Moving. Need advice on planning new dish farm.

[Dee_Ann]

Well after spending quite a few years in one spot it turns out that I’ll be moving.

And of course I will be moving my dishes with me.
The new place is a much, much bigger, much much nicer house and neighborhood. But the yard is a LOT smaller than this one.
My backyard here is like 6,300+ square feet. Pretty darn big. The new yard is just barely over 2,000 square feet. Not much room for three large, rowdy dogs.

I really don’t want to put the dishes in the backyard because it’s so small. Not to mention I’m going to have a lot of gardening going on which will make the yard smaller still.

This means I need to put the dishes on the side of the house. I have an area of 30 feet by 14 feet to work with. It will be fenced in with a 6’ privacy fence so things will get a bit tight in there with the 10 foot dish.
There is a house next door but it’s far enough away that the dishes will be able to see over it’s roof across the entire arc.

One of the problems I am facing is that the house/yard is at a weird angle to north/south.

Here, at my current house, my yard is in almost perfect alignment with north/south so my dishes face straight back.

But because of the alignment at the new place I can’t place the dishes flat against the side of the house, they have to be out away from the house to clear the wall. I also have two air conditioners and some shrubbery there. I can’t move the air conditioners and I don’t want to cut the shrubbery down, at most I will have to keep it pruned back because it can get really tall.

I’m putting the 10’ BUD, the 6’ KU (convert to mini-BUD), two 1m KU USALS dishes, and the three Dishnet dishes. Pretty much all the same dishes I have here now. But being that it’s in a very confined 14x30 area within a 6’ fence and with obstacles within, I have to be very fastidious in my planning it out.

I have to have them come locate underground pipes, wires, etc and mark them. Then I have to buy all new poles and weld anti-rotate rods to them, pay someone to dig large, deep holes then set the poles in place and fill them with cement. After all the trouble I’ve had with them here I’ve learned that this time they’ll be a lot deeper, bigger around and filled with a lot more cement. I can’t make mistakes at all. I can’t do it haphazard like it is now. If I mess up and have a pole put in then find out after that I put it where it can’t swing around without hitting something, I’m really messed up.

Line of sight is not an issue in that there are no trees or obstacles to be concerned with except making sure that the dishes don’t get in the way of each other. I’m thinking the big dishes go to the back, the smaller ones to the front.

I can’t take the dishes there to “try them out for fit” in advance, I have to do this strictly by math I guess. And math, is not my friend. I’ve got to have all the poles set permanently in place then move the dishes after the fact, and hope that I didn’t totally foul it up.

Are there any tips I should know about that would take the guess work out of this? I would like this to be a scientific, precision operation with no mistakes because I only get one chance to get it right and it has to be right the first time. Sc*** ups not allowed..

Thanks..

 

[primestar31]

My best "tip"? Pay an FTA dish installer to come out and site and install at least 1 of those dishes for you. The rest should be much easier once 1 is done.

Siting a whole new dish farm at a new location has to be done very carefully, especially with as tiny an area as you have to work with. It can be done, as all my dishes are set up in such a small area. But I have 30+ years of experience, and even so, I've had to move dishes before after thinking they would be fine (my biggest issue is 85ft trees)

 

[scarecrovv]

The dishpointer app may be of some help.

 

[jorgek]

Can the dishnet stuff go on the roof?

 

[ray224000]

If the dishnet dish's are fixed, why can't you put on roof. As for the other four dish's, can you stack the 1m ku dish's on the same pole and have the 10' and 6' on there own pole. This way you only have the dig three holes. Now since the two 1m are motorized, then that may cause a problem. But look at it this way, if you can put the dishnet dish's on the roof, then worst case you'll need four holes.....

 

[osu1991]

That is a good solution, a taller pole and stacking the smaller Dish's on a single pole.

 

[ray224000]

it is about feng shui.........Dee_Ann can create some good positive energy in her side yard......

 

[Mr Tony]

Can the dishnet stuff go on the roof?

If the dishnet dish's are fixed, why can't you put on roof.

she is using KU dishes reconfigured for Dish. If I remember right its a 30" dish for 110, a 30" for 119 (or maybe they are 36" dishes or Primestar ones) and a 1.2m for 129

 

[wallyhts]

I say go mike kohl style build a 30 foot tower his tower is Hugh


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[Dee_Ann]

Three separate dishes for Dishnet.

