six foot dish on 2.5" steel pipe?

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MikeInAlaska

MikeInAlaska

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Jul 31, 2009
189
4
Wasilla, AK
I have a six foot tall 2.5" steel pipe sunk in the backyard into 700 lbs of concrete, four feet into the ground. The location is pretty well sheltered from wind.

I have a six foot dish meant for 3" steel pipe (3.5" OD). Is this cruel and unusual punishment to hang it on the 2.5" pipe - or should it be OK in the long run?

It needs something to make it tight, so should I slip six feet of 3" pipe over the 2.5" and bolt it together? Or can I slip some steel stock up under the collar where the compression bolts bite down?

thanks for any guidance
Mike in Wasilla, AK
 
in Alaska they need 6 foot dishes for 110 (the non spotbeamed channels) & 129 ;)
so I'm assuming he is talking about Dish
 
As long as the dish is mounted low enough you should be OK

I wouldnt recommend having the dish say 15 feet in the air ;)
 
oh ok. good to know that changed ;)
I must be thinking of the old satellite that was at 110 (Echo 8)

what is the "stock" dish size for 119? Still 4 footer?
 
Iceberg said:
oh ok. good to know that changed ;)
I must be thinking of the old satellite that was at 110 (Echo 8)

what is the "stock" dish size for 119? Still 4 footer?
Click to expand...

For 119 we use either a 1 meter or 30". I've had no trouble with a 30" and the receive level is good. With the 6' at 129 we get all the national programing plus the spot beams for AK.
 
thanks for the info redsalmon. Good to know next time someone asks
(and off topic...I do know where Soldotna is....and after seeing old Ted Sadtler and his Mattress Ranch commercials I know where that is too...he's "on spur road in Soldata now where we is") ;)
 
As to a 6 foot dish, with 3 1/2 inch mount, installed on a 2 1/2 inch O.D. pipe, provided that the pipe is at least schedule 40 thickness, you'll find the easiest solution is to simply use longer bolts through the mount.
 
Thank you! I took your advice, used longer bolts and it worked fine. Well, to my uneducated eyes : ) With a carpenters level, the bubble is still within the level range with the dish on, but the bubble is against the line of "in level" now.
 
Iceberg said:
oh ok. good to know that changed ;)
I must be thinking of the old satellite that was at 110 (Echo 8)

what is the "stock" dish size for 119? Still 4 footer?
Click to expand...

I think most of us only moved our six footers from 110 to 129 this spring when they put up the new Alaska HD package.
 
Iceberg said:
thanks for the info redsalmon. Good to know next time someone asks
(and off topic...I do know where Soldotna is....and after seeing old Ted Sadtler and his Mattress Ranch commercials I know where that is too...he's "on spur road in Soldata now where we is") ;)
Click to expand...

Those are some pretty bad commercials!
 
redsalmon said:
For 119 we use either a 1 meter or 30". I've had no trouble with a 30" and the receive level is good. With the 6' at 129 we get all the national programing plus the spot beams for AK.
Click to expand...


Same for the Fairbanks area also. I use 2 6' dishes for 110 and 129, and a 4' foot for 119. But see a lot of the 30' dish in the area.
 
deathcow said:
Thank you! I took your advice, used longer bolts and it worked fine. Well, to my uneducated eyes : ) With a carpenters level, the bubble is still within the level range with the dish on, but the bubble is against the line of "in level" now.
Click to expand...

Guy-wire the pole, as high up as you can, on at least 3 sides (triangle). Drive fence stakes at a diagonal into the ground, connect to them using guy wire you can get from Radio shack, and turnbuckles in the middle of the run to crank them equally tight.


If you don't do this, the wind WILL move your dish slightly, and cause problems. Even if it's only 6 ft high. I did the same thing years ago with a 6ft spun-aluminum dish, and without guy wires, it had problems with "humming" in the wind, and causing picture problems. Our wind averages 20-25 mph, nearly 80% of the time. Even sheltered from wind, guy wiring is cheap insurance.
 
Good suggestion

primestar31 said:
Guy-wire the pole, as high up as you can, on at least 3 sides (triangle). Drive fence stakes at a diagonal into the ground, connect to them using guy wire you can get from Radio shack, and turnbuckles in the middle of the run to crank them equally tight.


If you don't do this, the wind WILL move your dish slightly, and cause problems. Even if it's only 6 ft high. I did the same thing years ago with a 6ft spun-aluminum dish, and without guy wires, it had problems with "humming" in the wind, and causing picture problems. Our wind averages 20-25 mph, nearly 80% of the time. Even sheltered from wind, guy wiring is cheap insurance.
Click to expand...

It really does help. I did this for a 12 ft H2H dish back in the early C/Ku band days. I was able to pick up the BBC feed to the US at around 5 degrees above horizon.
 
In Alaska 110 has been great since new satellite was moved there couple years ago, but I have issues with 119. When I first installed 2.5' dish for 119 eight years ago, I was getting at least 50% signal all the time. Now, it has dropped to 30%. Even spotbeam is only 69%.

I think 119 is like old lightbulb, losing its "brightness", and I need to install larger dish because I just hate rainfade.
 
deathcow said:
Thank you! I took your advice, used longer bolts and it worked fine. Well, to my uneducated eyes : ) With a carpenters level, the bubble is still within the level range with the dish on, but the bubble is against the line of "in level" now.
Click to expand...

I`m glad the quick and easy worked for you.
The get dead on level, you may need to back off one or more bolts and tighten the opposite bolt. It does depend on the bolt pattern of your mount which adjustments are available and necessary, but a little patience will work wonders.;)
 
> The get dead on level, you may need to back off one or more bolts

Since the pole deformation is in the direction of the satellite only, just adjusting the elevation for the dish is enough to fix it right?
 

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