planting a ku dish

[jmc98]

Looking to plant my ku dish on motor, the site I am looking at is mostly bed rock my question is will I be able to plant the pole ad have it stay plumb without concrete?

 

[Lak7]

Can you bolt something to the bedrock, and attach a pole to that?
What about mounting to the house?

 

[jmc98]

Maybe able to use antenna guy wire if needed can't bolt to house

 

[jmc98]

Also was looking to stick pole in the ground

 

[Lak7]

It needs to be pretty solid.
Wind puts a lot of pressure at times.
Is the ground just full of small rocks, or do you have boulders in the ground.
Any pic of the area.

 

[Cadsulfide]

If digging is impossible, try a nprm. Shimming it to be level on uneven ground will take a little time.

 

[woodheat/nooil]

If you can borrow a hammer drill with a large enough drill into the rock. You could use threaded rod with anchoring cement and use heavy plate steel base. I have an old miller welder that helped cut the half inch plate steel in this picture.

or smaller hammer drill with screw anchors?
Big C-band satellite dish mounting base with no concrete

 

[jmc98]

It needs to be pretty solid.
Wind puts a lot of pressure at times.
Is the ground just full of small rocks, or do you have boulders in the ground.
Any pic of the area.

here is a pic of the area

 

[Lak7]

Didn't now you lived on Mars.
That's some pretty rough looking stuff.
I'd go with a concrete block.

 

[jmc98]

that what i figured concrete wont hurt that

 

[Anole]

...Big C-band satellite dish mounting base with no concrete

This Ben Barrowes needs to become a member of SatGuy's.
He's got the can-do attitude we like to see! - :up
. . . and a little bit crazy! -

 

[Gary Z]

here is a pic of the area

That is a tough peace of ground, in my younger days I would have tackled it.
I used to fill the whole with water wait until it softens it then I would use a heavy 5 ft iron bar with a point on one end to help break it up. Then dig out the loosened dirt with a post hole digger repeat until deep enough. It could take days doing it that way!

 

[jmc98]

will I be able to align the dish easier after the pole is concrete in and solid

 

[turbosat]

Easier to align-sure. If you know you have a good solid pipe that's plumb and not going to sway in the wind, should be easier. I have ground nearly that bad, if I can get over 18" down, it's like GaryZ said, takes a railroad bar and a lot of pounding, but man, when you get a pipe in that with a little concrete, its THERE!

 

[Anole]

I used to fill the whole with water wait until it softens it then I would use a heavy 5 ft iron bar with a point on one end to help break it up.

I have a 40' phone pole I planted in my back yard using that technique.
It's maybe 7..8 feet in the ground.
I hit a shale layer that stopped my multi-week drilling escapade! -

At least I know it'll be there as long as I will! - :up

 

[jmc98]

any ideas for keeping the pole straight and plumb while pouring concrete?

 

[Lak7]

Since you can't pound stakes into the ground....
some braces or wire tied to something heavy

 

[AcWxRadar]

any ideas for keeping the pole straight and plumb while pouring concrete?

You can tie some cable or guy wires to the mast if you like. If you are mixing the concrete properly, not too wet, it should hold the mast level for you if the hole is the proper depth. Just remember to check the plumb often to make sure it doesn't begin to lean. After about 20-30-40 minutes it should stay in position on its own, depending upon how wet you mixed your concrete, the temperature and the %RH.

Radar

 

[AcWxRadar]

Looking to plant my ku dish on motor, the site I am looking at is mostly bed rock my question is will I be able to plant the pole ad have it stay plumb without concrete?

Judging by your photo of the soil (rock) I don't think that I would chance it without a concrete base of some sort.

If it is too much trouble to dig or pick a hole into the rock, I would try to use some sort of a pedestal or tripod and drill some anchors into the bedrock to secure it.

If you can find some natural depression that is deep enough, maybe you could use that as your install site.

I once mounted a flange base that fit a 1 1/4" water pipe on my concrete porch. I used a hammer drill and a masonary bit to drill a few holes in the concrete and then set in some Red-Head anchors and mounted the flange to that, then screwed the water pipe into the flange. This install is still there and working fine.

You might try pouring a good pad of concrete in a depressed area and then setting Red-Head anchors into it in the same fashion. That might serve you very well.

Radar

 

[jmc98]

update

ok just an update got the pole planted and a question how soon can i mount the dish to the pole, trying to beat a rain storm also will a hose clamp hold the lnb bracket?