Special: $40 OFF Sadoun 1.8m Prime Focus C/KU Band Dishes

**Tron** · 11-08-2009 04:07 AM

Originally Posted by Iceberg

by the way...I did have a cable spool before for it

I knew a cable spool figured in there at one time

...

I am still contemplating an interface between the ground mount and pallet which will allow for easy azimuth adjustment and a firm lockdown. For now, the mount and dish are being held down on the pallet with 4" x 8" x 16" solid blocks (eight of them). There's a late season tropical storm that is predicted to brush us on Monday and Tuesday, so that will be a good test.

**phlatwound** · 11-08-2009 08:26 AM

Originally Posted by Tron

I knew a cable spool figured in there at one time

...

I am still contemplating an interface between the ground mount and pallet which will allow for easy azimuth adjustment and a firm lockdown. For now, the mount and dish are being held down on the pallet with 4" x 8" x 16" solid blocks (eight of them). There's a late season tropical storm that is predicted to brush us on Monday and Tuesday, so that will be a good test.

Tron, I used some perforated metal "plumbers tape" and screwed over the bottom ring and to the pallet. It does limit the possible azimuth rotation somewhat, but if you put it in the "center" of the sats you typically want to hit, about halfway between the vertical legs of your stand, you can get some rotation without removing the tape.

Let me know if you would like some pics, that description may be tough to visualize.

Azimuth adjustability wasn't really a consideration on mine, I put that dish on 99W just to have something that was close to the ground to test C-band LNBFs on (since I got about 7-8 of them with the dish).

**guapoharry** · 11-08-2009 12:24 PM

I just used the stuff that came with the Fortec dish.

To strenghen the pallet, I added a whole mess of sheet rock screws to the top and bottom of the pallet. Then where I planned to put the lag bolts to fasten the base down, I added 2x4 / 2x6 / 2x8 scrap underneath the top, fastened by more screws. The more slats on the pallet these reinforcements connect to. the better.

When I want to adjust for azimuth, I just loosen the lag bolts, rotate and retighten. If the base brackets get in the way, I just remove the bolts temporarily. Suppose the fastener bracket was exactly in the way of the base bracket... In that case I can relocate the fastener brackets. There are fillers between the pallet slats with substantial wood underneath to accommodate room to move the fastener brackets.
If it's really wet in your locale, I would be concerned about wood rot and rust. There are fasteners with a screw thread that have three or so prongs that are designed to be driven into wood. Then you have a fastener that you can use a regular bolt with.

If you wanted to get something fancy, you might consider toggle clamps or something like that....

Right now, I use 12 8x8x16 blocks for ballast. That's about 350-450 pounds or so, depending on the weight of the block. In the summer we can get strong winds associated with thunderstorms. There are houses and trees around to break some of the wind, but I can envision the dish flying away given the perfect storm.

In the future I plan to use solid block. My target is more like 750 pounds plus.

Looking forward to seeing more of the review.

**Tron** · 11-09-2009 04:24 AM

Originally Posted by guapoharry

If it's really wet in your locale, I would be concerned about wood rot and rust.

Yes, that issue did worry me, and its the one reason why I've avoided using wooden pallets for NPRMs up to this point. New Orleans is basically a rain forest, so something had to be done to preserve the wood. I settled on using Thompson's Water Seal, in the spray cans. Each pallet (I now have two, the other one is for the upcoming install of the WSI 9036) took 2.5 cans to completely coat top, bottom, and sides. I probably used more than I had to, but I tend to saturate when I coat something. We already had some heavy rain, and to my relief, the water beads up instead of soaking into the wood.

Originally Posted by guapoharry

Looking forward to seeing more of the review.

The dish is basically finished. All of the bolts are in (including the washers I added), and I coated them with clear enamel yesterday in preparation for Ida's rain water. That's another problem... While wood can deteriorate, so can ANY exposed metal. The rust forms quickly, so everything must be coated. After the rain is over on Tuesday night, I should be able to aim at 72W for NASA and get some results out there to complete the review. Oh yes, and more pictures, of course!

Thread: Special: $40 OFF Sadoun 1.8m Prime Focus C/KU Band Dishes

LinkBack

Thread Tools

Search Thread

Display

ADVERTS 1

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions