C BAND STEEL POST: WHERE TO GET A 3 1/2" ONE?

[age]

you can use any size pipe that will take the wind load close to it, then go buy 4 muffler clamps weld them back to back in the center , you clamp the one side to the pole that you found for the ground and clamp the 6 to12 inch piece for the dish mount bracket thats the correct size for the dish, the pole in the ground can be out of plumb and using the clamps you can plumb the dish pole side.
I do this with one standard pole and I can put any size pole on it. or make a bracket with a vertical angle welded to clamps, 4inch or whatever size.
with a vertical angle you can can attach any size pole for the dish from 1 1/2 to unlimited.
you plumb the vertical angle pipe thats going to be clamped to the dish, to the crooket undersize pole in the ground, that you got off the baskball net or junkyard or ?.

I use 3 1/2 inch muffler clamps on my stuff for a 3 inch pole, my pole is the bottom a old clothes line thats 3 1/4. One clamp holds up 50 lbs ,, to the side 2 more clamps hold a 3 inch pipe for the dish mount to a vertical welded angle. I have a pile of dishes clamped all over the place.
I can lower and raise them , to accommodate different size dishes.

All this can be taken down and moved without having a permant installation.
muffler clamps are cheap, the big ones you find at a truck service center, big trucks.

you could use a fence post and use the same idea or 6x6 wood post or bigber.
My buddy has a excavator and he use telephone poles, a bit of a over kill for me.

 

[Bob2011]

you can use any size pipe that will take the wind load close to it, then go buy 4 muffler clamps weld them back to back in the center , you clamp the one side to the pole that you found for the ground and clamp the 6 to12 inch piece for the dish mount bracket thats the correct size for the dish, the pole in the ground can be out of plumb and using the clamps you can plumb the dish pole side.
I do this with one standard pole and I can put any size pole on it. or make a bracket with a vertical angle welded to clamps, 4inch or whatever size.
with a vertical angle you can can attach any size pole for the dish from 1 1/2 to unlimited.
you plumb the vertical angle pipe thats going to be clamped to the dish, to the crooket undersize pole in the ground, that you got off the baskball net or junkyard or ?.

I use 3 1/2 inch muffler clamps on my stuff for a 3 inch pole, my pole is the bottom a old clothes line thats 3 1/4. One clamp holds up 50 lbs ,, to the side 2 more clamps hold a 3 inch pipe for the dish mount to a vertical welded angle. I have a pile of dishes clamped all over the place.
I can lower and raise them , to accommodate different size dishes.

All this can be taken down and moved without having a permant installation.
muffler clamps are cheap, the big ones you find at a truck service center, big trucks.

you could use a fence post and use the same idea or 6x6 wood post or bigber.
My buddy has a excavator and he use telephone poles, a bit of a over kill for me.

Do you have some pictures of your setup?

 

[primestar31]

Do you think it is still advisable to form a small 2ft or 3ft 2x4 thick base around the pipe? or would that not be worth the effort at this late point?

It's hard for me to say that for sure. It depends on how soft your ground normally is, and if you feel it wouldn't hurt to add that much support. I personally would have added about 5-6 bags of cement down the hole. Better to be a bit over-kill, then to not have enough. 3 bags isn't enough for a pole holding a Dish Network dish.. I also would have gone down 4 ft. At least here, where we routinely get 20 mph winds, we need better support.

 

[T4Runner]

It's hard for me to say that for sure. It depends on how soft your ground normally is, and if you feel it wouldn't hurt to add that much support. I personally would have added about 5-6 bags of cement down the hole. Better to be a bit over-kill, then to not have enough. 3 bags isn't enough for a pole holding a Dish Network dish.. I also would have gone down 4 ft. At least here, where we routinely get 20 mph winds, we need better support.

Well I have had some pretty strong winds here on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains, (gusts to 70mph) and never had any problem with my KU dishes, so the ground is pretty solid. But 3 bags for a dishnetwork dish? that's overkill bigtime here. Most dtv and dnwrk dishes on a pole here get one or two bags...

I'll probably leave it alone for my little 5ft c band dish until I can upgrade to a bigger, better, dish, and then will dig down and add a more solid and broader concrete base.

