Dish Installation on Wooden Post?

[cia.kelly]

Hi All

I am surveying possible sites at my home for my Channel Master 1.2 dish.

The Dish needs to go the front of the house and I'm wondering if I could set it up in my garden, attached to a wooden garden post.

I am thinking about a 6X6 pressure treated garden post cemented into the ground.

Almost all the installations I have looked have used a metal pole. Is using a wooden post a big "No No"?

 

[nelson_b]

hi -
i,v tried this -- it was solid enough in the vertical --although the post was kept quite short
but in the wind the dish wobbled form side to side quite a bit due to a sort of twisting/flexing action of the wood --
if its in a exposed place it could give stability problems --
sheltered it might be ok
a strong metal tube is much better

regards nelson.b.

 

[Chris76]

I would recommend a galvanized 2" steel pole and they are reasonably priced and very stable.Just take time getting which ever you use getting it perfectly plumb.

 

[Robbo]

Its a bit of a waste of time using a wooden post in my opinion, as the most time consuming part of the job is digging the hole. You'd be saving a little bit of money on the pole and that's it.

Plus you'll have to devise a way of fixing the dish to it, as it needs to be attached to a metal pole, so that you can adjust the azimuth.

At least a 3 inch diameter pole would be ideal.

 

[Analoguesat]

Ive used wooden posts for years:

http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/...farm-renovations-new-1m-dish-added-setup.html

Ive gone up to 1m Orbitals on them (1 steel, 1 aluminium)

I had no end of problems with the older and heavy steel dish - the post kept moving in the winter storms. Eventually I found a long steel pole, slipped it through the loose u bolts and belted it into the ground with a sledgehammer to take some of the weight. Then tightened the u bolts up properly

Its been fine since.

BTW none of my posts are concreted in - they are just knocked in with the sledgehammer. A complete bodge job, but it works ok most of the time as my garden is reasonably sheltered.. I started these sorts of dish mounts off about 4-5 years ago and they have been fine.

FWIW personally I dont think Id try this with anything heavier than a 1m steel orbital dish.

 

[Sandybob]

The channel master 1.2 and mount is a very heavy setup and really needs a 3" steel pole to fit the az/el mount or polar mount as they both fit on the top of the pole, if using a jaeger 1224 motor you may be able to get away with a slightly smaller pole, but I think it would still have to be steel. You could make a 3" ground stand and bolt it to some very heavy pavement slabs or kerb stones if it was in a sheltered location. Easiest method is a steel pole in concrete.

 

[headman]

what about a tree

lol

 

[cia.kelly]

After talking to "The Government" it has now been decided that she doesn't want it in the garden and it is now to go on the side of the house