Hey all,
I've been hoping to get into the FTA game for a while, but I'm still in a north-facing apartment. I had tried aiming a cheap-as-heck dish at 30W on a homemade stand, but there's a bit too much pine in the way. The person in the rental office asked her superiors a year or so ago if I could put it on the roof, but they were worried about it falling and hurting someone (or worse, hurting their precious building). Now that I have a 1M dish on a proper NPRM (for free, no less!) I asked her to talk to her bosses again. She'll also be sending this to them, and I was wondering what you guys thought:
To whom it may concern,
I just wanted to mention a few details regarding my request for a satellite dish on the roof of the C building at [complex].
First, the reason why I'd like a dish on the roof in the first place. My balcony faces north-northwest, which allows for reception of the local broadcast channels. However, it does not allow for reception of any satellite signals since they need unobstructed line-of sight for the dish. The dish would not be for a paid service (Dish, DirecTV) but for free-to-air channels. These are unencrypted channels available to anyone that can aim a dish. The particular satellite I'd like to reach is AMC 21, which carries several PBS channels. The local station carries some of the major network series, but AMC 21 has all of the major PBS channels (Create, PBS World, V-Me, and regional channels.)
The hardware itself is not very different from the equipment used for pay-tv satellite. The dish is a bit larger than the standard DirecTV dish (and is nearly identical to their Hawaii dishes), and the receiver is made for unencrypted channels. It is the largest allowed under the FCC's Over-the-Air Reception Devices (OTARD) rules (1 meter). OTARD allows for equipment in areas under "exclusive use" (ie. balcony) but not common space, hence my request.
I understand that you have concerns regarding the dish, both in terms of safety for the residents and building, and of aesthetics. The dish and the non-penetrating roof mount (NPRM) previously spent 16 years on the roof of the Walgreens where I work. For the first ten years it was used for Muzak reception before the store moved to internet radio. In those 16 years the dish never moved, even through hurricanes and the tornado that came through [town where I work] in 2009. The NPRM is designed to be ballasted with eight cinderblocks. To prevent any damage to the roof itself, the NPRM sits atop a rubber mat cut to size. In the unlikely event of any damage to the roof of the C building, I do carry renter's insurance, and have since before moving to [complex].
As far as aesthetics are concerned, I would be more than willing to paint the dish a light blue to blend in with the sky. That should make it very difficult to see when pulling in from either driveway. The coaxial cable to my apartment would not require any new holes, as it can be run with the Comcast wiring that is bundled through my storage space and that of my neighbors of C25. It would not be a repeat of the issue with Comcast last year nailing the thick RG11 cable to the side of the building. I have both black and white RG6 and will use whichever stands out less.
Thank you for your consideration,
[name]
I've been hoping to get into the FTA game for a while, but I'm still in a north-facing apartment. I had tried aiming a cheap-as-heck dish at 30W on a homemade stand, but there's a bit too much pine in the way. The person in the rental office asked her superiors a year or so ago if I could put it on the roof, but they were worried about it falling and hurting someone (or worse, hurting their precious building). Now that I have a 1M dish on a proper NPRM (for free, no less!) I asked her to talk to her bosses again. She'll also be sending this to them, and I was wondering what you guys thought:
To whom it may concern,
I just wanted to mention a few details regarding my request for a satellite dish on the roof of the C building at [complex].
First, the reason why I'd like a dish on the roof in the first place. My balcony faces north-northwest, which allows for reception of the local broadcast channels. However, it does not allow for reception of any satellite signals since they need unobstructed line-of sight for the dish. The dish would not be for a paid service (Dish, DirecTV) but for free-to-air channels. These are unencrypted channels available to anyone that can aim a dish. The particular satellite I'd like to reach is AMC 21, which carries several PBS channels. The local station carries some of the major network series, but AMC 21 has all of the major PBS channels (Create, PBS World, V-Me, and regional channels.)
The hardware itself is not very different from the equipment used for pay-tv satellite. The dish is a bit larger than the standard DirecTV dish (and is nearly identical to their Hawaii dishes), and the receiver is made for unencrypted channels. It is the largest allowed under the FCC's Over-the-Air Reception Devices (OTARD) rules (1 meter). OTARD allows for equipment in areas under "exclusive use" (ie. balcony) but not common space, hence my request.
I understand that you have concerns regarding the dish, both in terms of safety for the residents and building, and of aesthetics. The dish and the non-penetrating roof mount (NPRM) previously spent 16 years on the roof of the Walgreens where I work. For the first ten years it was used for Muzak reception before the store moved to internet radio. In those 16 years the dish never moved, even through hurricanes and the tornado that came through [town where I work] in 2009. The NPRM is designed to be ballasted with eight cinderblocks. To prevent any damage to the roof itself, the NPRM sits atop a rubber mat cut to size. In the unlikely event of any damage to the roof of the C building, I do carry renter's insurance, and have since before moving to [complex].
As far as aesthetics are concerned, I would be more than willing to paint the dish a light blue to blend in with the sky. That should make it very difficult to see when pulling in from either driveway. The coaxial cable to my apartment would not require any new holes, as it can be run with the Comcast wiring that is bundled through my storage space and that of my neighbors of C25. It would not be a repeat of the issue with Comcast last year nailing the thick RG11 cable to the side of the building. I have both black and white RG6 and will use whichever stands out less.
Thank you for your consideration,
[name]
