I got the HTS System 70 up and running tonight

[iammike]

Mike - I just started playing with the frequency adjustment. I needed it on my far West sats G1 / C4. It helped a lot. I found that re-tuning the dish position after fine tuning the skew made for some very nice improvements.

I had the same experience. I started out without a servo motor, which made tuning a bit of a bear. I don't remember which sat, but I do remember that MSNBC was a channel that the freq. made a big difference on. It's on one of the western birds. I also found a few channels where subtle freq. adjustments helped get rid of the last few sparklies.

 

[drhydro]

How deep did you bury the pipe & how much concrete ? Did you concrete fill the pipe ?
Thanks for the info .
Wyr

How deep you dig the hole can depend on the climate of the area you are in. In Vermont I have to go down at least 48" to get below the frost line. If you don't go below the frost line (at least in this area) your pole will eventuallly shift. My mount and pole are sturdier than what Shawn used, largly because i have a larger dish (10' vs 5') and also because of the severe weather we get in our region, including high winds and every concievable form of precipitation in large quantitys.
Concrete filling the pole is always a good idea, it really helps to stiffen up the pole. That being said, i ended up going down 5 feet and using 17 bags of ready mix for my pole mount.

 

[Shawn95GT]

How deep did you bury the pipe & how much concrete ? Did you concrete fill the pipe ?
Thanks for the info .
Wyr

The pole is just over 3' in the ground. I'd have gone deper but the ground is VERY hard clay here. I used 12 bags of concrete (overkill) and I did fill the pole.

Shawn

 

[iammike]

The pole is just over 3' in the ground. I'd have gone deper but the ground is VERY hard clay here. I used 12 bags of concrete (overkill) and I did fill the pole.
Shawn

Geez Shawn, when I sunk my 10.5 foot schedule 80 pipe I only used 7 bags they were 80 pounders though. That was enough to fill the hole and the pipe. It's about 3.5 feet in the ground. I did put some rebar through the bottom of the pipe to give it more torque resistance though. How wide did you make your hole?

Wyr, I'd add to Drhydro's reply that you also want to have at least one third of your pipe in the ground.

 

[Shawn95GT]

Geez Shawn, when I sunk my 10.5 foot schedule 80 pipe I only used 7 bags they were 80 pounders though. That was enough to fill the hole and the pipe. I did put some rebar through the bottom of the pipe to give it more torque resistance though.

Well it wasn't the intent to go crazy on the cement.

I had originally set the pole with just a few bags of cement. While it was setting, the pole shifted noticably overnight.

I dug up the concrete bulb so that I could true the pole, which ended up making a shovel-wide moat around the original hole. I back-filled some dirt to get the pole solid and true. I then kept throwing concrete at it until it was full.

Now I'm kind of regretting it seeing as I'm concidering putting the 8' dish up, which will require a new pole.

Shawn

 

[iammike]

Maybe you should just rent a backhoe and call in a concrete truck for the 8 footer.


One thing I did that helped tremdously on my pole was staking it. I used 2x4's and clamps and staked my pole from 2 directions. I spent a long time making it plumb before starting to fill the hole, and then double checked it after each bag of concrete. I was probably a little more paranoid than most folks about keeping it plumb though.

Mike

 

[drhydro]

Here is a pic of my pole mount, it is two 55 gallon drums welded together and filled with concrete, buried 5 feet deep. There are four 3/4" bolts sticking up from the pole mount that the plate on the bottom of my pole bolts to. With a setup like this, if the mount ever moves i can adjust the pole back to plumb.

 

[Shawn95GT]

Here is a pic of my pole mount, it is two 55 gallon drums welded together and filled with concrete, buried 5 feet deep. There are four 3/4" bolts sticking up from the pole mount that the plate on the bottom of my pole bolts to. With a setup like this, if the mount ever moves i can adjust the pole back to plumb.

Nice - looks like how they mount street lights here.

Shawn

 

[drhydro]

Thanks Shawn,
This type of mount/ pole system was recommended by a gent who does commercial c-band installs in the area. And before someone asks, yes there was a backhoe involved in digging the hole for this mount. Trying to dig a hole around here by hand is an exercise in futility, my property is on a glacially scoured mountainside, LOTS of rocks.

I was psyched when i went and grabbed my 6' BUD, it was set up the same way so i just unbolted the pole and took it with me

 

[WyrTwister]

Those are all 4dtv numbers, so I don't know if the receiver difference will be that big in this case. I think you pretty much have to be using a Motorola 922, 920, or 905. In my case it's a 922.

Did nor realize you were talking about 4dtv .

I have never used 4dtv .

Latter ,
Wyr

 

[WyrTwister]

How deep you dig the hole can depend on the climate of the area you are in. In Vermont I have to go down at least 48" to get below the frost line. If you don't go below the frost line (at least in this area) your pole will eventuallly shift. My mount and pole are sturdier than what Shawn used, largly because i have a larger dish (10' vs 5') and also because of the severe weather we get in our region, including high winds and every concievable form of precipitation in large quantitys.
Concrete filling the pole is always a good idea, it really helps to stiffen up the pole. That being said, i ended up going down 5 feet and using 17 bags of ready mix for my pole mount.

18" will take care of frost for me . Not a great deal of precipitation , but a lot of wind .

Thanks for the help .

Wyr

 

[WyrTwister]

Wyr, I'd add to Drhydro's reply that you also want to have at least one third of your pipe in the ground.

Thank you ,

Wyr

 

[WyrTwister]

Here is a pic of my pole mount, it is two 55 gallon drums welded together and filled with concrete, buried 5 feet deep. There are four 3/4" bolts sticking up from the pole mount that the plate on the bottom of my pole bolts to. With a setup like this, if the mount ever moves i can adjust the pole back to plumb.

That is how a parking lot lite pole is leveled .

Wyr

 

[iammike]

Thanks Shawn,
This type of mount/ pole system was recommended by a gent who does commercial c-band installs in the area. And before someone asks, yes there was a backhoe involved in digging the hole for this mount.

Hey Doc, cool mount! Wouldn't a concrete truck have been easier than all those bags of concrete?

 

[drhydro]

Hey Doc, cool mount! Wouldn't a concrete truck have been easier than all those bags of concrete?

It was easier and cheaper to get my neighbors teenaged kids to haul and mix the concrete under adult supervision ;-) I was lucky to have the backhoe there, my nieghbors and myself had rented one for a weekend to take care of our private road. I would not have wanted to dig that hole by hand, the last hole i dug was for a sona tube for my deck, took me a full day to dig a hole 4' deep. After that the rest of the sona tube holes were dug by backhoe