Ladders and Installing Dish?

[ancient]

This is what I tell people who worry about leakage. Dish puts up maybe 100,000 new dishes a year, if not more. Add in the number DTV setup. If they leaked so easily, we wouldn't be putting them on roofs anymore

I think the reason you don't see many such reports is because for one thing it usually takes many years for the damage to become apparent, and by the time it does people just assume it's out of any warranty that might have existed. It is not something you are going to notice in the first year, maybe not in the first five or ten years. And by ten years a lot of people will have sold their houses and moved on, and it becomes the next owner's problem. Now if you happen to still own your home and are still a DN customer, and you actually call about it, maybe their poilcy is to send someone out to fix the roof but the original installer would most likely never know about that. A lot of people won't bother to complain and will either try to fix the problem themselves or will hire someone to do it. Also, shingled roofs do need re-shingling every several years so if someone is no longer a customer it's likely the dish will be removed and tossed, and the damage just shingled over, which may stop any developing leaks but won't fix any rot that has already occurred.

Also if someone says, "I installed a dish on my roof twenty years ago and it's never leaked" my immediate response would be that yes, when it's your roof you are going to be extra careful to make it as waterproof as you possibly can. Unfortunately, there are installers (and I am not saying that anyone here is one of them) that would only take that level of care if it is their house, or possibly a good friend's or close relative's house. For anyone else, they do a fast and cheap job, and doing a job fast and cheap does not correlate with doing the best job of waterproofing you possibly can. There are people in every profession that tend to cut corners, and I think that is becoming even more common as older people with a good work ethic age reach retirement age. Ask just about anyone in any profession if they're ever seen poor quality work done by others in their field and you will probably get an earful. And the homeowner has no way of knowing who they are getting, the guy who really cares and treats every job as if he were doing it to his own home, or the guy who is hung over from a night on the town and just wants to get the job done fast and cheap.

 

[ancient]

Standard chain link fence posts come in 1 5/8" OD and 2" OD. Readily available at Home Depot or Lowes etc...

Everbilt 1-5/8 in. Dia x 6 ft. 16-Gauge Galvanized Steel Chain Link Fence Line Post 328921DPTSEB - The Home Depot

Everbilt Line Posts are a necessary fence material when building a fence that is stable and secure around your yard, home or business. The metal line post is placed between terminal (end) posts for added

www.homedepot.com

Never even thought to check those, but that would be a great choice if you can find one long enough. I think I always preferred the electrical conduit because it comes in 10 foot lengths, which means you can have three or four feet in the ground and still the dish is high enough that small children and most animals can't accidentally bump into it (but if you have deer or moose in your yard then all bets are off).

I use 1 50 lb bag of quickset, unless the hole gets too big for some reason (usually large rocks in soil). Even for the internet dishes with 2" pipe and a much heavier/bigger dish. Plenty over the 20+ years have said you "need" more than that, but I have never had a dish on a pole mount move and I have done 100s.

I definitely agree with you that some people think you need far more concrete than you really do. Unless you live in a hurricane prone area, or your soil liquefies for some reason, one bag should be sufficient. By the way, I did not realize you were in an area with rocky soil. Where I live we have sand, dirt, and in some areas clay, but you almost never see a rock larger than a golf ball anywhere near the surface unless you are by a river or someone put it there. The biggest obstacle I have run into are tree roots and usually you can go over or under those. In an area with rocky soil, and especially if there are large rocks, I can understand why the cost of trenching would be higher.

The Skew is adjustable on every Dish dish, and has been for over 20 years. DTV as well.

Well all of the DN dishes I have ever encountered except for one only had a single LNB and none of those had a skew adjustment. And now that I think about it, all of those dishes had been in service for more than 20 years, except for the multi-LNB one, and that one did have the skew adjustment (but not for each individual LMB, just one adjustment for all three LNB's). With that one we were helping a relative move into an apartment so the dish wound up going on their outside balcony, mounted on a tripod antenna mount with a couple of solid concrete blocks used on each leg to weigh it down. As I recall they were only in that apartment temporarily so the temporary mount made sense, and worked well enough until their next move.

The only older dishes I have seen with a skew adjustment for the LNB are old Primestar dishes.

The only thing I never cared for with regard to the multi-LNB dishes is that in our area we have lots of trees, so while it may be possible to find a hole in the trees that will let you see one or two satellites, in some yards it may not be possible to find a spot where you can see three or more. But often you could use multiple single-LNB dishes mounted on different poles, looking through the same hole in the trees, to see all the satellites. Not sure if that's still true nowdays because I don't know if modern DN receivers still support those older single LNB's.