• 1.2m (129)
• 1.0m (119)
• 1.0m (110)

If I use the same birds then I’ll have to line these dishes alongside the house, side by side so they more or less face south.
But if I point them instead at 61.5, 72.7 and 77, then they would more or less face forward, towards the street and would line up with the fence along the front.

But also if I aim them that way, won’t I be more susceptible to rain fade since they are so low on the horizon? I’m thinking I’m better off aiming them as they are at 110/119/129..

The 10 foot dish of course needs room to swing about from maybe 72 to 129. It could see even further west I believe as there is nothing in it’s way. But I don’t think there’s much in Alaska I’m interested in.
I really only care about SES1 and SES2. The 6 foot dish will be fixed and I’ll aim it at either SES1 or 2, I don’t know, I am thinking it wouldn’t be a good choice for dependable S2 performance with the Luken stuff. I was thinking I would be better off using it for MeTV/Movies! and using the 10’ dish for Luken stuff. I tend to park my dishes and not move them around much.

I would also want to have a dedicated dish for 97. Not a big deal there. And of course I would have to have my motorized 1m KU dish. And if I can physically fit two of them, then there would be two motorized KU dishes.

I have a few spare dishes that I want to experiment with, a 1.2m I want to setup with a C-band actuator and controller to receive KU, just controlled like a C-band. Because I don’t have enough misery in my life..

The brown lines would be Dish Network 61.5, 72.7 and 77.
The two yellow lines are for the motorized KU - 72 <--> 129
The lavendar lines would be the 6’ mini-BUD either 87 or 101. Most likely parked 101.
The green lines are the 10’ BUD either 87 or 101. Most likely parked on 87.
The blue line is true south.

The red L shaped line is the privacy fence that isn’t there yet.

As for putting any dishes on the roof, NO WAY.. It’s a two story house and I do not like heights. It’s quite tall.. A fall would be fatal.
Also, the dishes are just too big and this is hurricane alley. Nope.....
Oh, and mounting dishes to the house at all, not happening. Everything goes on a pole in the ground.
Also, I’m selling the house I’m in now and I’m going to use that money to have the roof of the new house and garage covered in solar panels. I’m going green!
I’ll be able to run the air conditioner at 55 degrees 24/7/365 !!

The rest of my yard is really small compared to my current yard and once I start my gardening it will be even smaller. And I have three large dogs so I really want to try to keep the dishes out of the back yard and within that 14x30 area on the side of the house.

I went outside today and put some string and weights on the edges of the dishes down to the ground so I could measure the amount of space they actually need.
The BUD needs less room from the pole --> backwards than it does from the pole --> forward. It still takes up 10 feet side to side though.
What I’m thinking I could do is take some 10’ sections of PVC pipes and clamp them together like a cross shape so that it’s to the same measurements that the dish measures out to, like it’s shadow if a light was directly overhead. Then I could lay that on the ground to make sure it doesn’t hit anything. I could put a compass on it so it’s aligned with true south. Once it’s clear everywhere, the center of that would be where to plant the pole. At least that’s my thinking.

Since I can’t take the dish there first and I have to plant the poles before the dishes arrive, I’ve got to have some way to “try before I buy” to make sure everything will fit.

The only thing I can think of is this PVC thing. I could take that one step further and mount it on a tripod (I have a very large, heavy duty tripod) so I could tip it side to side like the dish would do.
I guess I could even do the same thing on a smaller scale for all the dishes. Build some PVC mockup things..

I guess when I have the fence built I should have the same people drill the holes and pour the cement for the dish poles at the same time they build the fence since that’s pretty much the same as them putting in like giant gate poles at a business.

Only stipulation is that while I would have them do the physical labor I would be the one to make the poles perfectly aligned, I plan to clamp two digital meters to the poles so that they are absolutely 100% perfect. Not even one half of one degree off. Absolute ZERO. I had an issue with the guy that put the poles in for my BUDS. He insisted he knew what he was doing and he used a cheap plastic level from Walmart. As far as he was concerned, as long as the bubble touched the line it was perfect... BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!!!!!!! WRONG!!!!!!!! He argued with me but I checked them myself anyway and they were waaaaay off. They may have been OK for like a fence gate but no way they would work for satellite.

