Looking For Ideas On Ground Mounts for Fortec Dish

[jsattv]

Did a search on this site for ideas on how to mount a Fortec Dish on the Ground - ie Back Yard, but it came up with nothing found!

After blowing out my left knee or Friday from climbing the ladder for about the 120 th time in the last 6 months, (I'm on crutches right now), I'm thinking its time to look for a solution for the 1 meter (or bigger) Dish and Motor OFF the Roof. Besides setting up a pole in concrete, are there any ideas ie building a mini - say 5 ft by 5 ft deck and setting up the deck on some type of cedar post platform that would be high enough to keep the Dish away from being vandalized? If I used a pole what's the recommended type?

Any ideas / replies would be much appreciated.

 

[voomvoom]

Ouch! Sorry to hear about your blow-out. Hope it's only bruises and nothing's broken. I would recommend the concrete pole myself. If you build a platform, what makes you think it would be Vandal proof. A Vandal will do what a Vandal does. Just seems like a lot of extra work for a dish. On the other hand, if you were planning on building a Deck, I see nothing wrong with putting a dish on your new Deck. But, if the Deck is out in the yard and just for the Dish, it seems like a waste to me?

Al

 

[jsattv]

Ouch! Sorry to hear about your blow-out. Hope it's only bruises and nothing's broken. I would recommend the concrete pole myself. If you build a platform, what makes you think it would be Vandal proof. A Vandal will do what a Vandal does. Just seems like a lot of extra work for a dish. On the other hand, if you were planning on building a Deck, I see nothing wrong with putting a dish on your new Deck. But, if the Deck is out in the yard and just for the Dish, it seems like a waste to me?

Al

Thanks VoomVoom, - the doc says I should be able to walk normally in about a week. Re the Dish on a small Deck idea - yes likely a lot of work, but I was thinking I would be able to stand up beside the Dish and Motor to calibrate it, just like I can on the Roof right now. Do you know of any good secure pole type setup ideas re pictures? Or maybe put up a Pole in concrete then build some type of Fence around it?

 

[Cold Winter]

... Do you know of any good secure pole type setup ideas re pictures? Or maybe put up a Pole in concrete then build some type of Fence around it?

A 2.5" Sched80 steel pipe in concrete is your best bet. Just don't leave more than 7 feet of the pole above the concrete.

Use a 12" or larger sono tube that gets you at least 3 feet into the ground, and rises as high as you want to go minus about 7 feet. I'd suggest if your leery about vandals, you get 8 feet of sono tube, put about 4 feet in the ground and use a 15 foot steel pipe inside it. That should put your dish center about 11 feet off the ground. Your looking at about 17 bags of ready mix poured into the sono tube. Hope you don't mind the heavy lifting.

Also, this is not a one man job... I don't want to hear about another injury here... get better.

 

[jsattv]

A 2.5" Sched80 steel pipe in concrete is your best bet. Just don't leave more than 7 feet of the pole above the concrete.

Use a 12" or larger sono tube that gets you at least 3 feet into the ground, and rises as high as you want to go minus about 7 feet. I'd suggest if your leery about vandals, you get 8 feet of sono tube, put about 4 feet in the ground and use a 15 foot steel pipe inside it. That should put your dish center about 11 feet off the ground. Your looking at about 17 bags of ready mix poured into the sono tube. Hope you don't mind the heavy lifting.

Also, this is not a one man job... I don't want to hear about another injury here... get better.

Thanks for the good advice Cold Winter. The 100 cm Fortec Dish does have it's own short approx 36 inch Pole and "Ground Mount Kit" that is made for this Dish. I'm wondering what a 2.5 inch Sched80 pipe or sono tube is? And would it be wide enough in diameter since the Stab HH120 Motor - U Clamps are about 3.25 inches wide? A Steel Pole 11 feet off the ground would be great - but then I'm up the ladder again to Fine Tune everything!! Just can't seem to find a good solution here.

 

[Anole]

...and some serious ideas, too

... to keep the Dish away from being vandalized?
...Just can't seem to find a good solution here.

Pit vipers?
Pit Bull ?
Scorpions?
Wasps?
Tiger-on-a-leash?
Razor wire?
Motion sensor lights?
A chain-link fence - that's what I have.
12 gauge ?
.357 Magnum?
Colt 45?
Pre-tag it with some paint cans, making it "fit into the neighborhood" ?
Plant roses under it ? The thorns are hell. -

What is the exact threat you are under from the vandals?
What is it they are likely to do?

