I have finally received all of my FTA gear and cable, tools, etc. I ended up getting a 3500S off eBay for a decent price. I bought a Winegard 76cm, SG2100 motor, and Invacom QPH-031 LNB from PSB Satellite. If they sold Pansat's I would have bought everything there. Pete was extremely helpful answering questions before the sale and tolerated my newbiness with the patience of a Zen Warrior and answered with the wisdom of a Buddhist Monk (a digital Monk that is). I bought various other pieces parts from all over the 'net.
Yesterday I decided to begin the install so I installed my Channel Master eave mount on the garage/shed and mounted the pole to it. Then I proceeded to climb up on the roof and attempted to mount the motor to the pole. I say attempted because once I got up on the roof I realized that I was going to have to stand tippee-toe on the gable end of the roof peak in order to mount the thing to the pole. It was at this point that two rather interrelated things happened. When I started to stand up to balance tippe-toe on the edge of the roof peak to mount the motor I almost had to go change my undies. It was also about this exact time that I suddenly realized that there had to be a better way. I slowly crawled back towards the ladder and climbed down off the roof. I was quite happy to be on the ground again. I took the ladder back around front and climbed up and removed the motor from where I left it half hanging on the pole and then removed the pole. I had originally left the pole deliberately long with the intention of leaving clearance for a 1.2M dish for future mini-bud experimentation once the wife got used to the initial FTA setup. (For some unknown reason my wife is not fond of satellite dishes. I can't figure it out.) Anyway, to make a long story even longer I cut two feet off the pole because it just wasn't going to happen at its present length and I resigned myself to the notion that any 1.2M dishes would be mounted on a post in the ground. That being decided, I then remounted the pole and attached the motor to the pole via a ladder instead of journeying to the roof. This was still dicey business, but I felt much better doing it on the ladder. By the time I had that completed I ran out of daylight and had to quit. I probably won't have a chance to do anything else until this weekend. One thing I did notice is that my pole will wiggle a little when I push on it up near the top. No more that what I would imagine the mount that came with the dish would do, but it still bothers me. I may have to figure out a way to add more stability, but I’m not quite sure how at this point.
I guess to sum all this up I could have said four things and avoided the mess above.
1. Woo-Hoo!! My stuff is all here!
2. I had a great experience dealing with PSB Satellite and would highly recommend them.
3. I'm afraid of heights, evidently more so than I thought.
4. If I hadn't already bought an eave mount I'd figure out a way to put this sucker closer to the ground.
Really though, the eave is the best spot. From there I don't think I will have any obstructions for the whole arc.
Yesterday I decided to begin the install so I installed my Channel Master eave mount on the garage/shed and mounted the pole to it. Then I proceeded to climb up on the roof and attempted to mount the motor to the pole. I say attempted because once I got up on the roof I realized that I was going to have to stand tippee-toe on the gable end of the roof peak in order to mount the thing to the pole. It was at this point that two rather interrelated things happened. When I started to stand up to balance tippe-toe on the edge of the roof peak to mount the motor I almost had to go change my undies. It was also about this exact time that I suddenly realized that there had to be a better way. I slowly crawled back towards the ladder and climbed down off the roof. I was quite happy to be on the ground again. I took the ladder back around front and climbed up and removed the motor from where I left it half hanging on the pole and then removed the pole. I had originally left the pole deliberately long with the intention of leaving clearance for a 1.2M dish for future mini-bud experimentation once the wife got used to the initial FTA setup. (For some unknown reason my wife is not fond of satellite dishes. I can't figure it out.) Anyway, to make a long story even longer I cut two feet off the pole because it just wasn't going to happen at its present length and I resigned myself to the notion that any 1.2M dishes would be mounted on a post in the ground. That being decided, I then remounted the pole and attached the motor to the pole via a ladder instead of journeying to the roof. This was still dicey business, but I felt much better doing it on the ladder. By the time I had that completed I ran out of daylight and had to quit. I probably won't have a chance to do anything else until this weekend. One thing I did notice is that my pole will wiggle a little when I push on it up near the top. No more that what I would imagine the mount that came with the dish would do, but it still bothers me. I may have to figure out a way to add more stability, but I’m not quite sure how at this point.
I guess to sum all this up I could have said four things and avoided the mess above.
1. Woo-Hoo!! My stuff is all here!
2. I had a great experience dealing with PSB Satellite and would highly recommend them.
3. I'm afraid of heights, evidently more so than I thought.
4. If I hadn't already bought an eave mount I'd figure out a way to put this sucker closer to the ground.
Really though, the eave is the best spot. From there I don't think I will have any obstructions for the whole arc.
