C-band dish tower

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jcparkosa

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Jan 12, 2008
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I want to build a tower in my backyard that will be strong enough to support a reasonable sized C-band dish and actuator or motor at a height of around 10 to 20 feet in order to get a better view of the necessary arc. I don't have a C-band dish yet but I have a 36 inch ku-band dish and motor and I rather enjoy exploring the random ku feeds I can find. I've heard with C-band there is a lot more like this available, but I want to do it right and have access to the full arc by having my dish properly elevated. Does anyone have towers like this themselves or any advice on what I should be looking for? I'm open to both commercially available tower solutions (if there is such a thing at a reasonable cost) or any DIY ideas you may have. I was tentatively thinking if I went the DIY route I could at least get a stable 10 feet or so elevation with some sort of simply pyramid type structure of pipe but I'm not sure how involved a project it would be to design anything taller than that is convenient to climb up and adjust the dish on.

On a side note, are there still a lot of analog C-band broadcasts? Right now I only have a digital receiver which is capable of either C or KU and I don't know if this will be sufficient for exploring C-band or if I should get one of the older analog C-band receivers too.

As for C-band dish size do you think a 6 foot dish is sufficient (I'm in Southern California) or if I need a larger dish for much of the content I may find. I've found 6 foot motorized package deals online but 8 foot dishes in a non-polar mount stationary configuration. Does anyone know if larger stationary dishes are typically convertible or if I would need one designed for a polar mount from the start? Maybe 8 feet is too large to be practical anyway considering I want the dish elevated.

Any input on any of the above questions is welcome! Thanks in advance.
 
In California, like myself in Rhode Island, needs atleast a 8.5' or larger dish to get good results (I use a 10' dish). When I got my dish, the original owner used a 10' pole(in air), which I also used and NEEDED to see the arc correctly. He just welded it to a 3' x 3' 3/8" plate steel with gussets on all 4 sides where he attached it. It has handled 75+mph winds without any issues. If I had to go any higher, I would purchase a tower or would have attached it to the side of my house and used it as a brace.

Jim
 
In California, like myself in Rhode Island, needs atleast a 8.5' or larger dish to get good results (I use a 10' dish). When I got my dish, the original owner used a 10' pole(in air), which I also used and NEEDED to see the arc correctly. He just welded it to a 3' x 3' 3/8" plate steel with gussets on all 4 sides where he attached it. It has handled 75+mph winds without any issues. If I had to go any higher, I would purchase a tower or would have attached it to the side of my house and used it as a brace.

Jim

Thanks for the information. I guess I'll be leaning more toward a 10 foot dish when I get one, but that is such a large diameter I think I'll need an even higher pole than anticipated to have the view of the diameter of the dish unobstructed. Even though the winds aren't usually that high here I am hesitent to brace anything with such a large dish attached to the house for fear of it putting too much stress on the frame. Do you have any idea at all where I should start looking into purchasing a stand-alone tower, such as what companies might make it or where I should look to buy one?

Thanks
 
See our website at www.global-cm.net
Pictures should explain everything.

Rules number 1 and 2: Use steel for all of your framing, reinforced with lots
of cross bracing. Anchor it into the ground very securely.

Our platform is on three levels, and as you get to the top, there is definitely
some flexing. Lots of 2 x 12 and 2 x 10 as well as 4 x 4 treated lumber beams. It is pretty well reinforced, but needs constant maintenance and wrenching to keep things tight. Wood will compress over time, so you must use fender washers as well as steel for true structural support.

Also make it wide enough so that you can easily access the dish for maintenance with a step-ladder in a safe manner. You only die once in this life, and the forces of nature are very unforgiving when working on a tower.
I know this well, and have taken a couple of tumbles from ladders---fortunately never more than a 10 foot drop...so have great respect for safety, learned the hard way. Just don't take any more chances than you have to----and do not consider installing anything in a location that might need maintenance in an impossible to reach position in snow and ice conditions.

Good luck!
 
Wow Mike.....That's a cool looking dish tower. You guys have some serious work and engineering in that one. I can't believe as many times I have been on your website I never noticed the pics. Good job.
 
Here is what I did -- If you can see it
 

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Mike Kohl,

That's a great tower you have, but all that wood and room to mount lots of dishes looks like too much maintence to me... I can mount most of my smaller fixed dishes elsewhere in easier to each locations and make my tower less involved. Can I ask you though what diameter your largest dish is and how much your tower flexes and what it's total height is?

Thanks
 
The "deck" of the top level is 26 feet off the ground, which would put the top of the 10 foot antenna roughly 35-36 feet from terra firma.
We have a ten footer on top, pointing at 40.5 West.
Opposite is a 6.5 foot KTI parked on 139 West for audio.
Lots of offset antennas in between, anywhere from 18 inches
to 4 feet in diameter. And then there is a Paraclipse 7.5 foot
HYDRO antenna on an AJAK H 180, on a separate pole braced
to the southeast edge of the tower.

Flexing is not an issue on the first and second (middle) levels, but when you get to the top, it probably shifts a fraction of an inch when I climb up there.
That would be the wood shifting (2 x 12), not the steel frame and ladder.
Most hardware is 5/8 inch bolts, with fender washers to minimize flexing
on the wood---I just bring a crescent wrench along every couple of months
and test a few connections, tightening as necessary.
 
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