Pole Mount Questions

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snarlyoldman

snarlyoldman

Member
Original poster
Aug 7, 2007
13
1
I've been a Dish customer about 3 1/2 years and I've been pleased with my service. I've never really had any signal problems such as rain fade unless we have a real deluge coming down. I have decided to call in to Dish to have them send a tech out to pole mount my dish. Right now it is bolted on to a 4X4 fence support on my patio. However, to have more room on my patio I want the dish pole munted about a foot away from where it is now.

Here is my question: How deep should the pole be buried? A co-worker tells horror stories about a tech pole mounting his dish that he had on a non-penetrating roof mount laying on the ground. He was getting good signal, but the installer, who was there to do something else entirely, insisted on pole mounting. Now, when there is a little wind he has signal problems because of movement on the dish.

So - How deep? (frostline in central Ohio, where I live, is 2'10")
 
snarlyoldman said:
I've been a Dish customer about 3 1/2 years and I've been pleased with my service. I've never really had any signal problems such as rain fade unless we have a real deluge coming down. I have decided to call in to Dish to have them send a tech out to pole mount my dish. Right now it is bolted on to a 4X4 fence support on my patio. However, to have more room on my patio I want the dish pole munted about a foot away from where it is now.

Here is my question: How deep should the pole be buried? A co-worker tells horror stories about a tech pole mounting his dish that he had on a non-penetrating roof mount laying on the ground. He was getting good signal, but the installer, who was there to do something else entirely, insisted on pole mounting. Now, when there is a little wind he has signal problems because of movement on the dish.

So - How deep? (frostline in central Ohio, where I live, is 2'10")
Click to expand...

The poles only really have to go down 18" or so depending on height of the pole and how skilled the tech is when putting them up. I'm a tech and I can't stand pole mounts, they always have the most trouble and to be honest you are better off keeping it on the house. I don't like to dig and really no tech does as we are SAT TECHS not ditch diggers so if you really want to be a good customer and need this done then dig the hole for the guy and offer to bury the cable when the ground thaws. I know Direct won't do pole mounts unless you are charged $100+ if you have a LOS on the home anywhere. IMO I think Dish should follow this policy too which would cut down on a ton of these types of work orders.

As for the non-pen roof mount that is a temp solution till dig safe is called and utilities are marked but again if you the home owner digs it is legal and you save the tech a ton of trouble cause we are not paid well to start with let alone doing extra like digging a hole.

As I said too 18" deep is plenty if the pole is about 5-6 feet or so above the ground at that point and if the concrete is dry packed good and solid. I normally take a 7' pole and bend a foot of it to a V then hammer it into the ground on the end of the V to lock it into the ground then pack the concrete around it - its solid in about 5minutes and even more so once the ground water hardens the concrete.
 
boba said:
dvrexpander I hope you never do a pole mount for me, if frostline is 2'10" it needs to be more than the frostline deep.
Click to expand...
Absolutely, unless in the Deep South. It will heave up in the winter. And regardless, 18 inches gives little or no shock resistance.
 
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That's the reason I posted this question.

The answer I got from the first responder was exactly why I posted this question. If I had an installer come in with that kind of attitude I would invite him to leave and then make sure his manager knew the reason I did it. These guys are paid to do a job. If they don't like to do pole mounts, then maybe the should find another line of work.

My question remains, how deep?
 
snarlyoldman said:
The answer I got from the first responder was exactly why I posted this question. If I had an installer come in with that kind of attitude I would invite him to leave and then make sure his manager knew the reason I did it. These guys are paid to do a job. If they don't like to do pole mounts, then maybe the should find another line of work.

My question remains, how deep?
Click to expand...

As you probably know, moving your dish just because you want it moved is not covered under the protection plan. If you want a sub standard job you might be able to bully a Dish CSR into sending a tech out under the protection plan but he will most likely put in the pole as dvrexpander explained because that's how they're trained to do it. If you want it done right either hire a local dealer to do it the way you want it or if possible you could do it yourself and call them for the re-point after the dish is moved.

And you answered your own question, below the frost line if possible.
 
