The House on Pine Ridge

Installing A 10' Satellite Dish
June 2000

Step 1	Find an old C/Ku band dish and figure out how to get it apart and home in the back of your van. What's up there? Robert's Satellite Page Satellite Chart
Step 2	Find a place in your back yard. Move the flowers your wife has just planted. Hope the neighbors don't call the cops!
Step 3	Dig a deep hole that is at least 1/3 the length of the pole and flare it out at the bottom. Directions
Step 4	The deeper the better.
Step 5	You need 10 or more 60 pound bags of Sackrete from Home Depot. (1 for every foot of the dish's diameter.) Move them across yard in your little red wagon with out breaking your back or wagon.
Step 6	Install a section of reinforcing rod into the pipe so it can't twist in the wind.
Step 7	Prop up the pole so it is perfectly vertical. A dish has an angle of view of about 2 degrees. If the pole is 2 degrees off vertical, you will totally lose the western satellites. I attached 2X4s to pole with pipe straps and hose clamp. Note the nice paint job on the pole courtesy of the WHSD Art Department.
Step 8	Install a PVC conduit from the pole to the house to run the cable from the receiver to the dish. Cover the end with plastic so dirt does not get in. The pipe will be moved against the dish when the final layer of concrete is pored. Run real fast when you find a bumble bee nest under a patio stone!
Step 9	The mount was weathered and bent. Remove the rust, bend it back into shape and painted it.
Friday Step 10	Use the poor little red wagon to mix the concrete. Quick method is to just dump the bag and the water into the hole and stir. Underestimated the size of the hole so we went for dinner and three more sacks. One sack is to fill the pole so it will not flex.
Step 11	Make sure the pole is vertical after each sack of cement is poured and tamped down. Cover conduit to house.
Sat. Step 11	Help another retired teacher pack U-Haul for move to Pigeon Forge, TN (They made it!) Reset patio slabs and cleaned up. Cut the neglected grass.
Sunday Step 12	Poured concrete inside of pipe to keep it from flexing. It took 1-1/2 sacks to fill a 3" X 12' pipe We bolted the four gores together and attached the supports for the receiver. Judy always wanted a screen porch. Installed cable in conduit and attached the connectors to both ends.
Mon. Step 13	Installed the C (bottom) and KU Band (top) receivers. Note the old wasp's nest.
Step 14	Installed the Mount on pole Connected the Actuator Arm that moves the dish.
Step 15	Installed and wired the receiver in basement and ran TV line back outside. Tuner has a "radio remote" so it can be tuned from outside.
Step 16	Installed pulleys to lift dish up to the mount.
Step 17	Arranged for several friends who wanted a good laugh to show up at 7pm! Attached the dish to the mount. (This was interesting but we did it in under 40 minutes!)
	Find the first bird *"He who laughs last laughs hardest!"*
Step 18	Installed adjustment screws on each support arm to set the receiver feed horn at the exact focal point of the dish.
	Next episode - November 2005 Installed a Digital Satellite Receiver and 30" Ku band dish for "Free to Air" Programming. DiSEqC 1.2 Motorized Dish DMS International GS-2100 Pansat 2700A Receiver Can use both C & Ku band dishes Invacom LNB SNH-031 This is what I can receive. Ricks Satellite Service First rate service on home satellite systems UHF antenna is one of two for HDTV. DIRECT Dish is just for K1 Satellite for receiving WCPE classical music. Biggest problem is clearing the snow in winter.	Final Step Align the Dish for all satellites.

Installing A 10' Satellite Dish June 2000

Installing A 10' Satellite Dish
June 2000