TRUE STORY, Once last year while I was camping at lake fausse point( swamp) I could not get a signal with a tri-pod. I was trying to use a sat finder beeper and I could not find a signal because of the tree cover. After 4 hours and quite a few beers my nephew climbed up a cypress tree that had been beaten up pretty bad by hurricaine guestof to a clear spot and bungie corded the dish to the tree trunk. FYI you caint harm a tree in a state park. From there it was easy to pull in with a sat finder! The park ranger was going to ticket me for putting it in the tree until he saw it was bungie corded. I also got a whole bunch of atta boys from other campers who could not get a signal on that side of the park, one even asked if james would climb back up and run another line from the lnb to his camper!
Contest - Win a GEOSATpro 1.2M Dish, SL2 KU and CK1 LNBF with Bracket
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I guy a few houses away from me has a dish bolted to the side of a tree. I keep meaning to ask him how good the reception is when the wind blows and how ofter he has to re aim it.
I'm not entering the giveaway, just don't get to mess with satellite much anymore, and can't find the time to get my 10 footer mounted. I'd rather see someone win that will put it to work right a way, but I had to chime in. I'm still laughing at some of the pics & stories in this thread. Creativity at work, I love it. Redneck quality!
The most bizzare way I've seen a dish mounted... Once on a trip, I saw a directv dish mounted inside of a old fibeglass bud, maybe the guy thought it would help pull in more signal? No pics
Don't have a picture, but the strangest mounted dish I've ever seen was a D* dish mounted on the support arms of a C-Band dish, where the C-Band lnb should have been at.
No pictures, but I had eight (8) Prime Star dishes mounted on cinder blocks , and a 10 foot BUD propped up between two pine trees. Had to leave it all behind when I moved to the city. And I sure miss C-Band. A 1.2 M C-Band dish is just not in the budget at this time.
The only creative thing I've done when mounting a dish is when I aimed at a low elevation satellite , the limited elevation scale only let me go as low a 10 degrees , so I pitched the mount 15 degrees lower so that I could point at anything under 10 degrees elevation.
Unfortunately a tree was blocking my signal so I never managed to get Telstar 12.
Unfortunately a tree was blocking my signal so I never managed to get Telstar 12.
Pole mount
Thanks for the contest! The strangest installation I ever saw was when I was driving down highway 115 near near Marion, MI. Didn't have a camera handy, but wish I had. It was a 10' C band dish on a pole, but it must have been better than 12" in the air up the pole, for clearance, i guess. Sure was glad I wasn't called on to help install that thing, they must have had to use a bucket truck to get it up there, and then I doubt it was easy.
Thanks for the contest! The strangest installation I ever saw was when I was driving down highway 115 near near Marion, MI. Didn't have a camera handy, but wish I had. It was a 10' C band dish on a pole, but it must have been better than 12" in the air up the pole, for clearance, i guess. Sure was glad I wasn't called on to help install that thing, they must have had to use a bucket truck to get it up there, and then I doubt it was easy.
Hi Guys and Gals.
I have had a BALL reading this forum and have learned a great deal thanks to all that you have posted.
I thought I would add my experiences (so far) in tryng to get into real FTA.
I started out like many of you in the old days of the BUD, and had a lot of experiences installing those wonderful dishes, even made a
business from that hobby installing dishes for those less fortunate than I, no tools, no know how, or what ever. I did that for several
years till the "BOOM" sort of ran out. And somewhere along the line I went to the pizza pan dish my self, even trading away a beautiful
6' perforated rolled steel dish that I had attached to a 4' square small trailer.
OK, fast forward to the last several years, got a little experience in playing with DirecTV, then DN. Got into FTA in the (probably) same
way most of you did, bought a Conaxsat Duo with a motorized dish, and a linear/circular lnb, put it up in the apartment I lived in, but never
really got the motor working properly, so used that dish (manufacturer unknown, 30" X 34" oval) and started looking at some of the other
things I could watch.
Well, two years ago I moved out of that apartment and onto my own property in NW Arizona, plenty of space, but still thinking
"temporary" installations (for some reason) and had my dishes mounted on 4" X 4" treated studs buried several feet in the ground, just
watered the dirt when I filled the holes and the ground dirt here turns into a cement like adobe, so everything is solid
A few weeks ago we had some really BAD winds, rocked the three bedroom trailer really good, and next morning I discovered that the big
dish had actually been blown off the post, and bent up pretty bad. The oval was tweaked pretty good, and the arm was twisted a tad, and
I never thought to measure where the focal point was for the lnb. Oh well, on my limited budget, I was looking for another alternative.
Within a week, I was given two dishes, one a ten foot mesh, fine mesh by the way, and a solid metal 'monster' (solid metal, 48" X 52"
Patriot) that I want to upload pictures of. It had been used by a local business as their up/down link for internet, but as I had been
driving past it daily for the better part of six months, I knew there was no LNB attached, so one day I stopped and asked THE question. I
was told to come back in two weeks while the manager got permission to give it to me.
