Big Dish blown over in storms - Canaries

[DishDick]

Hi,

thought I would let you know my beloved big dish was blown over in the storms here at 4am on 18th.

The dish had survived hurricane in 2005 but not this beast. I was sitting at home worried about the dish as the way the wind was blowing (face on) I was the most exposed big dish on the island (high on the mountain, no objects in way to break the wind and dish on roof) so I decided to not just sit and worry but to take action and take dish down. 9:30 pm me and two friends started, unfortunately some screws rusted. Took 1.5 hours to get arm and bottom section of dish off and store safely. Decided too unsafe to remove top section so left hoping half a dish in 1m x 1m x 30 cm base would be ok. Was awake worrying all night then 4am bang. Down it came. Whole base ripped up Lucky dish stayed on roof, dish undamaged and minor damage to house.

Looking at getting a new stand with a much bigger base and cementing that into a 2m x 2m x 40cm base and using metal ties to fix top bracket to bottom bracket. Going to be busy breaking up old base and carrying up ballast for new base. Still I am not the only one others blew over, though I was a little bit gutted that other peoples dishes which are just bolted on (pillocks) are still there - obviously they were lucky not to be in the direct path on the storm like me.

 

[Topper]

Sorry to hear that DD look on the bright side, it could have been worse and the dish been damaged beyond repair

 

[rolfw]

Great shame, sorry to hear it. Look forward to seeing the photos of the new installation.

 

[ralphmagno]

hello

is the dish damaged?
was the base pulled up as well
base was not pulled up then the base wad put down good
if the base was pulled up it was not heavy enough.
bigger base 1.5x 1.5 meters and 40 cm thick with some metal thrown in befor you add cement would make it solid.
is this fixed ?
how about some pictures.
if the base pole didn't bend then you could use the old base,add metal bars and add more cement and make it bigger.
how fast was the wind??

ralph

 

[satelliteman]

Yes there have been reports of strong winds in the canaries over the last few days. Not the best of news DD, hope you get it sorted

 

[DishDick]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the support.

Ralphmango, I did consider taking photos of the dish were it fell for this sight, but to be honest I was too gutted and more worried about making sure it was taken down to make safe, (was hanging over side of house). The concrete base came up complete. It was well made and I followed the local "experts" advice about base size. The metal base is ok but the manufacturer now makes a much more substantial one that is more stable so would rather have that than modify old one.

The wind speed it is hard to guess, tv is talking of 120km plus. We had some real gusts. Very scary!

I am really worried about putting the dish back up and wont be rushing in to it. I care more about having a safe installation than having a satellite dish. I couldn´t live with myself if someone got injured or worse by my dish. I need to be sure that next time the installation can handle anything that is thrown at it. Next time I might not be here to take dish down and I want to know its safe for complete dish (after seeing what half a dish did!).

 

[wium]

Mate cant you mount your dish on the ground.If it is a fixed dish you can anchor the dish to the ground by attaching four cables in equal distance and attach to the dish itself.You may even try and do it on the roof.If it is moving dish and you are made aware of a pending storm you can then take suitable precautions and anchor it then.What size is your dish?

 

[DishDick]

Dish is 2.71m x 3.015m. There is only one place on the ground it could possibly go, but that would be on the main patio between the french doors and swimming pool. Not sure if other owners would like to be staring at my dish while in the communial pool. Or people in my house looking out of lounge onto a dish.

 

[oldfart]

Thinking of puttin up a 3.3m offset dish in to 1m3 of concrete - that be enough you recon?? (yes we had the wind as well)

 

[DishDick]

Oldfart,

you might have problems with the depth as depending on the height of the stand and how far into the mix you put the stand, the concrete base may be in the way when you come to position the dish. Take careful measurements before you start. You may be able to shape the concrete to miss. As to if it will be strong enough, it depends on how exposed the position is. I dont think it would have been ok for mine, plus I think a wider less deep base would be better as it gives greater stability for the same weight. Also check that where you are thinking of putting dish can take that huge weight.