JSheridan said:
As you probably know, moving your dish just because you want it moved is not covered under the protection plan. If you want a sub standard job you might be able to bully a Dish CSR into sending a tech out under the protection plan but he will most likely put in the pole as dvrexpander explained because that's how they're trained to do it. If you want it done right either hire a local dealer to do it the way you want it or if possible you could do it yourself and call them for the re-point after the dish is moved.

And you answered your own question, below the frost line if possible.
Click to expand...
Don't think the OP was trying to skate out financially or wanting to bully anyone. He was just asking.
 
KAB said:
Don't think the OP was trying to skate out financially or wanting to bully anyone. He was just asking.
Click to expand...

When he said "If I had an installer come in with that kind of attitude I would invite him to leave and then make sure his manager knew the reason I did it. These guys are paid to do a job. If they don't like to do pole mounts, then maybe the should find another line of work." I got a different impression.
 
Never mentioned $$$

Yes, of course I'll have to pay for it. I know that. That is not a problem. I just want a tech that's not going to come in and do a half-baked job just because they don't "enjoy" digging holes. Besides, whether I pay or not has nothing to do with the installer getting paid. I'm not going through a retailer. In Ohio I'll get Digital Dish, a regional service provider. I would prefer a DNS tech, but hey, I'm in OHIO.
 
I think a few installers would want to do that line of work when digging holes for pole mounts, Unless they did construction jobs or something similar of that nature before, Or don't have a problem doing pole mounts, But you can bet for sure the cash for materials needed ain't going to come out of their pockets, But as you said, It's not about paying installers but getting the job done and well completed. You just have to find an installer that's eager and motivated for the job.


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snarlyoldman said:
The answer I got from the first responder was exactly why I posted this question. If I had an installer come in with that kind of attitude I would invite him to leave and then make sure his manager knew the reason I did it. These guys are paid to do a job. If they don't like to do pole mounts, then maybe the should find another line of work.

My question remains, how deep?
Click to expand...

Agree with this 200%. Even if direct charges 100+ it's not going to the installer anyways.
 
Are the poles 8' ? The reason I'm asking is that the top of my pole is 63" above the ground. The installer used a wrecking bar and posthole digger and then banged it in about 6" lower. He used about 1/3 bag of redimix to fill it and the block is about 9" in diameter. So far it has survived the October 2011 blizzard, Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and this brutally cold and snowy winter when the temperature was below 40 for more than 60 consecutive days.
 
oldengineer said:
Are the poles 8' ? The reason I'm asking is that the top of my pole is 63" above the ground. The installer used a wrecking bar and posthole digger and then banged it in about 6" lower. He used about 1/3 bag of redimix to fill it and the block is about 9" in diameter. So far it has survived the October 2011 blizzard, Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and this brutally cold and snowy winter when the temperature was below 40 for more than 60 consecutive days.
Click to expand...
The question is how deep has frost gone in the ground. In the freeze thaw cycle frost will work on that pole/concrete mass to move it in the ground an 1/8 of an inch movement of the pole could cause a loss of satellite signal.
 
And if an installer like doing satellite work, but hates pole mounts, MOVE IN TO A CITY!

I am a 7 year IHS installer and have done a total of 3 pole mounts. Because I live in town.

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I've done far too many pole mounts in the city. However I don't usually mind it. Its a nice change of pace from the tedious blah that is "Acquiring signal..." and "Downloading..."

Sent from my RM-860_nam_usa_100 using Tapatalk
 
When I was the other guys I needed a roof mount because of trees and sat locations. When I switched to Dish I requested a pole mount because of accessibility for snow removal. It paid off this year
 
Yes, DNS (or IHS now) is 3'. Also a full bag of quick rete (or equivalent) so long as it will all fit in the hole. The cable is just buried enough so that it won't become exposed in normal conditions.

I have done plenty (way more than 3, in fact I have had days of 5 or so just in that day).

Also in my area the retailers/subs do most of the shoddy work. Don't always claim that retailers are better. They may be in areas, but it is definitely not universal. I know the other way around is true as well, but this varies from installer to installer and broad generalizations don't hold up. I have spent uncountable hours fixing retailer jobs (as I am sure that the reverse is true in other areas).
 
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