OK, im all set for cable now, whew. Now comes the fun part, setting up a pad/ mast for the polar mount. I've talked to a gentleman locally (I'm in northern vermont) and here is what he is recommending:
He said to take 2- 55 gallon drums, cut off the ends and weld them together, end to end. Inside the top drum weld in two crosses of rebar, 1" down for the first one, 13 " down for the second. These are welded horizontally to the drum, so that if you stand the drum(s) on end and look down it will look like the crosshairs of a rifle scope.
Then weld 4- 18" long 3/4" galvanized bolts to the rebar crosses (vertically to the drum). Dig a hole deep enough for the barrels to fit in while leaving 4" of the top barrel above ground. Before back filling make sure two diagonal bolts (of the 4 welded to the rebar) are orientated on a north- south line. This facilitates adjustment of the mast / pole if need be.
Backfill around the barrels, keeping the top level and the barrels plumb. After backfilling, fill the barrels with cement/ rocks level to the top of the barrels. When I am done filling i should have a flat, level, circular pad with four bolts 5" long coming up in a square pattern. To this I will bolt a 7' long, 4.5" diameter steel mast (concrete filled), welded to a base plate. The base plate is bolted to the 4 bolts and VOILA, one pole suitable for a 10' dish.
The person I talked to said he had close to 25 years of commercial / residential installs in northern Vermont, and that this mast setup worked the best. Not only are the concrete filled barrels stable (read as heavy), they are deep enough to get below the frost line. If the pad SHOULD shift the plumb of the mast can be adjusted by using spacers in between the base plate and the pad. The hieght of the mast is mandated cause I usually get in between 3 -4' of snow on the ground that stays most of the winter, and i want to try to keep the dish from plowing snow as it tracks ;-)
What do you folks think? Overkill or just barely enough?
Thanks again :-D