The "perfect" SlimLine apartment balcony install

[dcwebman]

Through the help of others in this forum, I have now installed what I consider the "perfect" apartment balcony install. For those that aren't aware of my situation, I recently moved into an apartment after years of living in houses and had to find a way to install a Slimline dish on my 3rd floor apartment balcony without doing any drilling into the lightweight vinyl balcony railing or walls. It took a few installers but I did get it installed with only having to drill a couple screws into the concrete balcony. I was finally able to get all 3 satellites but I wasn't satisfied because I was afraid if a big wind came along, the dish would be pulling the railing over. The solution recommended that I liked best was a non-penetrating mount but trying to find one that supported the Slimline was very difficult. I finally did find one but the pole that came with the mount was only 36 inches tall which wasn't high enough for me to get over the balcony railing. The good thing was that I already had a 2 inch pole so I just had to install it into the mount's base.

The mount I was able to find is the NPR6a by Perfect 10. It actually is pretty cool because the pole that comes with it is 1 3/4" on one end and 2" on the other so it can handle any dish. But being too short didn't help my situation. I wrote a couple online sites that offered it but the one that responded quickly and answered questions I had and where I ended up buying it was at:
NPR6A NON-PENETRATING MOUNT

For those that don't have a pole already, there was one company that replied after I ordered this that said they could give me a 2" pole as high as I needed with the mount too. Sorry, but I can't find the email with the company's name.

So my dish is now sitting all by itself without being attached to any of the apartment's balcony. I bought a simple big rubber/carpet welcome mat for underneath it. If I feel I need more support, all I have to do is put more weight on the blocks. On top of everything, without touching the dish at all, I ended up getting a stronger signal on 2 of the 3 satellites!

I am considering using angle iron or better yet finding some kind of pole similar to the ones that come with the mount to connect from the top of the pole to the back of the mount. It's pretty much rock solid now but doing this wouldn't let anything move.

Why I consider this a "perfect" install for an apartment balcony is that when I move, I can simply move it with me to the next place for a simple install. And being portable, even though I am in a rare hurricane area, I could bring it inside to avoid any damage to the dish.

Hope this helps somebody else. Bring on those HD channels!
Jeff

 

[grydlok]

Nice, Looks very good.

 

[raoul5788]

Nice, Looks very good.

Yes, a very neat, clean installation indeed. Good choice with the ota antenna, btw.

 

[shmeff]

looks much better!

 

[Mike500]

Nice install...

You could have also used a standard heavy duty tripod from Radio Shack for $35 and a chain link fence line post for about $6.

A standard Phase III DirecTV 1-5/8" pole non-penetrating roof mount can also be used.

This adapter on eBay would make it work.

DirecTV AT9/AU9 KA/KU Adapter for old 1-5/8" pole - (eBay item 150160086341 end time Sep-16-07 21:00:12 PDT)

Since it would sit a lot lower, it would be just fine with less ballast.

Either way worls just fine. Yours is nice. Some apartments, however, do not allow the dish to stick out from the balcony. You are fortunate that your complex allows it.

 

[Lord Darth Vader]

I don't think apartment complexes have anything to say when it comes to dishes sticking out from the balcony. FCC regs seem to protect a renter in this regard.

 

[raoul5788]

I don't think apartment complexes have anything to say when it comes to dishes sticking out from the balcony. FCC regs seem to protect a renter in this regard.

In most cases, the area outside of the balcony is considered public, and therefore subject to the regulations of the condo association. The renter would not be covered.

 

[dcwebman]

You could have also used a standard heavy duty tripod from Radio Shack for $35 and a chain link fence line post for about $6.

...

Some apartments, however, do not allow the dish to stick out from the balcony. You are fortunate that your complex allows it.

You can't see it from the pictures but a tripod would not work in my situation. The problem is that the eaves of the building block the signal if the dish sits back in more toward the balcony. The installers first tried just sitting the dish on the railing to see if a signal could even be gotten but didn't have any luck. The only way was to get it out away from the railing.

And according to the office, my complex is one of those that don't allow the dish to stick out from the balcony. But every dish install I have seen at the apartments is sticking out and there are at least 20 or more. If they start trying to enforce it, I'm ready for a fight. They have to allow me to have a dish and if I can't get a signal when it's inside the balcony, there's no other choice. At least it's not damaging their property.

I'm still trying to figure out how to ground the thing though. There just isn't any of the normal grounding options nearby that I can tie into. Is there anything out there that I can put inline to stop the problem that a ground would solve?

 

[Billusa99]

Very slick!

If you are worried at all about any high wind movement, you could get some of those long plastic cable-ties they sell at places like Home Depot. Use 2 of them, in a X, around the pole to the balcony top railing. That would stop any torsion up higher.

 

[Joe Diamond]

And now...

How did you get the cables to the TVs?
How is it grounded?
Good job on the three satellites...where are the other two?

