Moving sat. post off roof questions

[Erosman]

Hello,

For a couple of different reasons, I think I (via a pro DIDH installer) will be moving my DISH 1000 from a spot midway up the middle of one of my roofs to a sidemount pole near the peak of the tallest roof.

My primary question is how do installers seal or repair the spot on the roof when a mounting site gets changed? Do they put epoxy down the screw holes to seal out rain, do they put a new shingle on, or what? Since the roof belongs to my homeowners association, I really want to make sure the spot where the satellite mast/post was installed previously is is as totally sealed and restored as possible.

A secondary question involves the new distance from the satellite to the receivers once the dish is moved. At what point is a signal booster, mentioned in other forums and available at Radio Shack, indicated? I'm pretty sure my new distance will be over 100 feet from the dish to the furthest receiver.

Thanks in advance for the help and any good advice!

Jim

 

[stevenl]

100ft is nothing on RG6, if thats the farthest distance. It can handle it without amplification

 

[meitedlce]

Hello,

For a couple of different reasons, I think I (via a pro DIDH installer) will be moving my DISH 1000 from a spot midway up the middle of one of my roofs to a sidemount pole near the peak of the tallest roof.

My primary question is how do installers seal or repair the spot on the roof when a mounting site gets changed? Do they put epoxy down the screw holes to seal out rain, do they put a new shingle on, or what? Since the roof belongs to my homeowners association, I really want to make sure the spot where the satellite mast/post was installed previously is is as totally sealed and restored as possible.

A secondary question involves the new distance from the satellite to the receivers once the dish is moved. At what point is a signal booster, mentioned in other forums and available at Radio Shack, indicated? I'm pretty sure my new distance will be over 100 feet from the dish to the furthest receiver.

Thanks in advance for the help and any good advice!

Jim

Hey Bud, I am a Dish Network installer

Roof Seal:

In most cases they will leave the foot plate attached to the roof. They will only remove the pole and current dish and leave plate and screws attached where they are. Once it was intalled that became the perm. Seal, if anyone would remove and/or replace shingles it would be up to the owner of the property. HOA/you/landlord/other. But when first installed the holes should have been sealed off with either Tar/ or lifetime silicone.

And as far as the cable length:

DP or dish pro equipment will have no loss in quality or signal strength as long as it doesnt exceed more then 250 feet, in extreme cases 300' feet would be ok. Anything more and you would have to add an amplifier. Legacy equip would be a diffrent story but with HD you wont have that stuff.

 

[Van]

Hey Bud, I am a Dish Network installer

Roof Seal:

In most cases they will leave the foot plate attached to the roof. They will only remove the pole and current dish and leave plate and screws attached where they are. Once it was intalled that became the perm. Seal, if anyone would remove and/or replace shingles it would be up to the owner of the property. HOA/you/landlord/other. But when first installed the holes should have been sealed off with either Tar/ or lifetime silicone.

I would look at the foot plate to be sure its actually sealed, Ive run into alot of mounts that sub contractors have not sealed over the years and a few that dish techs failed to seal as well. If your wanting to remove the foot plate then you will need to do it carefully if its sealed and use a large flat screw driver or a box cutter blade to cut the silicone away if silicone or bath tub caulk was used ( seen alot of subs use bath tub caulking ), if tar was used then wait till the roof gets heated up and slowly seperate the foot plate from the shingle. After you have removed the foot plate you can use a tube of roof sealer and fill the holes, I would life up the shingles and smear a silver dollar sized amount around and into the holes and then press the shingle down and put a penny sized amount over that, you can head into the attic in the morning when its cool to inspect the location and add any more sealer as needed.

And as far as the cable length:

DP or dish pro equipment will have no loss in quality or signal strength as long as it doesnt exceed more then 250 feet, in extreme cases 300' feet would be ok. Anything more and you would have to add an amplifier. Legacy equip would be a diffrent story but with HD you wont have that stuff.

Legacy or non dishpro / dishpro plus gear will be good up to 500ft, uncomfirmed report of one that was set up down here in the atlanta area in summer 01 that had a 1000ft run.

 

[meitedlce]

Legacy or non dishpro / dishpro plus gear will be good up to 500ft, uncomfirmed report of one that was set up down here in the atlanta area in summer 01 that had a 1000ft run.

Hrmmmm.. I work for dish directly and their not always completely honest.. but my paperwork, manual and what I've been told in my training was legacy equipment at the dish.. to the rcvr cannot extend more then 150 feet without an ampl. Someone correct me if this is wrong.

 

[Jared Twomey]

Hrmmmm.. I work for dish directly and their not always completely honest.. but my paperwork, manual and what I've been told in my training was legacy equipment at the dish.. to the rcvr cannot extend more then 150 feet without an ampl. Someone correct me if this is wrong.

150 feet is a safe number that dish network tells you because if they told you 500... then you went out and did a job at 450 feet and had problems, you would blame them.
150' is a good safe number that they KNOW the system will work at.
As far as 500'... i've never been able to pull it off with rg6... rg11 yes... but rg6... no...
someone somewhere may have been able to do it... but i haven't, and i've tried some pretty darn long runs

 

[Todd Humphrey]

Installers who leave the mast base on the roof do not do so to make sure it does not leak, they leave it there so they do not have to be responsible in case it does leak. Plus, they do not want to take the time to remove the base and seal the holes.
The question you should ask is not how do satellite installers seal holes, but how do roofers seal holes and make sure the satellite technician does that.
Most installers do not carry tar or any other form of roof patch.

When I have to remove a mast, I remove all the screws and tab a little tar in the hole. Then I reinstall the lag screws back into the hole, and cover the screw heads with just enough tar to keep the metal from rusting out. You do not need much. Just enough to keep water from getting to the screw head, maybe 1/8" at most. This seals the hole as well as possible, besides replacing shingles.

Most installers use way too much sealant on their holes. Big blobs of tar do not seal any more than just enough to seal the gaps between the screw and roofing material. In real hot climates I would suggest going back the next day and applying another layer of either tar or something that flows better. This will help seal any missed cracks and protect the first layer from drying out to fast.

The best course of action to protect yourself from leak damage is to hire a roofer to check the seal. Then it will be their insurance that protects you, which maybe better than the installers insurance coverage.

 

[Erosman]

Thanks! BTW, how do I find a good installer?

Thanks everyone for the good advice! I appreciate it and you have given me some good things to think about.

What may be my biggest barrier is the physical layout of my place and roof. To make a long story shorter, an industrial sized ladder - at least 12 feet long and probably longer - is required to get on my fairly steep pitched roof. I don't have the equipment and I am uncertain about my ability to safely do what should be done.

1) So, how do I find a good installer in the NW Twin Cities MN area capable of and willing to do the right thing in the right way?

2) A few years back I had the DISH equipment service warranty to cover a lengthy service call. After several months of no further problems, I dropped the extra charge when my wife was temporarily laid off. Since this is sounding like an expensive bit of work, does anyone know if one can still buy into that service coverage? It was about $5.00 a month a few years ago. If I can't get this coverage, is the work that will be required approaching the prohibitively expensive range? (I.e. more than $100 to $200 plus the new mounting post.)

Thanks again! Best wishes for good reception to all.