I need to get over there this week with my big camera and take some good pictures.
I wish I had a little drone..

 

[bigg t]

I don't know what the ground is like there but you may be able to use spray paint to mark your spots.

 

[Dee_Ann]

I don't know what the ground is like there but you may be able to use spray paint to mark your spots.

Yes, when I figure out where to put a dish I’ll mark the spot with some bright orange paint. I don’t know yet when all this will happen. A lot of things have to fall into place before any of this begins.
Personally I’m hoping it will be in the winter because I hate the heat. If I have to be outside I would rather it be the winter.

 

[ray224000]

Now I understand your conundrum. I'll have to put my engineer hat on now.

 

[Cosmo Blatz]

Now I understand - why you bought that expensive test meter! Thought you had just ONE dish. Wow!

 

[Dee_Ann]

Yeah, I might have more than one back there..

I’ve found that I can’t make big holes in the wall to run cables through at the new place.
It’s a brick wall so I’ve got to figure out how to run as few cables though the wall as possible.
Also, the bricks are solid, not the typical hollow red bricks. Freaking SOLID chunks of stone.
I think they are stone and not baked bricks. Not cheap stuff at all. And probably irreplaceable. So I can’t risk breaking them.
Also, being that the neighborhood is pretty well to do, I can’t do anything that looks trashy. I guess I’ll have to paint over my Bad Wolf dish.
But if it’s behind a fence no one should be able to see it. Dang it, no more lo-folks redneck living..

Anyway.

Dishnetwork will take one wire, I can put their switch outside (as it is now).
With having just gotten an ASC1, I can chain the C-band and KU on a single wire. I can put my 8x1 switch after the KU motor and then connect my other static dishes and the C-band into it.
I would need another wire for a second STB, there’s no getting around that.

And there has to be a set of wires for the C-band motor/sensor.

I had wanted all the switches to be indoors but I guess that’s not going to happen. I don’t see there’s anyway I can go with less than four wires.

Planning out the wiring is also going to be a pain I see.
One of the things I’m going to do is bury like 1” PVC to each and every dish so the wires can go underground then come up at each pole. I really hate how I have the wires now.
I’ve learned a lot of things NOT TO DO with the setup I have now.

I’m still super freaked out about placement of the poles. There’s no room for messing up. It has to be 100% right, the first time.

 

[drunk247]

You are in Texas so I am guessing no basement (not sure)? Is there a crawlspace you have access to that can bring the wires under the house and then you can bring them up through the floor? If you have a basement I would make a suggestion about having a special window fabricated to replace a basement window similar to what some people up here did when they started installing dryers in their basements.

EDIT: The amateur radio community also has built some pass through panels that are inserted into an open window: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Product.php?productid=MFJ-4605

You would have to make sure you got one that is suited for your needs. Those are just examples. You would also have to look at security and keeping bugs out as concerns but this is a way to do it with no significant changes to the house.

 

[Corrado]

I like the conduit idea for the cables.

Any building, zoning, HOA type issues to deal with before new neighbors complain?

 

[Chewie]

Hello Dee Ann
I use this product , I-Flex Flexible Liquid-Tight PVC Tubing, is very easy to manage I have coax cables and the electrical wires inside for my c-band dish and my KU-BAND dish . I made a small trench like 3 inch on the ground and now the grass covers it and is not that expensive you can find it in E-Bay. the tubing I use does not have metal inside, is all plastic.
Regards.
Tunder.

 

[Chewie]

Here is another idea to save space.
Regards.
Tunder

 

[Titanium]

I have installed several systems on a single pole before. Works very good!

The best design that a customer had fabricated himself was a 18' 3.5" Schedule 40 pole set in cement about 18" away from the home then attached to the house 1/2 way up then again near the roof-line with triangle stand-offs. A 10' BUD was on top and each smaller (motorized or fixed) dish was attached to this post with a "L" bracket with a base plate that was secured to the 3" pole with 3 heavy duty U-bolt clamps.This way the bracket position could be reconfigured for different size and stand-off from the house.

We mounted 7 or 8 dishes vertically up the pole. He had welded 8" climbing steps so each dish could be quickly accessed. All cables entered a vertical cable run that was attached to the house. A very tidy and sweet install. Wish I had taken a few photos.

Take the chance to scrub and repaint the dishes for a nice, neighbor friendly appeal!