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

I am really sorry to hear that you lost your dish. Luckily my 2.4m Channel Master (offset) survived the storm - the LNB holder did come loose from one of the support arms but that was easily fixed. I did have to remove the LNB to repair it and I got the scew wrong when I replaced it. This resulted in the loss of my 2A North beam channels. I have corrected it today and it actually seems better than before. Good luck with getting you installation back up and running.

 

[DishDick]

Thanks Blueplatinum,

I have heard of 4 other big dishes blown over nearby. I was talking to a friend who lives closer to the airport and he has a farm. One of his neigbours had one of those large shipping containers for storage. The wind picked it up and smashed it. He also told me that many commercial green houses were wrecked. The metal wasn´t bent, it was broken off looked like it had been cut off with a disc cutter.

It looks like we had cyclones here because some areas badly damaged and other areas almost totally unaffected.

I have ordered my new (and improved) metal base and am trying to work out how best to place the heaviest base I can build. Thinking of taking down part of my roof terrace walls so new base sits on wall of house (and roof terrace) rather than all on roof terrace, then rebuild wall.

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

Most houses here seem to be built as a "frame" with the breeze block walls just added afterwards and not actually supporting anything. The best place to position the dish would be directly above one of the vertical pillars that make up your property I think. In other words, your idea sounds about right as you can't position it at ground level. I am in Montaña la Data and the wind was terrible here as we are elevated and exposed. I think I have been very lucky not to lose my dish.

 

[DishDick]

The problem I have is downstairs is almost entirely open plan. Upstairs is divided up into bedrooms and bathrooms so my concern is not to put too much weight on the lower floor which is supporting the upstairs walls, some of the concrete roof and the dish and base. Hence me trying to build on corner of terrace so dish and base to be supported by two side walls of the house as well as the roof.

So Blueplatinum where is your dish (roof or floor) and what size base do you have?

 

[DishDick]

Finally got round to posting pics.

Fisrt pic shows largish Televes dish now re alinged to Astra 2 (was on Astra 1) no 2D of course and smaler dish on Nilesat. Second pic shows whats left of my big dish setup and the wall that it fell on to. Third shows dish panels safely stored out of wind.

Lots of wind today.

Waiting for new (and improved) metal base before I put dish back up.

 

[powel000]

maybe two metal pipes behind the dish will help, I will try to post some pictures. Good luck. Damn wind must have been crazy

 

[ralphmagno]

hello dishdick
seen the pictures and dish looks ok right.
the base from the pictures i see look like the hollow cement blocks filled in.
is this correct?
the base probaly needs to be bigger and heavier as well.
also if you can remove the az mount and cut the hight down but not too much down so you will still be able to align the dish.
it is based on a rotation arround a falcrum.
this will reduce the sail affect as well.
if there was no dish on this base and it blew over like this with just the base it tells me its too light.
if the dish is not bent it is still usable as well.
ralph

 

[DishDick]

Hi ralph,

I used the blocks to form the shape then filled in with concrete. Half the dish was on when it went. Luckily dish is ok. I am unable to cut pole down as dish just clears base as it is.

I have a question for the installers on this site, I had an idea today. I have a small one storey room on the side of the house with a slopping roof. My neighbours house is close to mine (two storey) with a chimney. I took up an 80cm dish onto my slopping roof and got a good signal (balancing it on roof) on Sky News (vert) and the old Five (horizontal) about 64% strenght as opossed to my 1.2m with clear line of sight getting about 84%. My question is, is there a good test or measurement to do so I can be sure that if I put the big dish there it will work well. It would be alot of work to put it up just to find the performance is not good (because of line of sight issues). It would be nice if it could go there as it would be shielded on three sides and there would be plenty of support for the very large base I could build.


powel000 look forward to your pics, thanks.

 

[powel000]

Can you tell me how to upload pictures so I can upload you my pics.

 

[DishDick]

powel000 follow this link for info http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/...stallations/87970-how-do-i-post-pictures.html