Thread: 76 CM Portable RV Dish

When I bought a 100cm dish to replace my old Winegard 76cm dish, I decided to see what I could do to make the old dish usable in my RV when we snowbird this winter. I saw a photo of a similar wood base to hold the mast & dish somewhere on the internet. But that one looked pretty crude for what I had in mind.

I wanted a lap joint, carriage bolts with wing nuts to hold things together, and built in T level and storage for the odds and ends of the setup. The wood is 2x4 pressure treated, since it will be out in contact with the ground and in the rain that sometimes comes in the desert. I used 54" for the length requiring two 8 foot boards. Could have tried 48" using only one. But the excess wood was used for small pieces to be used on soft ground, keeping the eyebolts from sinking into the ground. And I figured the longer length would be more stable in the high winds of the desert.

The eye bolts used to level the base and the 12" spikes to help hold it in place during the Santa Ana winds have their own recessed cutouts for storage. The cutout recesses all have drain holes. The two wood pieces are held together for storage with two bolts and wing nuts, with all the eye bolts, wing nuts, T level, & spikes nested in place inside.

I replaced the DG-280 motor's bracket metric U-bolts with 5/16" bolts, that in turn allowed adding a plate covering the end of the mast to support the weight of the antenna assembly. This makes aiming horizontally for the true south satellite easier. Without the weight being supported by the plate, the whole thing wants to zigzag down the mast. But with the weight being supported by the plate, the assembly easily rotates without sliding down the mast. A 5/16" U-bolt mount on the mast is positioned to hold the handle of the 40 pound water bucket to prevent it from falling off the base.

I figure the 40 pound water bucket and spikes should keep it in place. Last year we saw 55 mph plus wind gusts on my weather station.

I bought 8" x 5/16" eye bolts to do the leveling. But the threaded portion wasn't long enough. I used a die to thread the rest of the eye bolt, but in hind sight, think a long threaded rod with a plastic knob Locktite'd on would be a better method. The bolts thread into a brass machine/wood screw inserts on the tip of each leg.

The T level is used by first leveling the cross leg, then leveling the long front leg. Typically one pass and it's level, but sometimes a second pass is required if the long leg needs to adjust further than the bolt will allow. First time after leveling, I checked the mast for plumb and shimed the T level to match. Three eye bolts do the leveling, the fourth one on the short leg, only is used to prevent the water bucket from lifting the long leg off the ground.

The Invacom QPH-031 LNB uses two 22KHz switches to select circular or linear outputs for either the RV's living room or bedroom TV's.

The parts are painted gold, green, & blue to match the trim colors of my RV.

Very clean job and innovative. Thanks for sharing the pictures. I like the GOLD color and the green on the wood. The Blue seems out of place, but maybe it matches the trim on your RV which makes it fine.

I like the plate idea to support the wait on the mast. GOOD job!

Here's some photos of the RV. For the Direcway dish I built a home made BOW (bird on a wire) to mount TV LNB's. Also use the power from the LNB's to light a slow color changing LED array to light the dish at night. Solar powered garden lights are night time anti-tripod collision.

The Oregon Scientific Weather Station plugs into a USB port and s/w on the laptop records and displays the info.

And sunrise in the desert.

Love the modularity, creativity, and the easy packability of the blue/green/gold dish 'n motor affair!
Ya must be quite the inventor! -
Should probably market that adjustable base .

Looking at the DirecWay + DishNetwork LNBs, it would appear you no longer subscribe to DirecWay.
Have you considered dropping the finned transmitter module off the bottom of the LNB arm to save weight and packing space?

As for the majestic desert picture, could that be Palm Springs?
I haven't been there in quite a while, but on a clear day, I know it's quite a sight!

edit:

...that in turn allowed adding a plate covering the end of the mast to support the weight of the antenna assembly.
This makes aiming horizontally for the true south satellite easier.
Without the weight being supported by the plate, the whole thing wants to zigzag down the mast.

Great execution. Others have put a gate-post ring under the motor bracket, for the exact same reason.
Maybe some of our Gold Sponsors should take heed and incorporate a reversible bracket or ring with their motors!

Still use Direcway when RV'ing, but now called Hughesnet. They never bothered to recall the old dishes to re-paint them with the new name. Direcway had BOW's for DirecTV, but wasn't what I was using. So selected a Hughesnet satellite that would work for me and a home made BOW.

Having the satellite internet is nice in some locations. Stayed a week at Rockhound State Park near Deming, NM. No radio stations to be picked up that I wanted to listen to. But with the dish, could get all I wanted of internet radio.

Started with Starband, but discovered I occasionally visit places with no cell phone coverage. Hard to believe, and I didn't believe when one place in Idaho told me that. Anyway Starband's aiming and signal verification required phoning the home office to key in numbers to pass the skew test. Direcway has an auto cross polariztion test not needing a phone to get on line.

Palm Springs is at the base of the hill and to the left about 20 miles off.