizon to horizon motor out there!
I got it down to 4.5 feet. I had to line the hole with 5 gallon buckets with the bottoms cut out to act as a hole liner to keep the sides from caving in. 1.5 ft under the top soil the ground is hard packed sand for as far down as i could dig.
Is it ok to leave the buckets there as liners? If i pull them out the hole will certainly cave in so i guess i dont have much of a choice.
Is it ok to leave the buckets there as liners? If i pull them out the hole will certainly cave in so i guess i dont have much of a choice.
I would half fill with concrete and then try to move the buckets up. Otherwise the dish may decide to spin in the wind!
Aah.. Good point. At the very least Ill punch a couple rods of re-bar out the sides of the bucket making sure to leave a few inches of the bar cemented in.
I guess I'm kinda lucky as here in Va we don't often get really hard freezes. That and my house is in an opening in the middle of about 6 wooded acres so the wind gets knocked down pretty good by the trees. When I put my 10ft Winegard dish up I put about 3 feet in the ground with a hole that was like 20/24" in diameter. Welded a bolt sticking out on two sides of that post to keep it from turning, used a couple of two by fours to hold the post plumb then pre-mixed the concrete and poured that around it.
On my 7.5 foot SAMI I dug another hole 3 ft deep and about 18" in diameter but this dish was mounted on somewhat of a hill so I just put the dry concrete in the hole around that post rather than trying to maneuver a wheel barrow full of concrete there. I slowly poured about a gallon of water around the post itself letting it soak in then left the two by four supports up for about a week and that concrete setup hard as a rock! It's withstood wind gusts here upwards of 50 MPH and she's still tracking the arc like a champ!
Ground here is like a mix of sand stone and red clay and about the only thing it will grow is weeds and satellite dish posts. It does do a pretty good job of holding my dishes though.
On my 7.5 foot SAMI I dug another hole 3 ft deep and about 18" in diameter but this dish was mounted on somewhat of a hill so I just put the dry concrete in the hole around that post rather than trying to maneuver a wheel barrow full of concrete there. I slowly poured about a gallon of water around the post itself letting it soak in then left the two by four supports up for about a week and that concrete setup hard as a rock! It's withstood wind gusts here upwards of 50 MPH and she's still tracking the arc like a champ!
Ground here is like a mix of sand stone and red clay and about the only thing it will grow is weeds and satellite dish posts. It does do a pretty good job of holding my dishes though.
I have a 7 1/2 mesh dish.
I got 600 lb dry weight concrete there.
3 foot deep.
On one side I squared the pole with a hammer and drilled big holes in it, this will prevent the pole from turning and will have a solid bond with the concrete-base.
When I set the pole I leveled it and I used 2x4's to hold it in place. Then I filled the post with concrete and filled the hole with concrete. Rechecked with an level again.
Where I live we get high wind gusts and so far it is tracking the arc perfect.
I read that it should be 1 bag of ready-mix per 1 foot of dish.
I read posts from our Canadian neighbors all the way up north.
They pour the concrete only a few feet deep and set threaded rods.
On the pole the weld a base to it with holes drilled the same dimensions as used with the rods.
They use nuts on the rod and set the pole/base on it and some more nuts on top of the pole/base.
If the freezing ground should shift the concrete base, all the have to do, level the pole/base adjusting the nuts up or down.
This will take only a few minutes and they are ready to watch TV again.
I got 600 lb dry weight concrete there.
3 foot deep.
On one side I squared the pole with a hammer and drilled big holes in it, this will prevent the pole from turning and will have a solid bond with the concrete-base.
When I set the pole I leveled it and I used 2x4's to hold it in place. Then I filled the post with concrete and filled the hole with concrete. Rechecked with an level again.
Where I live we get high wind gusts and so far it is tracking the arc perfect.
I read that it should be 1 bag of ready-mix per 1 foot of dish.
I read posts from our Canadian neighbors all the way up north.
They pour the concrete only a few feet deep and set threaded rods.
On the pole the weld a base to it with holes drilled the same dimensions as used with the rods.
They use nuts on the rod and set the pole/base on it and some more nuts on top of the pole/base.
If the freezing ground should shift the concrete base, all the have to do, level the pole/base adjusting the nuts up or down.
This will take only a few minutes and they are ready to watch TV again.
We have a lot of rock here in wv. My last install only too 4 -60lb bags as the hole was surrounded by rock. It is very strong.
I bought 8 bags. My Jeep Cherokee sport was squatting. I guessed on the number of bags. Per the recommendation above (1bay per foot of dish) I hit pretty close although my dish is 8ft 9inch. Kind of an odd size.
I'll make a simple 2x4 frame to keep the pole steady while the concrete sets. I think I might have to wait a few weeks tho as the wife is stuck on the voice and american idol. The new pole would go right in front of my current dish and would block signal and keep it from moving =).
I'll make a simple 2x4 frame to keep the pole steady while the concrete sets. I think I might have to wait a few weeks tho as the wife is stuck on the voice and american idol. The new pole would go right in front of my current dish and would block signal and keep it from moving =).
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