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Several months ago I responded to a Craigslist ad and rescued a very nice 10 footer from certain destruction. The new home owner did not appreciate the dish blocking her view of the American River... Imagine that! Was able to carefully navigate the back yard and position the trailer directly under the dish and easily removed the dish myself.
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8147673,-120.9020567,123m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e1
Yes, the dish is well hidden beneath the mighty oak trees behind the house!

The owner helped stand up the dish for the 15-20 mile switchback road from beautiful and historic Coloma, California back to Meadow Vista. Have quite a selection of load straps and ropes, so the dish wasn't going anywhere without the trailer. The polar mount rode atop the 2x4 stakes and the reflector lightly touched, without load against the trailer floor. The straps mostly were used to keep the mount in the proper position and didn't ratchet them too much to distort the reflector.

Trip back was uneventful and slightly under my normal speed limit (VERY FAST). Pulled over occasionally to let the traffic by. Follow the map North see the path that hwy 49 takes from Coloma to Auburn, CA, you will see plenty of opportunities for disaster...




Talked to a local Seventh-Day Adventist church about a non-pen with a 10' dish missing ALL of the mesh panels on their flat-roof, single story community service center roof. They were sure that they were still using it, but would talk to the AV guy. A few weeks later I dropped by again and asked if they had discussed the eyesore. They had, and the dish was not in use... YEP... LOL!

A few weeks later at 7am, my wife, Lin and I disassembled the Rohn galvanized non-pen's tripod base and a few of the church members helped bring down the disassembled parts and the 48 blocks of ballast. The church has a very large community garden with a medium sized tractor and front loader. We used an old door to slide the blocks one-by-one past the gutters and over the edge into the bucket. Every 8 or 9 blocks, they would lower the bucket and dump beside the trailer. By 10 am the heat on the roof was well over 100F and we were ready to wrap it up! After loading the non-pen and ballast into the trailer, Lin and I swept the parking spaces then carried the reflector carcass up to the garden lunch area as they decided that it would make a nice gazebo. Alright with me, no trip to the scrap yard! Made a nice contribution to the community center fund and we were on our way. After all, this Rohn is in perfect condition and would have set us back at least $1500 to $1800 if we went shopping.

Pre-assembled the non-pen and dish beside the warehouse to test the operation.


Since the NPRM will be placed on a pitched roof, I provided a local fabrication shop, Bast Bros Welding with a drawing of a 13.8 degree adapter to sleeve the non-pen post and provide a plumb and vertical pole for the polar mount to clamp. They estimated that it would be ready in a week, but three days later, it was ready and perfect to specs! Pulled out my wallet and was on the way to home depot for primer and paint.



The adapter sleeves the existing pole and rests on the through-bolt and three bolts secure the adapter.

You always want to protect the roofing material and it is not suggested to place the NPRM directly on the roof. Sharp edges can wear through causing leaks and the rubber mats provide additional friction to minimize NPRM shifting during high winds.

Found a great deal online for 1/4 rubber mats from a supplier about 80 miles away, on the other side of Napa. I considered a road trip but decided that driving through the Napa wineries would blow the budget on this project! I am sure that Lin would have been in favor of a road trip through the Napa Valley... so let's keep this a secret between us? The material is UV resistant, made up of ground tires and typically installed in gyms and running surfaces. Sells well to the HVAC industry and 1/3 of the cost of the "NPRM" pads!


Cut them in half to provide the linear runs for under the block ballast.


OK, everything is ready to go! Called a local crane operator, Auburn Crane and scheduled July 1st for the lift. Who knew that today was going to be the hottest so far for the year! 9AM and Ashley rolls onto the scene with their baby truck. 39ft. boom, 25ft Outriggers and 50,000 lbs. It was like launching a cannonball to kill a mosquito! Already 90+F degrees in the shade, we knew that we didn't want to use the 2 hour window! We discussed the lift and immediately set to work.


The camera battery was at 90% and had 15gb memory left, but some engineer in their infinite wisdom thought that it was a good idea to only allow 30 minute recordings... Thanks! 30 minutes into the 45 minute job, the camera automatically shuts off.... Very Nice Sony CyberShot!!! Please let me decide when to stop a video recording!


Almost died in the heat at 10am. 125F on the roof and not a breeze to be found! Wet a towel and wore it over my head and shoulders. It was dry in 15 minutes! Moved very slowly and joked with the crane op that I should wear a lifting strap attached to my belt for quick rescue in case I keeled over from heat stroke! She didn't think that was the best plan.

Log story, short... The dish is on the mount, the pole adapter is plum and level! Safety lines are in place to keep the reflector from taking an unexpected flight or slide and best of all, the building maintenance manager approves! Lin dropped by a few hours ago and parked on the other side of the lot. She insists that it looks like it is about to slide off and crush everything below. Certainly hope that is not the case!

Waiting for the sun to drop and head back up with the meter to get the arc dialed in. Should be only a few minutes as it was tracking great on the ground and everything is plumb.

Well thanks for listenin' That thars ma story of a BUD rescue. Thank fir droppin' in fir my long winded tale. Think I'll just lean back in the shade and rest a spell...