Consider the time you spend getting this far...DTV still schedules apartment installations without even asking about LOS or landlord permission. It is often just a message on an answering machine.

Surprise, surprise, sometimes the tech doesn't have everything on the truck.

Good job so far,

Joe

 

[digiblur]

Good job on the three satellites...where are the other two?

That one dish picks up 5 orbital positions.

 

[Desert Satellite]

I once had a satellite installer that would remove your electrical cover and ground to the house ground wire and then put the cover back on the electrial outlet... He actually put a grounding block right next to their electrial outlet...

 

[joedekock]

This is a very neat and clean install. I am impressed. The only thing is you sacrifice some deck space. :up

I would like to know or see pictures of how you ran the wires into your apartment.

 

[Joe Diamond]

Digi,

I know that and you know that........the 99 & 103 have been blinking on and off for the last year at least according to rumor. Sometimes the reason there is no signal from one satellite is a tuning issue and sometimes it is because the satellite is still sitting on a rocket in the hold of the launch ship.

What is the latest launch info? I have rolled on service calls for missing satellites that are not in service (yet), It gets old.

Joe

 

[raoul5788]

Digi,

I know that and you know that........the 99 & 103 have been blinking on and off for the last year at least according to rumor. Sometimes the reason there is no signal from one satellite is a tuning issue and sometimes it is because the satellite is still sitting on a rocket in the hold of the launch ship.

What is the latest launch info? I have rolled on service calls for missing satellites that are not in service (yet), It gets old.

Joe

Are you saying that you are an installer and you don't know that there are satellites at 99 and 103 that have been in use for over a year?

 

[Mike500]

You can't see it from the pictures but a tripod would not work in my situation. The problem is that the eaves of the building block the signal if the dish sits back in more toward the balcony. The installers first tried just sitting the dish on the railing to see if a signal could even be gotten but didn't have any luck. The only way was to get it out away from the railing.

It's actually a quite simple physical measurement using a cheap angle finder. All you need is some string and some duct tape. Tape the string to to the edge of the ceiling of the balcony. Find the elevation angle for the satellite for the particular location that has the highest elevation angle. For DirecTV, it is usually the one at the 99 longitude location. Run the string toward the wall at the elevation angle back in the line of the azmuth position for that satellite. Do the same with another string for the lowest elevation satellite which 119. The string should be attached to the top of the balcony railing. Anywhere between the two strings inside of the balcony will get a full view of all of the satellites.

Using this method, I have always been able to keep the dish inside of the rail. The only problem is when an extreme "swing" is needed. Also, placing the dish closer to the balcony floor makes it a lot more stable.

I'm still trying to figure out how to ground the thing though. There just isn't any of the normal grounding options nearby that I can tie into. Is there anything out there that I can put inline to stop the problem that a ground would solve?

If you have an outside outlet, get a heavy plug, like a "hospital grade" one. Run the ground wire from the grounding rod to the round grounding terminal. Leave the other blades unconnected. Fill the cable entrance with silicone sealant, but make sure that it is completely hard until plugging it in. Uncured silicone has acetic acid or vinegar, which may be electrically conductive.

 

[dcwebman]

If you are worried at all about any high wind movement, you could get some of those long plastic cable-ties they sell at places like Home Depot. Use 2 of them, in a X, around the pole to the balcony top railing. That would stop any torsion up higher.

True. That's what I originally had when it was installed. Even though the balcony railing is lightweight, it would be a lot easier to do that than try to find some kind of pole support.

 

[dcwebman]

If you have an outside outlet, get a heavy plug, like a "hospital grade" one. Run the ground wire from the grounding rod to the round grounding terminal. Leave the other blades unconnected. Fill the cable entrance with silicone sealant, but make sure that it is completely hard until plugging it in. Uncured silicone has acetic acid or vinegar, which may be electrically conductive.

Unfortunately I don't have an outside outlet. I guess I could run the grounding wire in with the cables and plug into the closest interior outlet. How's that sound? Thanks also for the easy measurement idea.

 

[Mike500]

Unfortunately I don't have an outside outlet. I guess I could run the grounding wire in with the cables and plug into the closest interior outlet. How's that sound? Thanks also for the easy measurement idea.

Yeah, that's just fine. Just remember to use a #10 gauge green copper conductor, although bare copper would work, but #10 solid copper is hard to get.

 

[dcwebman]

Some people asked for a photo of the satellite wires entering my apartment so here it is. I was told by the installer and others on the forum here that with the HD channels that the flat cables wouldn't work well. Hence I have to leave the window open a crack to run the wires in. Since I'm on the 3rd floor I don't really have to worry about anybody breaking in but regardless, I put 2 window locks on the inside to prevent the window from being raised. I also used window A/C insulation to fill the gap and covered the whole thing with white duct tape.