How deep a hole for 21' pole?

[phlatwound]

Where exactly did you get a pipe? Can I get 4" from Home Despot?

All this talk about cement bases. Necessary if the dish will be mounted on a pole 7-8' above the ground if I bury 4' in rocky soil (no frost here)?

Thanks.

I doubt that you can get 4" pipe from a home improvements-type store, need to go to a commercial plumbing supply, fencing contractor, well driller, scrap yard, etc.

And yes, you do need to use concrete for your base, even in rocky ground. Sakrete (premixed bagged concrete mix) is available @ lumberyards, it will work fine.

 

[SatPhreak]

Cement is a good thing. A house that I used to drive past on my way home set up a c band dish mounted on a wooden mount laying on the ground with nothing to weigh it down. A couple weeks after it went up I noticed it laying face down on the ground. They rightened it and couple weeks later it was floped down again and bent. Finally they concreted the pole into the ground and then it was fine.
Around here most C band dishes are actually bolted to a 4' round by 1' thick concrete slab that sits on the ground. It's easier to do it that way here then to dig below the frost line in boulder filled clay. I used to check every spring to make sure it was still level and tracking the arc but gave up after a couple years because it always was.

 

[Babadem]

This might be a better idea. I saw this somewhere on the web. See attachment.

 

[arcticracer]

Lots of Concrete

Here is my 12' dish, 20 feet off the ground on a free standing steel pole. It is heavy well casing from a used steel yard, telescoped with 3.5" OD schedule 80 pipe. Hole was about 4 feet deep, with a lot of concrete in a large hole. Can't remember how much. As strong as it is, it still wiggles a little bit in a good wind. ENough to make a weak C band signal twitch a little.