Done with 76cm roof dish!

[comfortably_numb]

The other night, we had another freak thunderstorm at 2:30 AM. With cross winds over 50 MPH, it knocked my 76cm roof dish out of whack. I don't mind climbing up there, but I'm also becoming nervous that one of these storms will pull the dish and mast off the roof and cause much bigger damage.

The old 1000.2 retrofit dish is so small and close to the surface of the roof so it will stay (fixed on 95 W).

After spending a couple hours trying different locations, I was able to get all 3 of my bigger dishes on the ground with line of sight to 87, 91, 97 and 103.

The Winegard 76cm dish came with a large foot which my cinder blocks slid easily in to.

The neighbors are probably going to hate it, but oh well!

 

[Phalaenopsis]

I think a better mounting system would be to take a longer sheet of plywood, coat it with never wet so it doesn’t rot away and bolt/screw your dishes on there.

 

[Lone Gunman]

Well, you got a cow pasture next door so obviously there is no one that can tell you that you have to move them!! As long as the Wife is OK with it, then that's all that matters. Happy Wife, happy life!!

 

[comfortably_numb]

I think a better mounting system would be to take a longer sheet of plywood, coat it with never wet so it doesn’t rot away and bolt/screw your dishes on there.

Thanks for the tip on Neverwet. I picked some up at Menard’s for $9 and treated the plywood with it. Will be interesting to see how it holds up over time

 

[comfortably_numb]

Starting to look like a dish farm out here

 

[jasjas]

Thanks for the tip on Neverwet. I picked some up at Menard’s for $9 and treated the plywood with it. Will be interesting to see how it holds up over time

I saw that they have pressure treated plywood at Menards.

 

[comfortably_numb]

I saw that they have pressure treated plywood at Menards.

You’re right; they sure do. If the Neverwet doesn’t work out, I’ll buy a sheet.

 

[RimaNTSS]

TBH, I do not like antennas places on the ground mounts. I would probably fix vertical pole ( "gree" metal tube 80x80x4mm) in the position, anchor it in several places (red lines). And then it would be possible to attach as many dishes as you need by specially made movable hooks (yellow).

 

[comfortably_numb]

TBH, I do not like antennas places on the ground mounts. I would probably fix vertical pole ( "gree" metal tube 80x80x4mm) in the position, anchor it in several places (red lines). And then it would be possible to attach as many dishes as you need by specially made movable hooks (yellow). View attachment 133403

I like your diagram; how did you do that?

I wish I could do as you said and mount a pole; unfortunately I don’t own the place and I can’t penetrate any surfaces of the building or the ground. So it’s ground mounts and cinder blocks for as long as I live here

(I had one of the dishes on the roof before, using a foot and mast that was already up there, until the storm last week blew it out of whack)

 

[spongella]

I like your ground mounts; very neat and orderly. Nice flat concrete pad. More shielded from the weather vs the roof mount. No downside to this.

Best thing about these mounts is that if adjustment is needed, no getting on ladders, lugging tools to the roof (and inevitably forgetting to bring a tool or two), wearing out the knees, etc. More freedom to tinker also since it's right outside the house.

Forge on!

 

[comfortably_numb]

I like your ground mounts; very neat and orderly. Nice flat concrete pad. More shielded from the weather vs the roof mount. No downside to this.

Best thing about these mounts is that if adjustment is needed, no getting on ladders, lugging tools to the roof (and inevitably forgetting to bring a tool or two), wearing out the knees, etc. More freedom to tinker also since it's right outside the house.

Forge on!

Thank you for the compliment. Much appreciated.

About the only downside is that I can’t see anything west of about 113, since the building is in the way

 

[comfortably_numb]

I did some experimentation this afternoon to see if the Winegard 76cm could handle an offset bracket. The idea being that I could put 95 on as an offset and get rid of the 1000.2 on the roof. It's not fun climbing up there to do maintenance, especially when it's 97 degrees outside like it was today.

Anyways, I was successful in getting similar signal quality on 95 by using the offset on the Winegard. I had to bend the bracket slightly so that the offset LNB lined up with the main LNB.

So now my dishes are all on the ground and easy to get to. And more protected from wind and storms.

PS- Please excuse the bird sh*t all over the dishes. There are some bird(s) who seem intent on doing their business on the dishes lately

 

[spongella]

You need to hang a scarecrow by the dishes .

 

[danristheman]

Or a poster of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai

 

[comfortably_numb]

Or a poster of Charlie Ergen.

Yikes! That might scare away birds and humans.

 

[danristheman]

I had Charlie Ergen up there but changed it something a lot worse.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I had Charlie Ergen up there but changed it something a lot worse.

Ahh that’s where my life sized cut out of myself went.

 

[Dfwratt]

Lol. I rent my lake house, i put post in the ground to mount my 4 , post can be removed, or cut flush. Just a fyi.

 

[osu1991]

Nice work

Get a couple non penetrating roof mounts for the other dishes, to match the one you have or build a couple with angle iron or make a 2x4 wood square with a center brace to use the existing mounting foots, then you can put blocks around the edge or on the corners.

http://a.co/6aMOqmH