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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 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.512 / Virus Database: 309 - Release Date: 20/08/2003 |
Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish
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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 |
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. |
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. |
Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish
Andy Hall wrote in message . ..
On 25 Aug 2003 15:49:19 -0700, (Medallion Man) wrote: I need to install an 800mm satellite dish without the end result looking like one. There's already another one on the building, Had you considered motorising the present one? The present one is in a position between two houses which makes it impossible to see the other satellite except if I moved it forward quite a bit, which would invalidate the plannig permission. I'm trying to avoid having to reapply. |
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. |
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 ;-( |
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. |
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 |
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? |
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 To email, substitute .nospam with .gl |
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. |
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: .. |
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 To email, substitute .nospam with .gl |
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 To email, substitute .nospam with .gl |
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. |
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. |
Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish
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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 To email, substitute .nospam with .gl |
Ideas please: materials and SHAPES for hiding a satellite dish
On 26 Aug 2003 11:53:51 -0700, (Medallion
Man) wrote: That should help with hiding it. But how ? Lay it flat and build a small wall around it (1-2 bricks high). Cover the dish with some of the estate agent board material painted green. Turn the LNB arm into a plastic bush by cunning application of plastic foliage (or even real ivy) and call it artwork or a bush? See also http://www.satellitedish.com/cover.htm http://www.satellitedish.com/Page_13.htm -- Peter Parry. http://www.wpp.ltd.uk/ |
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