Will a bucket filled with cement work for the slimline dish?

[Stargazer]

What you need is a nonpenetrating mount. It is a base where you can put solid blocks inside of it and it will hold a dish even larger than the one you need to use. I put one of those on a roof years ago and it is still there. They are using it to hold a wildblue dish now but I had installed a weather satellite dish up there at the time.

The windload of a 36 inch has 8 times the windload of an 18-20 inch dish.

 

[ebms1]

I'm looking into non penetrating roof mounts and also tripods but both seem to be very large for my relatively small balcony and my wife wants to keep some room for a grill..go figure

So will the old cement bucket with a pole work for the slimline dish and if I make the bucket with pole will the directv installer agree to install on that setup?

Also can someone link me to the exact type of pole I would need?
Thanks

use a 1' x 1' x 4" concrete block with a 1' to 1.5' 2" diam. pole attached to


weighs about 50 lbs .... put a rubber mat under it ...

 

[stardust3]

The bottom line is the op has to take some responsibility for this type of setup. Just like an rv'er or a dish on a houseboat there does come a certain amount of responsibility that does not fall back on the installer or sat company. Tuning a dish is a major step in that direction. Playing the electronically challenged card is not acceptable, if you want to play you should at least learn the basics & this site is a good place to start.

 

[WhoRay85]

Is there any reason you couldn't use a rail mount?

 

[Khurram]

Is there any reason you couldn't use a rail mount?

Hmm..never thought of that option..does it require drilling into the railing?

 

[WhoRay85]

Hmm..never thought of that option..does it require drilling into the railing?

No - it's bolt on using brackets.

 

[Khurram]

The bottom line is the op has to take some responsibility for this type of setup. Just like an rv'er or a dish on a houseboat there does come a certain amount of responsibility that does not fall back on the installer or sat company. Tuning a dish is a major step in that direction. Playing the electronically challenged card is not acceptable, if you want to play you should at least learn the basics & this site is a good place to start.

I'm definitely taking responsibility for it as much as I can. I had a setup on a tripod this entire past year when I lived in South Beach, Miami. It was a heavy duty tripod and the legs were drilled into 3 cement blocks and it stood up to many heavy wind storms/tropical storms without even budget an inch. Never had to readjust even once.

I'm thinking I may go that same route. I have the tripod with me and i'm sure I could get the blocks from home depot.

I would just need the installer to drill the tripod to the blocks and install the dish w/ alignment.

 

[Khurram]

Just checked and my balcony railing is rather thin. I don't think it would handle a rail mount very well.

 

[Khurram]

So after much thought i've decided to go with the same type of setup I had in Miami Beach last year where there were many strong storms (no hurricanes last year) and it didn't budge an inch and never need to be realigned.

It's basically a 3 foot heavy duty tripod from radioshack, mast, and 3 concrete blocks into which the feet of the tripod will be drilled so that there is no drilling into the actual balcony. I'm leaving the drilling part to the installer so he can do it as he sees fit.

The blocks weigh 22 pounds each for a total of 66 pounds of weight+tripod stability.

Does anyone think the Dtv installer will have a problem with this sort of installation? This is how they set it up for me in Miami (and that was 17 stories high with a lot of wind) but I know each installer is different. I'm hoping to extend the mast as far down as possible (hopefully touching the balcony so that my height is as minimal as possible.

 

[ebms1]

Is there any reason you couldn't use a rail mount?

most apts wont let anything extend over the railing outside the the apts structure

 

[raoul5788]

So after much thought i've decided to go with the same type of setup I had in Miami Beach last year where there were many strong storms (no hurricanes last year) and it didn't budge an inch and never need to be realigned.

It's basically a 3 foot heavy duty tripod from radioshack, mast, and 3 concrete blocks into which the feet of the tripod will be drilled so that there is no drilling into the actual balcony. I'm leaving the drilling part to the installer so he can do it as he sees fit.

The blocks weigh 22 pounds each for a total of 66 pounds of weight+tripod stability.

Does anyone think the Dtv installer will have a problem with this sort of installation? This is how they set it up for me in Miami (and that was 17 stories high with a lot of wind) but I know each installer is different. I'm hoping to extend the mast as far down as possible (hopefully touching the balcony so that my height is as minimal as possible.

I would think the installer would work with you here, but I would get larger, heavier block.

 

[cfb]

I was thinking of the options for running a metal strap or at least a couple of pieces of stranded metal wire around one of those deck boards and using that to tie down the tripod legs.

Or three large coffee cans (painted), put a couple of bolts in the tripod leg holes as concrete anchors, put them in the cans and fill the cans with concrete.

Or find a farm supply or decent hardware store and get a round galvanized metal or a plastic pan thats big enough for the tripod to sit in, secure the tripod legs to the pan and fill it with rocks or gravel. That'd weigh close to 150lbs and have a big wide base.

 

[Khurram]

I used smaller, lighter blocks when I was in Miami and it was just fine but I'll look into the other ideas as well.

 

[raoul5788]

Since the decking is wood, why not bolt right into the joists? If the spacing is right, you might be able to go between the decking and the holes will hardly show. Normally you would want two bolts per foot, but since the balcony is protected, one may be enough. Here's another idea: Use a sheet of 3/4" exterior grade plywood large enough for the feet and bolt the tripod to it while lag screwing the plywood to the joists between the decking. Genius!

 

[cfb]

I think his original post said he didnt want to drive any screws or bolts into anything. The landlord might not be that happy with screw holes in the deck.

I could be wrong, but the photo looks like the 'joists' are concrete. Maybe they're wood painted white/gray.

 

[raoul5788]

I think his original post said he didnt want to drive any screws or bolts into anything. The landlord might not be that happy with screw holes in the deck.

I could be wrong, but the photo looks like the 'joists' are concrete. Maybe they're wood painted white/gray.

I didn't see anything in his posts about not drilling into the deck, but he doesn't have to anyway. Khurram, if the deck is on concrete, you can use Tapcons between the decking boards to attach a piece of plywood that you can bolt the tripod to. The Tapcons will work fine if the deck has standard framing, also. You can use carriage bolts to hold the tripod to the plywood and they won't mar the decking at all.

 

[Khurram]

Well the installer is coming tomorrow so we'll find out what he thinks.

The joists are indeed wood as I just checked but I don't know if the spacing will work out.
Thanks for all the input.

 

[raoul5788]

This is what I was talking about. My artistic skills are lacking, but maybe you can understand what I am getting at. The tripod bolts to the plywood, not the joists.