The pole is now installed

[PopcornNMore]

This morning I skipped church and went outside and dug myself a hole.

I dug the hole 3 feet deep by 16" in diameter. Then I added the rebar, planted the pole and filled the hole with 360 pounds of cement including the inside of the pole. Hopefully now it won't rain.

I'm trying to keep up with Shawn, but he's just too fast. Now it is time to paint my 1.2M Channel Master dish, create a mount and feed assembly, prime and paint the pole and install the RG-U cables in the attic.

 

[n4bbq]

This morning I skipped church and went outside and dug myself a hole.

Probably one in the same. he he

The pre-install looks good. Send more photos when you finish.

 

[Cascade]

Dave, how far from your wall is the pole?

The reason I ask is if you're getting a motor and it swings the dish to far left/right you may foul the wall with the edge of the dish - I assume you're intelligent and measured it beforehand, just thought I'd throw that in

 

[PopcornNMore]

Yes, I did measure this distance beforehand. I even added 6 inches for extra measure.

 

[Shawn95GT]

I one of the pics it looks liek the dish is pretty close to the wall but in another I can tell you've got plenty of room. I was sweating that with mine as well but witht he SG-2100 the dish just kind of twists. Even cranked way over to PAS 9 the dish itself doesn't portrude behind the pole much if at all.

Look'n good!

edit: I had to check after making the above statement. My pole could be dang near flush up against the wall without issue. It doesn't portude behind the pole AT ALL. The 1st pic is from the East and the other is from the South.

 

[tom_v]

Just a curious question...

What about the grounding for the mast/pole ?
Should we run the grounding wire to a ground pod and/or existing electrical ground ?

If the pole is far away from the house, can we run both RG-6 coax and ground wire inside a plastic tube (like the plumbing tube) to the house foundation ?

Sorry if it turns out be more than a simple question..

 

[PSB]

YES Always a good idea to ground the mast (to the main home grounding point), I ground each and EVERY installation I do to local and NEC code. Have a look here for more ideas on grounding.

http://www.dbsinstall.com/Whatis/Whatisgood-5.htm

 

[Shawn95GT]

Pete,

Do you run a seperate ground from the dish to the house ground or do you use a ground block and the coax is the path?

On my Voom install they re-used the cabling from the existing E* install and their cable had 2 RG6 cables + a single wire which was used for the ground.

I was thinking that with my pole in the back corner of the yard I should probably add a ground rod (pain in the rear here due to hard clay just a few feet down) at the dish grounded to the pole. Then where it comes in the house use a grounding block to attach to the main house ground.

Is the ground rod necessary or will the ground block suffice? Keep in mind the only connection between the dish and the house is the coax - no seperate ground wire was run.

 

[drhydro]

hmmmmm i had assumed that my BUD was grounded because i have 2 concrete filled steel drums (welded end to end) buried 5 feet in the ground, with heavy gauge copper wire running from the base of the BUD pole to the top of the steel drums. That is the mount for my BUD pole. should i install a seperate ground wire to the house service?

 

[Mike500]

You can always use a 12 ounce copper plate one foot square buried at least 30 inches deep.

 

[PSB]

You want to make sure your installation is grounded to local and NEC code, and that means the mast MUST be bonded to proper grounding point.

I use SOLID copper RG6 (2.2GHz) with an attached ground. The cable and antenna mast MUST be grounded to be safe. Last thing you want is electricity to enter your home.

 

[Tron]

Yikes! I thought I'd simply drive a new copper rod into the ground near my dish location, ground it there, and it would be safe. I read on Pete's link that the ground MUST be connected to existing building electrical ground. That's clear on the opposite side of the building!

Hmmmm... gotta be an easier way. There's a water heater in the shed... My dishes are on the roof of the shed... The water heater should be grounded to building ground, correct? If so should I be able to attach my dish grounds there?

Thanks!

Tron

 

[Shawn95GT]

I'm actually looking at replacing the Coax I just took off the spool with some of this:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=131658-578-PM61223&lpage=none

 

[Mike500]

I've gor some high end "flooded" quad shielded messenger coax, with the ground wire made be Commscope. I can sure beat that $39.99 price, and that's delivered. This stuff is even underground rated. Send me a PM, if you are interested.

 

[tom_v]

I remember seeing a professional installer install a Dish Network at a friend's house.
He just simply grounded the mast to an outside electrical outlet (the green nut).
Would that work ?

 

[PSB]

Defiantly Not To Local And Nec Code!

 

[Shawn95GT]

Did you get a dish put up to play with while you fab the mount for your motor?

 

[PopcornNMore]

Did you get a dish put up to play with while you fab the mount for your motor?

Not this weekend Shawn. However, I did buy 3/4" conduit, primer paint for the pole, flat white spray paint for the mount and dish and hardware at Home Depot. I also ordered 500' of dual RG-6U Quad cable online and found a supplier of the feed support arms needed for my Channel Master 1.2m dish. I will also be buying a Channel Master feedhorn that matches this dish so that I get all the signal I can possibly get.

I was thinking of talking the wife into allowing me to install a second dish (The Channel Master StarBand dish that is like your Primestar dish) for KU band and using the Channel Master 1.2m for C-Band since a lot of feeds and programming are going digital on C-Band. I will try to catch her when she is in a good mood.

 

[Shawn95GT]

Sounds good . I'm waiting to hear how Iceberg's 90cm dish install goes.

My P* is rated at 38dBi gain for 11.96Ghz.

The 80cm fortec dish is rated at 38.24 @ 12.5 Ghz.

the 90cm is good for 39.34.

I'm wondering if the little over 1 DBi gain is worth dropping $100 on.

Seeing Iceberg's results vs the Winegard will be the sales pitch for me .

Shawn

 

[Stefan]

" using the Channel Master 1.2m for C-Band since a lot of feeds and programming are going digital on C-Band."

The 1.2 meter channel master dish is a very nice dish for Ku band. I'd like to have one myself, but probably not for C band. For C band you need at least an 8.5' dish. The reason for this is the beamwidth (or how narrowly the dish can focus on the satellite it's pointed at) is a function of dish size in relation to wavelength (F/D ratio is a factor also). On Ku band the wavelength of the signal is must shorter. Therefore small dishes can focus tightly enough on a single satellite to get a good quality singal. On C band it's a differnt story as C band wavelengths are alot longer. Therefore the reason you need an 8.5' or larger dish is so that the dish will focus tightly enough on the single satellite your aiming at and not recieve signals from adjacent satellites that will interfere with the signals your trying to recieve. So, while the 1.2M channel master should make a great dish for Ku, you can likely forget about being able to get much C band on it.

Another thing I might add. If your going to use the channel master feedhorn your probably going to need a C120 flange LNB. A C120 flange LNB will bolt up to the channel master feedhorn. Invacom makes a C120 LNB. You can also use Primestar and DirectPC LNBs as they mate up to a C120 flange as well. The channel master feedhorn may come with a polarising filter that bolts to the C120 flange on the feedhorn and then bolts to a WR75 LNB (these are the kind of Ku LNBs commonly used on BUDs). But if you use that along with a Wr75 LNB you'll only be able to recieve one polarity at a time and that polarity depends on how you orient the polarising filter. There's also an adapter that attaches to the C120 flange on the feedhorn and accepts 2 WR75 LNBs and feeds the horizontial polarity to one and the vertical polarity to the other, but these are more expensive, require you to buy 2 LNBs instead of one, and would also require the use of a switch to switch between polarity. So, your best bet is probably just to get a C120 LNB that bolts directly to the feedhorn.