satellite dish mount

[B.V.]

I want to make a simple mount for my dish network satellite dish to use when teardrop camping. Any and all ideas would be appreciated.

[Shadow Catcher]

I made one using a four suction cup handle bolted to the base plate of a 3 LNB Dish Network antenna I picked up for $25. Because of the use of the base plate it can be used on the side or top of the tear. I use one of our receivers from home. Total cost about $45 dollars including painting the dish.

[pete42]

I just looked through my camping pictures trying to find a pvc pipe built sat dish holder I'll keep trying.
it is made from pvc pipe with a big C shaped base and a L shaped handle that the dish is mounted on darn memory anyway......

[dmb90260]

I got an extra receiver for my " garage" that costs $5 a month. Picked up an antenna at a swap meet and bolted it to a concrete block. With 25-50 ft of cable I can almost always hit the satellite.
A tip: do not have the antenna under a tree or anything else. It looks like the signal may be coming from the horizon. It is really coming almost straight down from the satellite.

[Engineer Guy]

Something stand alone and solid like a Concrete Block is a good idea. The Commercial Tripod Stands that fold down, stabilized with something like a gallon Water Jug hanging down off them, are also good [and compact]. Strapping a Dish to something like the Trailer Tongue is tricky because very little Dish movement from inside the Trailer can cause signal dropout. As can motion from Wind...

It REALLY helps to have the vertical Tubing mount be VERY vertical, as confirmed with a small Level on two sides. Then, side-to-side adjustments to capture a given Satellite of interest are only side-to-side adjustments [because the Pole is known-plumb]; not slight, inadvertent up-and-down adjustments, too.

I'm 'Old School' and orient using a Compass. True South and Magnetic South differ [dependent upon Longitude] - ~13 Degrees here in the Rockies - and must be factored in as offset when adjusting a Dish to a location using a Compass. This is not an issue with 'corrected' readouts from a GPS. Most Topo Maps have this Magnetic Declination info, too.

As when Framing a House Door, the higher/longer something is vertically, the more difficult it can be to get perfectly plumb. This is also true with the vertical Pole of Satellite Mounts. The Satellite signal is the same strength, clear down to the Dirt. So, there's no need to mount a Dish 'high' when Camping [or up high at your House]. Be clear on whether you're trying to capture 'regular' or HD Satellites, depending on the Receiver in use, and the Programming type paid for.

Even seeing a 'wrong Satellite' Strength Bar Readout on your TV/Monitor during setup is good because it means you're on the Equatorial arc; you're simply picking up a Competitor's Satellite adjacent.

To appear stationary to us, Satellites are 'parked' in Geosynchronous Orbit ~23,000 miles above the Equator. Thus, they appear as an arc above the Horizon, East to West. Multi-LNB Dish types thus have to be adjusted for 'skew'. This is a location-dependent, tilt-above-the-Horizon adjustment made to the LNB pickup[s] 'arm' made such that one LNB [the white disc] is above an adjacent one. For my nickle, I use single LNB Dishes plucked out of the Trash and the Recycling Center got @ n/c. I can repeatably hand-move the Dish ~1/4" laterally from National to Local Market Satellite coverage after noting those positions with Tape or Marker. I find this MUCH easier than adjusting Skew in the field.

From the first Website linked below comes this sage advice:

'Peaking up is really important for long term service quality and minimum outage time during rain fades'.

Vegetation also cuts signal pronto, so keep a Dish in the clear.

Once you've got signal, you can go to a Setup Menu and input the Lat-Long values [and multi-LNB Skew] of your next location. Then, you're 'armed' with adjustment data that allows you to find a Satellite w/less effort. Remember that adjacent Satellites can appear 'up or down' slightly in Azimuth above the Horizon. You can grab this same info at Home, pre-Trip, too. Note that Market Local Programming signals are 'spot' transmissions that typically are ~hundreds of miles wide. So, you can travel out of these spot areas and be unable to receive local Programming, even if subscribed to.

Camping Purists can take note that the Sat Receiver Outputs can be also connected and 'y-ed' into a Car Deck 'AUX' Input, or a little Boombox. You can then leave the TV off. Tune to something like '40s Music - or Bluegrass - on Satellite, and enjoy low-Amperage Music if you Boondock as we do.

I cut my teeth providing Engineering support to 18 Western States up to the Summer of '86 when signal scrambling collapsed the 9.5' Dish Home Market. Those Dishes, along with much-lower powered Satellites, made Dish pointing a real challenge; especially the Motor-driven types attempting to pick up many Satellites.

Satellite Dish Aiming Calculator

Magnetic Declination Calculator

[bdosborn]

I have Dish Network and this is a nice mount if you only want to hit one bird:

PVC Mount

You need to hit two birds with Dish Network to get all your channels, three if you want HDTV. With an elcheapo eBay satellite squealer I can hit 119 or 110 easily and quickly (I don't bother with the HDTV when camping). I usually go with 119 as it has the history/discovery and movie channels but 110 has the local news channels. I've got a dish 500 to hit both birds but I've never been able to do it with the PVC mount.

I'm thinking of getting this mount so I can hit both 110 and 119:

Dish Tripod

I'm pretty sure that not having a vertical mast is my problem with the PVC mount.

Here's a good article on setting up the dish on the big boy forum:

Dish 500 Clicky

Seems complicated but its really pretty easy with the eBay squealer. It can be a real PITA if you don't have the squealer.

eBay satellite finder

Plan on spending at least half an hour finding a satellite the first time you try it. Don't give up though, it's one of those things that takes a couple of times till you get it down. One thing is crucial though, check your switch EVERY time you set up the dish. You'll read about it in the RV forum article. I hook the receiver into the house dish when we're home so I have to check my switch every time I set it up.

Bruce