Will a bucket filled with cement work for the slimline dish?

[Khurram]

I'm looking into non penetrating roof mounts and also tripods but both seem to be very large for my relatively small balcony and my wife wants to keep some room for a grill..go figure

So will the old cement bucket with a pole work for the slimline dish and if I make the bucket with pole will the directv installer agree to install on that setup?

Also can someone link me to the exact type of pole I would need?
Thanks

 

[cfb]

The short answer is, not unless you want to have to 'realign' the bucket regularly. If you find an installer that would agree to mount to that as anything other than a temporary thing, you should probably find another installer!

 

[Khurram]

The short answer is, not unless you want to have to 'realign' the bucket regularly. If you find an installer that would agree to mount to that as anything other than a temporary thing, you should probably find another installer!

what about a tripod mount with an umbrella base (filled with 50 pounds of sand) to anchor the extended mast that would go into the base?

 

[JerryVolunteer]

I'm looking into non penetrating roof mounts and also tripods but both seem to be very large for my relatively small balcony and my wife wants to keep some room for a grill..go figure

So will the old cement bucket with a pole work for the slimline dish and if I make the bucket with pole will the directv installer agree to install on that setup?

Also can someone link me to the exact type of pole I would need?
Thanks

I have a small balcony at my apt too. I have an HD slimline dish and i have it on a pole and i have zip ties wrapped around the pole connecting the pole to the the balcony railing. Its been like that for years and ive never had an alignment issue.

 

[mr3p]

I'm looking into non penetrating roof mounts and also tripods but both seem to be very large for my relatively small balcony and my wife wants to keep some room for a grill..go figure

So will the old cement bucket with a pole work for the slimline dish and if I make the bucket with pole will the directv installer agree to install on that setup?

Also can someone link me to the exact type of pole I would need?
Thanks

Prior to my recent move, I had 2 Dishnetwork 20" Dishes both mounted in plastic buckets with concrete all from home depot. I put the dish pole (that came with the dish) inside the bucket and made it as close to plumb as possible and then filled it with concrete. Those lasted for ~5 years and the only time they moved (the dishes) was when someone accidentially bumped into the LNB on the balcony, which wasn't frequent, as I had them pushed back in the corner and they were heavy. The short answer is that it definitely works.

 

[NGeorge]

I wouldn't worry about it too much--I have a slimline mounted on a tripod on my balcony--it's not weighted, but I do have one of the legs pushed up and under a sliver of the siding. It haven't had to re-align the dish since I've put it up over a year ago.

As long as it doesn't have direct wind on it, you should be fine (mine is inside the balcony aiming to the slight southeast).

--Nat

 

[MightyMikeNice]

Yes,it will work fine as long as you keep it low profile.In other words,keep the pole as short and close to the bucket as possible.

 

[Khurram]

So should a five gallon bucket work?
I've also seen a setup on a 3 foot tripod with the pole extended down into an weighted umbrella base to anchor it. I'm in CT so the winters are going to be rough so I think that may be a better option.
Thoughts?

 

[raoul5788]

Can you post a picture or two of the balcony with measurements? Also, can you show which direction is SW?

 

[cfb]

As long as it doesn't have direct wind on it

Thats generally the problem. A bucket cant hold enough concrete to offset the wind load on a big dish like the slimline from even a modest level of wind and it doesnt have a particularly stable base since a bucket is small and round. OP doesnt say where he lives, and given that the weather does vary a lot from one place to another, I dont think what works in a fairer weather city would be quite as good in a windy area.

If you used a larger, heavy box to pour the concrete in and set the pipe, then cut the box off and pushed the concrete cube up against a wall, then you'd have more weight, more stability and less chances of having the signal go out every time you got a stiff wind. Or use a big wooden planter box with a plastic liner, that'd look a lot better than a bucket. Plus you could tell visitors that you're growing satellite dishes on the deck.