 

[arcticracer]

Concrete

Age, nice tip on the muffler clamps. On the concrete, if your ground is solid a couple bags is more than enough I am with T4Runner. 3 bags will hold a 12 footer with solid earth, if your winds are not extreme. No need for a pad above ground level.

 

[T4Runner]

PRIOR TO "TWEAKING STAGE"

Well, I could n't stand it any longer as the rain finally stopped and the sun came out so I plopped the Polar mount on my pole and set the angles as close as I could with my small plastic cheap incinometer. Used a 6 ft painting ladder I had to climb and set the dish by myself (hernia heaven..) onto the polar mount and bolted the four brackets on the polar mount to the dish good and tight. I had previously checked the dish with two string lines to ensure it was true, but I did not check it again once it was mounted. I'm using a WSI Model DMX242 dual output C Band LNBF and ran Dual RG6 from the dish through the wall into the house for about 6ft as I had also picked up a VBox at WSI. I would have purchased an Actuator but they were out at the Southern California distributer and since I can buy wholesale I did not buy another one yet.

So I used the original 100 years old (looked like it) actuator and bought 50ft of 5 wire sprinkler cable to use for the sensor and motor connections. I found taking the actuator apart the old connection was several stranded wires wound together to form a heavier wire for the motor connection.

The sprinkler wire I used was 18AWG 30V with a heavy plastic cover for burying underground. Bought it for $15 at LOWES.

Then a real miracle occured. I set it due South which for me is around 119W as my longitude is 119.5W. I was hoping to hit my due South satellite which is ANIK F3 at 118.8W. Lyngsat shows one C Band transponder at 3920, H, 18447; but my superbuddy 29 skips that satellite for some reason? So I had to use 121W or 116.8W Satmex.

I manually turned to the West towards 121W and hit it BANG!

Still have to start tweaking now, but it's working....

 

[tripl3s3v3n]

T4Runner good to see you got that dish I gave you up and running I would love to hear out if working out for you since I never had the chance to install it from when I picked it up initially.

 

[T4Runner]

T4Runner good to see you got that dish I gave you up and running I would love to hear out if working out for you since I never had the chance to install it from when I picked it up initially.

Nice to hear from you! It was certainly worth the drive up HiWy-99 to you. I have been fooling with this dish ever since you gave it to me! I have been learning a lot about C-Band ever since... I got spoiled with my early luck in setting it up and decided to tweak it because my polarity wa off 90 degrees and lost it all. I made a rooky mistake and had not marked the post before moving it and been foolin with it ever since... Course it doesn't help that my inclinometer keeps sticking.

I'll get it, but like another C bander on here posting, I just have to walk away from it for awhile. Thanks again.

 

[bobvick]

I am looking for a 3.5'' OD pole to mount a C-Band dish on. I read in this thread where someone said that a floor jack would work. There was a picture posted, and I found one that looks like it at lowes online. Will one of these work for a mount? I never could find confirmation in this thread that this was the kind that would work. Thanks

 

[RT-Cat]

I am looking for a 3.5'' OD pole to mount a C-Band dish on. I read in this thread where someone said that a floor jack would work. There was a picture posted, and I found one that looks like it at lowes online. Will one of these work for a mount? I never could find confirmation in this thread that this was the kind that would work. Thanks

I remember the very thick pipe that I installed back in 1984 for my steel dish, I wonder about the floor jack. I would not think the steel would be thick enough and the holes in it would give you a point where wind could snap it off. Kind of like the holes in highway signs that break when someone hits them. The jack was made for down pressure not that much for side bend. Maybe it would work.....?

RT.

 

[dougruss]

I'm using one similar to that . It's has a OD of 3" and I need a 3 1/2" for the 8' Perforated Dish I picked up recently. My son is making me a Stainless Steel Sleeve at his workplace, that will adapt to it.
I got my Post at a Garage Sale ( $10.00) it is like the ones that Menards sells.
Filling it with Concrete..........

 

[bobvick]

Yeah, I never could find on here where anyone verified that it was the same kind that someone said they had used.

 

[bobvick]

I ended up finding some 3.0' (3.5" OD) aluminum pipe. I know that it is not steel, but I am going to fill it with concrete.