Dish 1000.4 ground pole mount: Fill with concrete?

[Pocono2000]

Right - I haven't filled the pole with concrete at this point. I tried mounting the Dish to it and I feel that it sways too much. If I had realized this beforehand, I would have used a heavier gauge of pipe. Since I passed the point of no return already on that front, I am instead trying to figure out the easiest way to attach three braces to it (like a tripod) or three cables with turnbuckles. The tough part is that the soil here is very rocky and digging holes is difficult. Screw in ground anchors are also nearly impossible to use.

I may try to fashion three "tripod" legs from metal conduit. I would drive the one end into the ground at an angle (as best as I can anyhow) and attach the other side (flattened on the end) to the post with a "U" clamp. This will also allow for some adjustment to ensure that it remains plumb, as the clamps can be loosened, the pole squared up and the clamps can be retightened. I will post back with what I finally end up doing.

 

[Pocono2000]

Well, I went to Lowe's last night and spent about 45 minutes mulling over the suggestions given here and looking at what might work. I then spent $30 on 100' of 20 gauge stranded wire, three 18" steel spikes, three turnbuckles, a 1 3/4" pipe clamp and some wire clamps. I used this to secure the pole and it is rock solid, and I can use the turnbuckles to adjust it for plumb in the future. I will post a picture once the installation is complete later this week (we have heavy rain here today.) Thanks to everyone for the great advice - it really helped point me in the right direction.

 

[bentjm]

I have a 1000.4 dish mounted on the the top of the radar arch on my houseboat - a good 20 feet above the water. The boat sways, the radar arch vibrates in the wind, and the rotator has a certain amount of slack in it. It all has to move a lot to drop signal. I am sure that you are happy with what you did and that it will serve you well, but I am equally sure that it was overkill.

 

[Stargazer]

You should not have had to support the pole. It should have been pretty solid. It never hurts to put extra bracing on a pole but it may not have been needed under normal circumstances.

 

[Pocono2000]

Adding the bracing may have been overkill, but it turned out to be easy to do and can't hurt.

 

[primestar31]

Adding the bracing may have been overkill, but it turned out to be easy to do and can't hurt.

You did good. All that matters is that YOU are happy with the results.

 

[Pocono2000]

That's right

 

[ClarkGable]

I'm late to the party, but the guy that did our pole mount smashed the section of pipe that would actually be buried with an 8-lb. engineer's hammer to flatten it a bit. That is supposed to help keep it from moving in the ground. He then threw a sack of quick-set concrete in the hole he dug, put a bucket of water in it, pounded in the pipe and filled it in with dirt. That was two years ago, and the dish/pole has not moved, even in the June derecho we had (85+ mph winds gusts with 60+ sustained for 20 minutes at our house.)

 

[dlwilkes45]

I've seen this done for a post that had too much movement because of thin guage steel or extra long post. Take another post of the same diameter and sister it to the main post by either using wire ties or metal banding. Could even use long u-bolts. This only needs to be done to the above ground portion of the main post.