On 8/25/2012 8:20 AM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Sat, 25 Aug 2012 00:12:38 -0700, miso wrote:

Why not get a piece of pipe that will fit the Rocket mount, clamp it,
then use two more U-bolts to mount that pipe to the direct TV mast.

Yech. The spacing between the two U-bolts will be fairly small due to
the inadequate length of the short end of the satellite dish pipe. All
you've done is transfer the problem from the dish mount to the
U-bolts.

Also, U-bolts won't work. You need something like these to keep the
pipes parallel:
http://www.wpsantennas.com/ProductImages/antenex/fm3.jpg
http://www.deltaclub.org/mount_closeup.jpg
http://www.wpsantennas.com/fm2-antenna-pole-mount.aspx
The Radio Shack (Channel Master) vent pipe mount are junk.

I got two of those Starband and Hughes satellite internet dishes for
free on Craigs.

Reminder: Tile roof. Most of those mounts won't work unless you
drill the tile. It really does need to be something designed for eave
mounting.

Satellite internet is terrible. You can't get around the latency problem
unless you can cut a deal with Einstein.

If you don't do anything in realtime, it's tolerable. Exede (Wild
Blue), which uses Ka band and spot beams seems to be less disgusting
than the others.
http://www.wildblue.com
Einstein is not a stockholder. However, note the spot map at:
http://www.mybluedish.com/spot-beams
Note the south end of beam 21, which cuts through Monterey Bay. I
know of systems that work in the Aptos and Prunedale areas, but the
signal levels are lower than a few miles north in Santa Cruz. Grrrr...



I didn't know those "double" mounts existed in real life. I have hacked
them together buying long bolts at OSH and COTS antenna mounts. But that
double clamp looks much better.

In my rounds today, I noticed a large sat dish on the roof at a strip
mall. No LNBF on it. I guess when a tenant leaves crap on the roof, the
owner pulls the cable out when cleaning up, but odd they pulled the
LNBF. Maybe the F-connectors had rusted and it was less work to pull the
LNBF.

It would be interesting to know the percentage of sat dishes mounted but
not hooked up. Anyway, it was one of those heavy duty mounts and a 36x24
oval dish.

I've run into sat internet gear hooked up to instrumentation in the
boonies. There are only so many "slots" on those GOES birds to send
data. For $50 a month, it is chump change for some outfit that is doing
seismic studies in East Bum****.