 

[jsattv]

Pit vipers?
Pit Bull ?
Scorpions?
Wasps?
Tiger-on-a-leash?
Razor wire?
Motion sensor lights?
A chain-link fence - that's what I have.
12 gauge ?
.357 Magnum?
Colt 45?
Pre-tag it with some paint cans, making it "fit into the neighborhood" ?
Plant roses under it ? The thorns are hell. -

What is the exact threat you are under from the vandals?
What is it they are likely to do?

Stealing is the Issue Here:
Thats a good question Anole. Well, stealing stuff is our number 1 issue: My nextdoor neighbor has had his Daughter's Stereo / Radio ripped off from their Civic parked on the driveway twice in the last 6 months. One street over a guy had his Bell Subscription Dish - Dual LNB and all - ripped off from his Tool Shed. That's part of the problems in this nice residential area.

 

[Tron]

Cactus or roses sound great (and might help the WAF due to the pleasant decor ), but I think you'll have the same problem as the vandals when it comes time to adjust the dishes...

A gated, padlocked fence sounds like it might be a workable solution.

So does a loaded .45.

 

[Corrado]

The problem with ground mounted dishes that are high, is flexing of the pipe. The wind really catches a 90cm dish or larger. I have even double posted some of mine that need a higher line of sight. I like them ground mounted for adjustment reasons and sometimes it's necessary to brush off some snow.

For security reasons, mount as close to the house as possible. At least you have a chance at catching someone if the TV suddenly goes out, you have a heads up. You could use some sort of tamperproof hardware like those on street signs to slow someone down. Odds are they may only have some simple hand tools.

 

[lumpkin666]

For security, I bought a reasonably priced security camera setup - the setup has IR vision (people can see them at night when they are in view, because the IR's appear red from a reasonable distance) and comes with 4 cameras (I've actually added more, but 4 is probably sufficient). Mount it high, but in an obvious spot so that people know by the time they've seen the camera, they are already on tape (mine is connected to a Series1 tivo and records constantly). Add some lighting to the area so that thieves can be seen, and can also see the camera(s) better too!

Seems to work pretty well so far. (I'd bet you could install some "dummy" cameras instead. But with the price of cameras, you might as well have the real thing so that you can catch a face or two if something actually happens)

I have my output modulated to channel 21, so anybody in the house can also see the front/back doors, and exposed areas of the house by tuning their tv to ch21 (neighbors close by can see too.. whoopee!). This works great for times when I'm sleeping in on a Saturday morning and someone knocks.. I can tell with a couple clicks of the tv remote whether its someone I care to get outta bed for

 

[Anole]

mostly serious ideas

Oh, theft, eh?
Dishes do attract attention, though stealing one is pretty low.

- the white FortecStar dishes are -very- white, and attract more attention.
- the GeoSat / AzureShine / and other dishes in the dark grey are less noticeable
- you could camouflage your dish with paint to make it blend into the background

- mounting them close to the ground makes 'em less visible from a distance
- low dishes can be hidden by shrubbery or trash cans

- I still favor the motion sensor lights
- I have some for $20 that are 65 watt Compact Fluorescent, and light the yard like 300w halogens!

- though pretty serious, the camera idea is great
- they usually have IR light emitters and -can- see in the 'dark', but you really want to have them seen
- just make sure the camera doesn't get stolen.
- obviously, the motion sensor lights work well with any camera

- I'd read that in the old days, C-band folks had some sort of alarms
- I'll assume it detected a break in the cable when cut, and no current was flowing to the LNB.
- if those are not available today, we could help you make one

- physical security is always helpful
- when I moved in here, people used my back yard as a short-cut out of the neighborhood to the local intersection where there were several convenience stores.
- I put up a chain link fence and gate, and retrained the kids who thought they could still go through or climb over
- so, if your yard is a thoroughfare, stop that

- and a dog living in the back yard who barks at strangers is a good deterrent, too
- just make sure you don't have a friendly dog, who'll go with the the vandals.

- you can't actually hurt anyone, but you can set up traps they'll trigger to make noise.
- some strategically place trash cans can catch 'em off guard in the dark
- maybe some strings with cans (and pebbles in the cans) rigged to be tripped over


I had a phone call while writing and lost my train of thought, but hope some of these suggestion spark a thought for a good solution.

 

[jsattv]

Thanks for all the great suggestions guys. I should mention that my neighbor has now installed Motion Sensor Lights on his garage at end of the driveway, and also a Pole with a Light on it fed by what looks like underground wiring, and they have been okay at least for the last 3 or 4 weeks.

I have 2 outside lights on the Garage that I can easily replace with a motion sensor. But will need to do a good Site Survey to pick a best location for a Pole in my yard, maybe at the back of it - since my Chimney in the middle of my house is a bit of a concern re a motorized dish too close to the house.