Or just let the installer do whatever they feel is appropriate to secure the dish in a non intrusive manner, since its their job and they have to warranty it.

 

[Stargazer]

It should not be a big deal as long as the wind does not blow it down during storms damaging the dish or something else if it blows against something like glass. You can get the signal meter up on the screen and realign it turning it left to right until it is peaked again. It is not like you have to realign everything such as skew and elevation (up and down). You just have to align the azimuth (left to right).

 

[harshness]

Prior to my recent move, I had 2 Dishnetwork 20" Dishes both mounted in plastic buckets with concrete all from home depot.

What worked for an 18" or 20" dish doesn't necessarily translate to what is required to keep a 32.5" wide dish from spinning. The Slimline has much greater surface area than a 20" dish. It is 1" taller and 12.5" wider and the wider part creates a much better lever for spinning the bucket.

What works also depends on where your weather comes from and how protected your balcony is. I saw a laundry dryer lifted off of a south-facing balcony last winter by a strong gale (47-54mph) from the SSW.

 

[Khurram]

I now live in Stamford, CT so the winter is going to be rough.
I'm going with a 3 ft heavy duty tripod with an umbrella base filled with sand and extending the pole down into the base to anchor it.

 

[Davedirectv]

I wouldn't recommend using a "homer" bucket with concrete for a kaku dish.

Whenever using a kaku non-pen mount, I always put 10-12 cinder blocks on the mount.

 

[dcowboy7]

Well it always worked for my uncle vinny on people that didnt pay off their losing $$ bets.

 

[Khurram]

Well the umbrella base I found at walmart is not wide enough for the pole.
Going to have to find another one with a larger diameter or possibly use the bucket in combo with a tripod.

 

[Khurram]

Does the 2 inch pipe have to be threaded?

 

[stardust3]

A regular 5 gallon bucket with 80 lbs of concrete is more than enough. In addition I always rig nails or re bar protruding the bottom of the bucket depending on the surface where it was going to set. In your case assuming it's on a wood balcony, a good ring shanked galvanized nail should be fine.

Preparation of your bucket is very important. Place bricks or similar around bottom outer edge to elevate it off the surface. Insert at least 6 or so ring shanked galvanized nails through the bottom of bucket. Preferably a 1/4" or less protruding bottom of bucket. This will act as a cleat to help prevent movement from weather. (Important) Also when you set pole in bucket, make sure pole is OUT of round before laying the concrete to it.

I have personally installed quite a few fta dishes hitting 97w using this method with good results. FTA dishes are much more prone to wind than the D* slimline dishes. The key is ballast=concrete at least 80 lbs & cleats=nails or re bar cut off at an angle. These are cheap do it yourself projects and are very reliable.

 

[stardust3]

I'm looking into non penetrating roof mounts and also tripods but both seem to be very large for my relatively small balcony and my wife wants to keep some room for a grill..go figure

So will the old cement bucket with a pole work for the slimline dish and if I make the bucket with pole will the directv installer agree to install on that setup?

Also can someone link me to the exact type of pole I would need?
Thanks

D* retailer would be the preferred option for this kind of install.

 

[cfb]

Only problem with a 90lb bucket (and you'd have to fill it and the inside of the pipe to get that much in there) is that a slimline can wind load between 50 and 150 ft/lbs of force and it doesnt have to pick the bucket up, just move it or push it over, which is way less effort than the 90lbs.

I had a ~40mph wind blow an 18" dish over that was in a full bucket of concrete, in northern california, and it was behind a shed and a fence that took some of the winds force. I dont think I'd give it a whirl with a bigger dish on a deck above ground level in connecticut. They get the tail end of a lot of the hurricanes that hit the southeast along with nor'easters and at least a couple of times a year they get hit with sustained winds in excess of 50mph along with gusts much stronger than that.

Well it always worked for my uncle vinny on people that didnt pay off their losing $$ bets.

He threw their directv dishes into the water?

Does the 2 inch pipe have to be threaded?

No.