Can I stack two 6x6's to make a higher pole?

[mshaffer]

I have an adapter that lets me mount my 10' Winegard Pinnacle on a 6x6 post. I'm moving my dish, so I was thinking of stacking two 12' 6x6's on top of each other and connecting them with some heavy metal plates. Do you think this would work? Should I use a bigger post, like a 8x8 for the bottom one? It's just that metal poles are expensive and plus I kind of like the look of of wood posts more.

Basically the higher I make the dish the more satellites I can get. I live in a forest basically..

 

[phlatwound]

Have you priced what the wood posts/connector plates/hardware would cost? If you had to buy all of that stuff new I bet you could find a used length of pipe cheaper, and you can always weld pipe to whatever length is required.

It would take some pretty serious plates/bolts to lap those wood posts to make a trustworty connection.

If you really wanted the look of wood you could use pipe and cover it with wood.

 

[mshaffer]

I found some pipe but it's far away from me. i did find some i-beams, which I could put my 6x6 adapter onto. I-beams would be pretty tacky tho..

I guess I'll call the metal fabricator and see how much a new peice of pipe would cost. Do I need schedule 80 or will 40 be ok?

 

[sergei]

Check with a local well drillers for a section of used well pipe. I paid only one dollar per foot for 4 1/2 inch schedule 40 pipe. Also remember wood will change by either shrinkage or expansion as it ages.

 

[phlatwound]

I found some pipe but it's far away from me. i did find some i-beams, which I could put my 6x6 adapter onto. I-beams would be pretty tacky tho..

I guess I'll call the metal fabricator and see how much a new peice of pipe would cost. Do I need schedule 80 or will 40 be ok?

I would think schedule 40 would be sufficient, probably depends on how much is sticking above ground. Filling it with concrete and a piece of rebar would probably help if you are going very high. Maybe someone here that has put a BUD way up in the air will comment.

If the I-beam would work with your adapter, and was cheap and close, it might be worth a shot. With it being square/rectangular it would be easier (than a round pipe) to dress up with wood, if you wanted to cover it.

 

[Radioguy41]

First, wood warps over time, your dish would keep going out of alignment.
Second, wood straps joining two 6x6 posts vertically would dry out and loosen over time and the top post will wobble in the wind.
Third, you would need to bury at least 3' of the post in the ground and it would have to be concreted in or it will shift.

As suggested above, shop for a length of pipe.

There have been a number of post about dish hunting but there is something else to keep an eye out for and that is the old 3 legged TV antenna towers. Each section is 10' and they are great for small dishes (or digital OTA antennas). I found two 10' sections laying in a field and the guy just let me have them. It's a lot like the dish story. Years ago, long before satellite TV, people put up these towers in order to receive better TV signals. Now they have a small dish or cable and no longer need the tower.

The attached pics are not of my tower.

 

[Cadsulfide]

Go with a steel pole, getting the dish mounted higher than grass/snow/kids is the only requirement. More height than necessary will just make it unstable. Line of sight is what you're looking for.

 

[truckracer]

Better stick with steel pipe, it will save you a lot of problems in the future.

 

[truckracer]

Better stick with steel pipe, it will save you a lot of problems in the future.

I had a directv dish back in the day on a tall wooden post, I couldn't keep it aligned very long.

 

[SatPhreak]

I wouldn't. Wow 2-12' lengths would be about 21' above ground. That would put a lot of stress on the connectors. You can always make a box out of 1" boards to go around the pole for astetics.

 

[mshaffer]

I called a local steel supplier and it's only $219 for a 21ft 3" pole. I thought they were more than that, it's definitely worth getting a pole now.

I took some pictures of my dish and where I want to put it. The view from the tripod is of G3. I should be able to get from W3-W5 easily, and hopefully the west satellites if I can get the dish high enough.. It doesn't have to go over the trees, just over my neighbors trees then I can cut the branches off mine

 

[Radioguy41]

When you go to the local steel supplier just lift one end of the 21' x 3" pipe and watch how much it bends. A 21' x 3" pole is going to flex too much unless you add guy wires to stabilize it.

 

[sergei]

If your really serious about a 21 foot pole free standing setup, then look at using the next size pipe about 14 feet and double wall your setup, so you will have a 3 inch and then another pipe over it, this should help stop any movement, only problem it's going to be really heavy. Like I said before call a well driller for used pipe and save some money.

 

[mshaffer]

Alright, I'll try calling some well drillers..

 

[Cadsulfide]

one problem with your desired location is that trees fall down and crush dish components, is there somewhere away from the woods you can place it?

 

[sergei]

After looking at your first picture I think you need to invest in a really good chainsaw which will help with your site location....remember trees have a bad habit of growing.

 

[mshaffer]

Hmm I called a couple well drillers and neither one sold their pipe. They said to call the local steel supplier. I guess I'll go down there on saturday and see what they have.

 

[gabshere]

check with scrap yards too

but like mentioned above if your site is covered with trees then you will have trouble across the arc.

a picture of your site area might help , if its like the pictures above it won't be more than a stationary dish until the leaves fall off and then might not get best reception.

so i hate to see you spend out a bunch of money on a pipe and not be able to fully use it.

 

[mshaffer]

Ok here's a little site survey. The orange is where I wanted to put it. The blue is where my dish is now. The only reason I put it there was so I could get Comedy Central.. but it's no longer on C3 anyways. At the orange location I'm sure I can get 87*-105* with a full view, but I'm not sure about the other sats. I posted a view of C3 and G3. Most of the stuff blocking it I can easily get with a rope saw btw.. except C3 b/c it looks like it might be aimed right at the trunk.

The red location gets most of the eastern sats but would be impossible to get the western ones.

 

[sergei]

Get yourself a second receiver (920) and install a second dish at the location that you need to cover the satellites. Why move the old dish, you still would have to dig another hole and seup it up again, just try and find a used dish.
Buy something like a Sony MRD-D1 multiroom system and then you only have to select a UHF channel, this is what I have, two Sony units, each dish has it's own channel. My versus of a cable system. You can get small program packages or just single channels for either receiver. I use both NPS and programming-center, I like to use programming center because I can go online and order what I need. One receiver is set to NPS and their 590 package, another has just movie channels on W5, another is for W1 satellite and the last dish is for GB,T4 or W5 music.

Boy, It had to believe that they wouldn't sell you some used pipe, my guy was just happy to get rid of it... you might try someone more outside you area of Fairfax.