Looking for base ideas for my new (used) dish.

[ken2400]

Well I was able to pick up a new (used) dish yesterday. It is 5 foot or so and was free. I posted an request with my local freecycle group and got a few responses. http://www.freecycle.org

I now need to make a portable base. It was on a 2" pipe and I was thinking something made out of wood and sand bags since I have some scrap lumber around.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Ken

 

[charper1]

the only portable base a BUD can have would be bolted to a trailer, you will have to mount a BUD into the ground, with a sch40 / 3.5" dia steel pipe, with high load quikrete.

 

[mkm4]

you will have to mount a BUD into the ground.

No you don't.


They have what are called "Non Penetrating Roof Mounts."

Skyvision has some.

That might give you some ideas.

But if you are going to use wood, it must be very secure. Try using joist hangers or straps to hold the pieces together.

 

[charper1]

Well, that's not portable either, BUT it is more costly, far less stable (risk of house damage if it fails) and a raging nightmare to change or upgrade a LNB, servo or feedhorn; x100 if its raining or snowing out at the time.

 

[charper1]

thats not portable either, more costly and far less stable.

 

[carload]

That "portable" platform would have to be extremely wide! For a base: maybe an 8-foot square with more crossing beams in the middle and reinforced corners to start. Then you get to figure out what to mount it to (round metal? really good wood scrap post?) and how to keep that perfectly straight.

When you're done with all that, you'd have a dish that portable the way a kitchen refridgerator is portable. Maybe a hole in the ground isn't such a bad idea.

 

[ken2400]

Should have stated that the orig pipe in the picture is 3' high. The base will not be moving aound much. It will be on a deck and I just need to be able to break it down and move it once in a while. I agree the base needs to be wide. I was thinking 3' square to start with. Maybe a tee-pee kind of thing?

Thanks for the ideas so far.

 

[charper1]

Imagine setting up a small sail boat on your deck mounted the way you are describing. You are just asking for trouble. Plus taking it down and putting it back really will cause it to ultimately fail and never provide you with any quality and you will end up ditching it in frustration. We cant emphasize how much you really need to permanently mount these dishes.

 

[Diamond Jim]

If that is a 5 foot or bigger BUD you will need a 3.5 inch (measure the hole on the frame to make sure) by 7foot long pipe buried at least 4 feet into the ground with a house block turned on it's end to support the weight to keep it from sinking. As Carload says, use quick crete, but don't mix it to wet, that way it will support the pole when you get it plumb and the concrete will dry harder. That's the way I have mine installed and it hasn't budged an inch in 21 years. Myself, I would forget about the roof idea, one strong wind and you are in a heap s**t. Mine is 3 feet from the ground and I can see it move freely on a windy day, I can imagine how much force it would have on a windy day 30 or 40 feet in the air. Since it is mesh, it will have some wind resistance, but not much. I agree with Carload on the portable deal. Why would you want to move it, the satellites stay in the same place. The only reason to move it is if you move and want to take it with you.

 

[charper1]

Guess my advise was all hidden, but its all good. LoL

 

[ken2400]

I agree with your ideas but I don't have a good spot to put the poll. Since the dish is small enought I was going to put in on my mount, play with it, than put it back down when I was done. I relize it a pain but the dish is small and light enought to do this.

This is what the back of the dish looks like.

 

[charper1]

You definitely will need to upgrade that feed assembly to a Corotor-II with a 15 deg digital C LNB and .6 db wideband Ku LNB.

 

[carload]

I agree with your ideas but I don't have a good spot to put the poll. Since the dish is small enought I was going to put in on my mount, play with it, than put it back down when I was done.

So really, you're not looking for a portable C-band setup, you just want a temporary setup.

Yeah, if the winds are low and you just want to diddle around with it for a few hours, go nuts. But if you want it to be useful, you'll probably need to find a permanent mount for it.

 

[ken2400]

This was going to be my next question. The dish came with a california amplifier part number 14001 ini-mag LNB 20 deg and Chaparral feedhorn and polizer. I also bought on Ebay, before I received this dish free, a Zintech zcf-D21A LNBF 20 deg.

I see that LNBs can go down to 13 degs. Should I get one of these?

Thanks
Ken

You definitely will need to upgrade that feed assembly to a Corotor-II with a 15 deg digital C LNB and .6 db wideband Ku LNB.

 

[charper1]

If you want to spend the extra for even lower degrees and db ratings that is great. Make sure they are digital rated (if I remember correct) and that the Ku LNB is wideband.

 

[tonyc]

Hey guys I just set up a 10' Winegard Pinnacle this week. I used a 6x6 post (10' long) that was $25 at Home Depot. I had an adapter made at a local metal fab shop for $75 so I could mount the dish on it. I would of just used a pole but they were $175 from the local metal shop

I know, there are a lot of trees but this was the only place on my property to get a view of the SW sky.

 

[ken2400]

Thanks for the pics. Now it is time to get a saw and stove to fix the trees. Should be better now that the leaves are gone.

Ken

 

[tdti1]

I would recomend www.rpssat.com for any parts you may need they are in Canada www.skyvision.com is good also but pricey. Don't forget to look at ebay though.