I waited three weeks and was told that I could take it down the next day. I asked about the mast, but was told the new dish was going to
be mounted on that. The mast for this was about 8' off the ground, and 2 7/8" and I haven't yet found an affordable replacement.
It wasn't until I got home and looked up the info on the donated dish where I found out it's value at time of sale. WOW.
OK, I dug holes, cut pipe for the pizza pans, and mounted those in cement, and then I cut the 3 1/2" pole for the ten footer and cemented
that, now I still haven't found a pole for the Patriot, but I did get the LNB mickey moused and attached temporarily, and the dish is
leaning against the original 4 X 4 post.
Late this after noon I started tweaking the dishes, looking for 123 Galaxy 18, but could NOT find it with the old smaller dish, so I jury
rigged the LNB onto the Patriot and started looking in the sky. (Look carefully at the throat of the Patriot [picture 4], you'll see a long piece of wood sticking out, and a crumpled empty pack of cigarettes. PERFECT for holding the LNB in place.) I finally managed to get a signal on the Duo, S95, Q78 (WOW !!!). I wired
the top of the dish to the post, placed some cement weights on both sides of the base to keep it from rocking too much, and am enjoying
Galaxy 18 as I type this.
I took pictures today with my Centro (Sprint) camera phone and if I can, I'll download them so all can see what all this looks like.
(whew)
Also, since I had those three dishes all mounted on the 4 X 4 post, now I wish I'd taken some pictures of that. Looks somewhat like the post I saw of the FIVE dishes on one post, though all of mine were working at the time I took them down (smile)
Photto
(Added photos, please note, the 1.2m dish is leaning against a 4X4 post, look carefully at the mounts for the several dishes that are still connected to that post. They are or will be cemented for the future. Now, if only the wind doesn't blow too hard for the next few days.)
I have had a BALL reading this forum and have learned a great deal thanks to all that you have posted.
I thought I would add my experiences (so far) in tryng to get into real FTA.
I started out like many of you in the old days of the BUD, and had a lot of experiences installing those wonderful dishes, even made a
business from that hobby installing dishes for those less fortunate than I, no tools, no know how, or what ever. I did that for several
years till the "BOOM" sort of ran out. And somewhere along the line I went to the pizza pan dish my self, even trading away a beautiful
6' perforated rolled steel dish that I had attached to a 4' square small trailer.
OK, fast forward to the last several years, got a little experience in playing with DirecTV, then DN. Got into FTA in the (probably) same
way most of you did, bought a Conaxsat Duo with a motorized dish, and a linear/circular lnb, put it up in the apartment I lived in, but never
really got the motor working properly, so used that dish (manufacturer unknown, 30" X 34" oval) and started looking at some of the other
things I could watch.
Well, two years ago I moved out of that apartment and onto my own property in NW Arizona, plenty of space, but still thinking
"temporary" installations (for some reason) and had my dishes mounted on 4" X 4" treated studs buried several feet in the ground, just
watered the dirt when I filled the holes and the ground dirt here turns into a cement like adobe, so everything is solid
A few weeks ago we had some really BAD winds, rocked the three bedroom trailer really good, and next morning I discovered that the big
dish had actually been blown off the post, and bent up pretty bad. The oval was tweaked pretty good, and the arm was twisted a tad, and
I never thought to measure where the focal point was for the lnb. Oh well, on my limited budget, I was looking for another alternative.
Within a week, I was given two dishes, one a ten foot mesh, fine mesh by the way, and a solid metal 'monster' (solid metal, 48" X 52"
Patriot) that I want to upload pictures of. It had been used by a local business as their up/down link for internet, but as I had been
driving past it daily for the better part of six months, I knew there was no LNB attached, so one day I stopped and asked THE question. I
was told to come back in two weeks while the manager got permission to give it to me.
I waited three weeks and was told that I could take it down the next day. I asked about the mast, but was told the new dish was going to
be mounted on that. The mast for this was about 8' off the ground, and 2 7/8" and I haven't yet found an affordable replacement.
It wasn't until I got home and looked up the info on the donated dish where I found out it's value at time of sale. WOW.
OK, I dug holes, cut pipe for the pizza pans, and mounted those in cement, and then I cut the 3 1/2" pole for the ten footer and cemented
that, now I still haven't found a pole for the Patriot, but I did get the LNB mickey moused and attached temporarily, and the dish is
leaning against the original 4 X 4 post.
Late this after noon I started tweaking the dishes, looking for 123 Galaxy 18, but could NOT find it with the old smaller dish, so I jury
rigged the LNB onto the Patriot and started looking in the sky. (Look carefully at the throat of the Patriot [picture 4], you'll see a long piece of wood sticking out, and a crumpled empty pack of cigarettes. PERFECT for holding the LNB in place.) I finally managed to get a signal on the Duo, S95, Q78 (WOW !!!). I wired
the top of the dish to the post, placed some cement weights on both sides of the base to keep it from rocking too much, and am enjoying
Galaxy 18 as I type this.
I took pictures today with my Centro (Sprint) camera phone and if I can, I'll download them so all can see what all this looks like.
