Primestar install

[dunnsept]

Just got off the phone with my neighbor. I had been trying in vain to find a steel pole to mount my primestar. Neighbor has a 7' pole in his truck for me.. gonna drop it off tonight after work

hope that the weather holds this weekend so I can get the thing installed.
Gonna start out fixed on amc9.

now I just gotta get off my $$$ and find a switch so I can have the primestar and BUD hooked up at the same time

 

[gremlin411]

Great news dunnsept
now be sure and us pics of little brother when you get up and running....

 

[turbosat]

You could've used a plain old cornerpost for chain link fencing, I get them for about 12bucks around here. 2 1/2" pole, works great. You can even fill with concrete if you like.

 

[dunnsept]

that's OK.. neighbor works for an oil field company.. they have huge chunks of these pipes laying around and they should be exact fit too. ;-)


edit: hey, any suggestions how high off the ground to go? neighbor said he'd bring 7 feet, but I could cut it down and put the dish a little closer to the ground. this one's gonna start its new life on AMC9, and no matter, I have a good view of it.. but does it matter, 4 feet off the ground? 3 feet off the ground?

 

[Pismire]

My 1.2 Primestar has the original pole on it and is 40" from ground to top of the pole.

 

[Anole]

just an opinion:

edit: what is the diameter?

If it's real stiff stuff, I'd suggest about 2½ or 3 feet in the ground, back filled with cement.
(unless you have a frost-line consideration, of course)
That'd give you about 4 or 4½ feet above ground, which should put your dish at a very convenient working level.
Higher would be difficult to reach.
Lower would require you to sit.
I wouldn't cut it, but you might stick a big bolt through the lower end to prevent it ever twisting.

Oh, and of course, I assume you'd have line of sight, from any altitude...

 

[dunnsept]

should be 2.375" OD steel pipe.

frost line? look at my avatar ;-) ground's still partly frozen and still piles of snow here n there

 

[Mr Tony]

I thought the P* poles were 2 5/8" outside diameter?

 

[osu1991]

My 84e is 2 5/8 and I use a chain link fence corner post and it fit perfectly on it no adjusting at all.

 

[dunnsept]

oops.. yea.. that's what I meant.. I'm drainbamaged today.
I'm also mathematically - fractionally challenged.. 3/8 5/8 .375 .. uh.. it's "this" big ;-)

 

[dunnsept]

NO.. you bad guys! I was right the first time.. mount ID is 2.375. neighbor dropped the pole off last night (along with a battery for my tractor, but that's for a different forum)
gonna try to get the pole set tomorrow. looks like the pole is just around 6 1/2 feet

 

[lownote2]

NO.. you bad guys! I was right the first time.. mount ID is 2.375. neighbor dropped the pole off last night (along with a battery for my tractor, but that's for a different forum)
gonna try to get the pole set tomorrow. looks like the pole is just around 6 1/2 feet

Good luck.. I used a mast like what is used for the metal conduit for your house electrical. It was about that same OD. I seem to remember needing at least a 2 1/4 or so OD.. so your probably correct. That mast was real thick metal (real pain to cut with the sawzall because mine was originally about 10 feet. You may consider some bigger self tapping screws to put at the bottom so when you put it in the ground with concrete the pole won't spin. 6 1/2 feet should be just fine considering you want about 2 ft in the ground anyway.

As far as a switch, I used a DTV 4 way for mine with no problems. Worked well for the H and V on the Primestar and for a little while I had to Dish network LNB's tied it too, but got bored with the little bit of free Dish info channels and really wan't big on NASA. Not sure how one of those switches would work with your BUD. Sure would love a Cband.. but somehow I think the neighborhood would throw a fit.... and the wife for that matter ;-)

 

[dunnsept]

might as well use this one for my continuing saga..

The c-band is in labor right now.. pretty strong contractions.. That primestar should pop-out any time now..
I've got the post set and waiting. ;-)


(my wife asked me whilst I was digging the post-hole how I knew if the dish was any good. I blocked the post up with stones, slapped the dish on it, set elevation, set the skew, carried the pansat & small TV out.. with a compass and 3 minutes I had SQ of about 70

 

[Dishman Dan]

dunnsept,

How far away from the mothership is the little guy going to be???

I have a 10' BUD and she is expecting some company very soon. I am going to put up a motorized 1M and a little later another BUD or 2. I am hoping for at least twins!

Is your wife gonna have you fixed which could mean no more dishes??? Did you do any family planning or are you just going to stick dishes anywhere???

I am open to ideas for dish placement and I have been watching your project along with others with much interest!

 

[dunnsept]

;-) my wife tolerates my hobbies and I tolerate hers.. hers is much more expensive right now.
the baby primestar is gonna stay close to momma.. maybe 8 feet or so to the east.. fixed on AMC9..
I'm going to road trip to Patriot antenna soon to adopt the big brother (1.2m) for a motorized setup

 

[Anole]

Keep us well advised on that Patriot deal.
I might want a 1m or 1.2m some day, and if I can't find a Primestar to recycle, those are lookin' real sweet!

 

[dunnsept]

yea.. they offered to give me a factory tour too ;-)
the dude told me that they don't make a 1 or 1.1 anymore.. just a 90 and 120 (in "our" sizes.. I dunno.. maybe you're looking at their 5 meter dish

ooooh this primestar rocks! watching black sheep squadron as I type.
pics to come

 

[dunnsept]

Primestar - It's a Boy! (warning graphic content)

Mother & son are doing fine.
Mama C-band had a 1.0x0.7 Primestar early this evening.


pic 1: mama & baby son. NOTE: this shows the offset of the primestar pretty well, both are pointing at AMC9

pic 2: close up of the bouncing baby-boy. NOTE: birth required use of the giant forceps seen in background

pic 3: WARNING, not for the faint of heart.. C-Band After Birth

 

[turbosat]

Nice work=is that your angle-meter hanging on the pole? I do that all the time too lol.
Those primestars are great, and they really pull in RTN, and yep Black Sheep Squadron
was coming in fine.

 

[dunnsept]

yep.. angle finder hanging there.. I've read numerous times on here how accurate the elevation scale is. according to my levels this mast is pretty much dead-on plumb, BUT the scale then is way off.
according to dish pointer, AMC9 for me should be at 39.7.
But to get that sat, the built-in elevation scale shows over 42. Angle finder on top of the mount shows just a tad under 40.. go figure