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Matt
 
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Default Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish


"Medallion Man" wrote in message
om...

What's the wackiest idea for a suitable sculpture (min. 900mm diameter
footprint, at least 775mm high) that you can come up with (and that an
anal-retentive planning officer can't argue against) ?

Answers on a postcard^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H usenet post please, if I end up
realizing your idea I'll send a photo of the finished product to the
winner.


If you put the dish on a "portable" mount, ie. not fixed and at ground
level, like with a tripod, would it not be planning exempt?

Matt


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Alan
 
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Default Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish

In message , Medallion
Man wrote
Hi,

I need to install an 800mm satellite dish without the end result
looking like one. There's already another one on the building,
getting planning permission for it was touch and go a few years ago
and I don't expect that things have lightened up in the meantime. Due
to the spacing of the satellites involved one of these multi-LNB
jobbies won't work, so the second dish will need to be hidden.

So far I've figured out:
1. It'll work just fine with the dish nearly flat and the LNB sticking
up, resulting in an overall height of only 750mm above ground level.
2. The corrugated plastic used for estate agent's signs by the lot who
sold our house to us (kept the sign as drip-on underlay when painting
;-) is transparent to microwaves.

So, a devilish plan is taking shape: Let's make a sculpture (rock,
snowman, racecar, garden gnome fishing in a pond, whatever) from that
corrugated plastic stuff, paint it as required, put it in the front
garden and hide the dish inside/underneath.


What's wrong with actually painting the dish?

I've seen painted dishes where the shape of the dish is effectively
hidden i.e. wartime ship camouflage type patterns in suitable colours.

Make the dish look like bush/tree by painting branches and leaves. Paint
it same colour as it's background.
--
Alan

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BAH
 
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Default Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish

Disguise it as a sundial?
BAH


"Medallion Man" wrote in message
om...
Hi,

I need to install an 800mm satellite dish without the end result
looking like one. There's already another one on the building,
getting planning permission for it was touch and go a few years ago
and I don't expect that things have lightened up in the meantime. Due
to the spacing of the satellites involved one of these multi-LNB
jobbies won't work, so the second dish will need to be hidden.

So far I've figured out:
1. It'll work just fine with the dish nearly flat and the LNB sticking
up, resulting in an overall height of only 750mm above ground level.
2. The corrugated plastic used for estate agent's signs by the lot who
sold our house to us (kept the sign as drip-on underlay when painting
;-) is transparent to microwaves.

So, a devilish plan is taking shape: Let's make a sculpture (rock,
snowman, racecar, garden gnome fishing in a pond, whatever) from that
corrugated plastic stuff, paint it as required, put it in the front
garden and hide the dish inside/underneath.

Is that corrugated plastic sheeting the best material or does the
esteemed group have other, better ideas ? Microwave transparency
essential, wood need not apply.

What's the wackiest idea for a suitable sculpture (min. 900mm diameter
footprint, at least 775mm high) that you can come up with (and that an
anal-retentive planning officer can't argue against) ?

Answers on a postcard^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H usenet post please, if I end up
realizing your idea I'll send a photo of the finished product to the
winner.



  #5   Report Post  
Brownie
 
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Default Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish


"Medallion Man" wrote in message
om...
Hi,
So far I've figured out:
1. It'll work just fine with the dish nearly flat and the LNB sticking
up, resulting in an overall height of only 750mm above ground level.



What are you trying to pick up? A dish shouldn't work if flat if you have
the usual off-set dish and not many people have prime focus dishes? I had a
large motorised dish down the garden sticking up between the shed and garage
unless you are requiring two simultaneous feeds. Concealed it reasonably
well.





  #7   Report Post  
Medallion Man
 
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Default Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish

"Matt" wrote in message ...
If you put the dish on a "portable" mount, ie. not fixed and at ground
level, like with a tripod, would it not be planning exempt?

Probably, but with the neighbours' kids playing in and around the
garden and driveway it probably won't stay aligned for long either,
that's why I'd prefer to be able to bolt it down.
  #8   Report Post  
Medallion Man
 
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Default Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish

Alan wrote in message ...
In message , Medallion
Man wrote
Hi,

I need to install an 800mm satellite dish without the end result
looking like one. There's already another one on the building,


What's wrong with actually painting the dish?

I've seen painted dishes where the shape of the dish is effectively
hidden i.e. wartime ship camouflage type patterns in suitable colours.

Make the dish look like bush/tree by painting branches and leaves. Paint
it same colour as it's background.

Done that with the first one (matt brick red, contours broken up with
yellow and black to blend into the brick wall background). Still
needed p/p. I might stick the new one in the back garden and
camouflage it to match the shrubbery. but it would need to be on a 9'
mast to "see" over the roofline of the house, and building a mast that
can take 900N wind load at 3 meters = 2700Nm of bending force is a
non-trivial job. Fat steel post, concrete foundation and guy wires
aplenty - I may have to start a separate thread for advice on that ;-(
  #9   Report Post  
Medallion Man
 
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Default Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish

"BAH" wrote in message ...
Disguise it as a sundial?
BAH


A sundial pointing eastish will look a bit silly, but being silly to
get around planning restrictions is the point of the exercise, after
all ;-) Going on the shortlist, thank you.
  #11   Report Post  
The Natural Philosopher
 
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Default Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish

RichardS wrote:

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...