(whew)
Also, since I had those three dishes all mounted on the 4 X 4 post, now I wish I'd taken some pictures of that. Looks somewhat like the post I saw of the FIVE dishes on one post, though all of mine were working at the time I took them down (smile)
Photto
(Added photos, please note, the 1.2m dish is leaning against a 4X4 post, look carefully at the mounts for the several dishes that are still connected to that post. They are or will be cemented for the future. Now, if only the wind doesn't blow too hard for the next few days.)
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Olds Mini Van Shark fin
I moved a 10 foot c-band by splitting it in half.
When I put the two halves flat side down on the roof, it looked like my Olds Silhoette had grown a big black fin.
I moved a 10 foot c-band by splitting it in half.
When I put the two halves flat side down on the roof, it looked like my Olds Silhoette had grown a big black fin.
My struts always seemed somewhat unique to me. I cannot pour concrete in the spot where I need the dish pole, but there is a driveway I can anchor to. So, I bent out a couple of struts and tapped the pole, bolted everything together, and it's been solid for quite some time now.
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I harvested a ten foot Perfect 10 dish and did not have a trailer or pickup to bring it home, so I improvised and just brought it home in my work van.
I still use the dish today and it works very well.
Thanks to SatelliteAv for another great give-away!!!
I still use the dish today and it works very well.
Thanks to SatelliteAv for another great give-away!!!
Strangest satellite dish position I've ever seen was the time a friend and I transported a 6' Andrew spun aluminum dish to my house on the top of his minivan. The rig looked like a "redneck news truck"
Alemmoe contest entry
I needed to mount the Dish at the highest point of my house to catch the signal over my neighbor's trees. I mounted the Dish with leveling bolts in one of the two metal milk delivery carring cases, from the 1950s, to a wood base made to be flat. I set it on the pitch of the roof, pulled tight to the chimney with two metal straps and turn buckles. I used the two carriers because I had a motor on the pole and needed the clearance for the Dish to rotate and clear the chimney. I am unable to send pictures as I have attempted to attach them and am unsuccessful. I will send them when I figure it out.
I needed to mount the Dish at the highest point of my house to catch the signal over my neighbor's trees. I mounted the Dish with leveling bolts in one of the two metal milk delivery carring cases, from the 1950s, to a wood base made to be flat. I set it on the pitch of the roof, pulled tight to the chimney with two metal straps and turn buckles. I used the two carriers because I had a motor on the pole and needed the clearance for the Dish to rotate and clear the chimney. I am unable to send pictures as I have attempted to attach them and am unsuccessful. I will send them when I figure it out.
Strange-r mount
Almost too cold and windy to think about mounting dishes or aligning them! But after the snow last night, it got to a balmy 38°, and the wind is almost non-existant today after the near constant 45 MPH with gusts to 60 this past week.
My most bizare mount was in the Arizona desert with nothing to clamp the dish bracket to so; I use duct tape, thr RVers best friend, to fasten the dish to the left front tire. "Pull the steering wheel a lttle to the right to see if that improves the signal. NO, DON'T PUT THE MOTORHOME IN GEAR THE DISH IS...."
OH well. No damage and the signal did get better. 
I have since gotten a tripod and that gives me another option. But where will I fasten a 3" pipe or where will I store a tripod for a 3" mount? Time will tell. The Dual output LNBF's seem to work better than the singles, but rodents and deer have evidently allowed moisture to cause me some cable problems so my FTA satellite testing and viewing is temporarily limited. But the building is going on and the conduit will be buried before replacing too much RG6.
:
Thanks, Brian.
POP
Almost too cold and windy to think about mounting dishes or aligning them! But after the snow last night, it got to a balmy 38°, and the wind is almost non-existant today after the near constant 45 MPH with gusts to 60 this past week.
My most bizare mount was in the Arizona desert with nothing to clamp the dish bracket to so; I use duct tape, thr RVers best friend, to fasten the dish to the left front tire. "Pull the steering wheel a lttle to the right to see if that improves the signal. NO, DON'T PUT THE MOTORHOME IN GEAR THE DISH IS...."
OH well. No damage and the signal did get better. I have since gotten a tripod and that gives me another option. But where will I fasten a 3" pipe or where will I store a tripod for a 3" mount? Time will tell. The Dual output LNBF's seem to work better than the singles, but rodents and deer have evidently allowed moisture to cause me some cable problems so my FTA satellite testing and viewing is temporarily limited. But the building is going on and the conduit will be buried before replacing too much RG6.
:Thanks, Brian.
POP
This is an installation in México... albeit not the safest one, it sure is a creative way to have a Prime Focus in your front yard... :s
Mike
Mike
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Mike,
That installation takes the cake! Indeed!
I wonder how long it required to align it? Hey, we need another chunk of rock on this side!
Oh, and nice patch job, too!
Radar
That installation takes the cake! Indeed!
I wonder how long it required to align it? Hey, we need another chunk of rock on this side!
Oh, and nice patch job, too!
Radar
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