 

[NYDutch]

...
The only thing I never cared for with regard to the multi-LNB dishes is that in our area we have lots of trees, so while it may be possible to find a hole in the trees that will let you see one or two satellites, in some yards it may not be possible to find a spot where you can see three or more. But often you could use multiple single-LNB dishes mounted on different poles, looking through the same hole in the trees, to see all the satellites. Not sure if that's still true nowdays because I don't know if modern DN receivers still support those older single LNB's.

With an appropriate switch, it's still possible to use multiple individual single LNB dishes with Dish receivers. I'll just add that as we travel from RV park to RV park, we've never landed on a site where we couldn't get at least two of the three sats in either Dish arc regardless of the tree cover. The farther south we go, the higher elevation angles do make it easier to get a clear LOS.

 

[solarvic]

This is what I tell people who worry about leakage. Dish puts up maybe 100,000 new dishes a year, if not more. Add in the number DTV setup. If they leaked so easily, we wouldn't be putting them on roofs anymore

Do you install dish on steel roofs without them leaking!!? The way steel are installed here in pa. They put 1" X 4" furring strips over the shingle roof and the steel is the thickness of the furring strip. So if you mounted a dish on most steel roofs they would surely leak.

 

[HipKat]

Do you install dish on steel roofs without them leaking!!? The way steel are installed here in pa. They put 1" X 4" furring strips over the shingle roof and the steel is the thickness of the furring strip. So if you mounted a dish on most steel roofs they would surely leak.

Steel roofs are not an authorized mounting option

 

[joegr]

...So if you mounted a dish on most steel roofs they would surely leak.

Yes. This was my solution.

 

[brad1138]

Steel roofs are not an authorized mounting option

Basically, only composite roofs are authorized mounting options (for roofs).

 

[mopardude01]

Anyone have any thoughts on how long the expanding foam that Dish uses to install their poles will last? Just curious what you guys think about it. Thanks

 

[NYDutch]

Anyone have any thoughts on how long the expanding foam that Dish uses to install their poles will last? Just curious what you guys think about it. Thanks

Here's what one manufacturer (Sika) says:

What is the lifespan of Sika® PostFix® Fence Post Mix?

Sika® PostFix® is very durable and does not break down, it will last for several years of service.

retail.usa.sika.com

 

[dweber]

My original Dish was pole mounted. Then the trees grew and they had to move to a new location but still a pole mount. The pole mounts were easily hit by my grandsons mowing grass and that required me repointing the Dish. After another 15 years with my trees continuing to grow I started having signal loss. They then installed a new Dish on the roof. The contractor made sure that he was attaching it to a roof joist. He also did a good job sealing it. I have had no problems with the roof mount. And no problems with trees blocking the signal.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[jerryez]

I have two dish mounts on my roof. Only one is in use now, but the other, which has been there over ten years has leaked and rotted my roof and the soffit underneath. So, it does happen. Will Dish pay for the roof repair?

 

[navychop]

So for an Eastern Arc 1000.4 rooftop installation, how hard is it to replace the dish with a 1000.2, and aim it? I used to travel with a 500 on a tripod and aiming wasn’t hard. I wonder because if the installer won’t leave the ladder, no way he’ll reach the dish. Might have to do it myself, if I made the change.

Or is there a simple LNB swap to make the HWS 1000.4 work with an H3? No reaiming?

 

[Bobby]

So for an Eastern Arc 1000.4 rooftop installation, how hard is it to replace the dish with a 1000.2, and aim it? I used to travel with a 500 on a tripod and aiming wasn’t hard. I wonder because if the installer won’t leave the ladder, no way he’ll reach the dish. Might have to do it myself, if I made the change.

Or is there a simple LNB swap to make the HWS 1000.4 work with an H3? No reaiming?

You can add a DPH 42 switch and continue with your present dish and LNB provided your LNB is a Dish Pro or dish Pro Plus. The 42 switch adds in the necessary hybrid configuration for the Hopper 3.

 

[navychop]

Will it still receive all three EA sats? Not important, as 77 is useless and bye bye, but just curious.

 

[NYDutch]

Will it still receive all three EA sats? Not important, as 77 is useless and bye bye, but just curious.

The DPH42 still allows reception of all three sats. I find 77 quite useful at times, both for those occasions when passing storms take out 61.5 and my H2's switch to 77, and when my LOS excludes 61.5 due to tree cover. Obviously the second item wouldn't normally affect those in fixed locations.

 

[HipKat]

Will it still receive all three EA sats? Not important, as 77 is useless and bye bye, but just curious.

You'll need to run 3 cables, one from each output to the 42 switch