BAH wrote:


Disguise it as a sundial?
BAH



Bury it in a Klargester. The glass fiber lid will let the microwaves in.



snip

Is it possible to get fibreglass roof tile or slate lookalikes that would
enable it to be mounted internally in the loft, I wonder?

A Velux window?



Depends on wavelength.

Certainly soe micowaves will go through polyester/glass very easily,
some will not.


cheers
Richard

--
Richard Sampson

email me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk





  #12   Report Post  
The Natural Philosopher
 
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Default Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish

Simon Gardner wrote:

In article ,
The Natural Philosopher wrote:


A Velux window?



Depends on wavelength.

Certainly soe micowaves will go through polyester/glass very easily,
some will not.


The problem tends to be rainwater on them...

To compensate, you have to go for an even bigger dish.




Mmm. What freq are satellites on?





  #13   Report Post  
Andy Hall
 
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Default Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish

On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 14:14:17 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

Simon Gardner wrote:

In article ,
The Natural Philosopher wrote:


A Velux window?



Depends on wavelength.

Certainly soe micowaves will go through polyester/glass very easily,
some will not.


The problem tends to be rainwater on them...

To compensate, you have to go for an even bigger dish.




Mmm. What freq are satellites on?



About 10.7 to 12.7 GHz Ku band in Europe (for the most part).








..andy

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  #14   Report Post  
Medallion Man
 
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Default Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish

"RichardS" noaccess@invalid wrote in message ...
Is it possible to get fibreglass roof tile or slate lookalikes that would
enable it to be mounted internally in the loft, I wonder?


Heard of these for GSM/UMTS applications, but that's an order of
magnitude below Sat frequencies (0.9/1.8GHz vs 11.5GHz). Do you know
of a supplier ?

A Velux window?


I tried some plate glass yesterday during the same experiment that
showed the estate agent signs to be transparent. The glass caused
significant attenuation, so no go I'm afraid.
  #15   Report Post  
Medallion Man
 
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Default Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish

"Brownie" wrote in message ...
"Medallion Man" wrote in message
om...
Hi,
So far I've figured out:
1. It'll work just fine with the dish nearly flat and the LNB sticking
up, resulting in an overall height of only 750mm above ground level.



What are you trying to pick up? A dish shouldn't work if flat if you have
the usual off-set dish and not many people have prime focus dishes?


Actually, it does work with an offset dish, I tried it and reception
was spotless - if you think about the geometry involved, the dish is
just a reflector allowing the LNB to "see upward" at an angle of about
27 degrees. Whether it does that like this:


..


  #16   Report Post  
Andy Hall
 
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Default Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish

On 26 Aug 2003 11:32:37 -0700, (Medallion Man)
wrote:

Andy Hall wrote in message . ..
On 25 Aug 2003 23:40:34 -0700,
(Medallion Man)
wrote:
Which birds are you trying to see?

Could you get away with a smaller dish for one of them?


I can't have a *second* dish at all without additional planning
permission, that's the problem.

I've come across this thing
http://www.digicams-uk.com/prod30.htm
which may do the trick or may not, it hides a very small dish and I'd
need the mother of all low noise LNBs to make it work. But anyway,
does anyone have experience with that one ?


What I was getting at was whether you could get away with a smaller
dish (in an enclosure) for one of them.

If this is for the Astra 1 or 2 or Hotbird constellations then I would
think there is a reasonable chance of it working.


..andy

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  #17   Report Post  
The Natural Philosopher
 
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Default Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish

Andy Hall wrote:

On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 14:14:17 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:


Simon Gardner wrote:


In article ,
The Natural Philosopher wrote:



A Velux window?



Depends on wavelength.

Certainly soe micowaves will go through polyester/glass very easily,
some will not.


The problem tends to be rainwater on them...

To compensate, you have to go for an even bigger dish.




Mmm. What freq are satellites on?



About 10.7 to 12.7 GHz Ku band in Europe (for the most part).





Mmm. Though that punched through small amounts of water.





.andy

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  #18   Report Post  
The Natural Philosopher
 
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Default Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish

Medallion Man wrote:

The Natural Philosopher wrote in message ...

BAH wrote:
Bury it in a Klargester. The glass fiber lid will let the microwaves in.


What's a Klargester ? Google comes up with waste water treatment kit.


Thats the one.
recycles the shot from the TV signal.

It has a nice domed fiberglass cover and sits in the lawn like a relic
from Planet Zarg. IMM was born in one.

  #19   Report Post  
The Natural Philosopher
 
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Default Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish

Medallion Man wrote:

The Natural Philosopher wrote in message ...

Mmm. What freq are satellites on?


10-12GHz roughly. Do you have something in mind ?


Didn't think that was a water absorption freq thats all.

  #21   Report Post  
Andy Hall
 
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Default Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish

On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 23:40:23 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:



Mmm. What freq are satellites on?



About 10.7 to 12.7 GHz Ku band in Europe (for the most part).





Mmm. Though that punched through small amounts of water.


Possibly, but don't forget that the signals are *very* weak and the
S/N (or carrier to noise) ratio is pretty small. A couple of dBs
here and there can be the difference between success and failure,
especially on the edge of the footprint.


..andy

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