Project Step-by-step guides to making the most of your digital TV
Mount your satellite dish: concreted ground pole mount
november 2011
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TEch project Guide to Concreting a ground pole
e dish Mount your satellit
Concreted pole ground mount The best solution for a ground-mounted dish is to provide a mount that is as secure and unchanging as a house wall – but in the garden Most satellite dishes are fixed to house walls, but this is not always the best place for them. If no wall of the house provides both a southerly aspect and a discreet position for a dish, installation at ground level could be your best course of action. You can install a dish on the ground using a simple tripod or ‘patio mount’ but if this is actually on the patio it will probably be in the way (and subject to obstruction or even damage by other patio users) and if you put a tripod or ground stand on grass or earth it inevitably sinks and shifts over time, thus losing alignment with the satellites. You may have a suitable garden wall to attach the dish to 2 What Satellite & Digital TV November 2011
(although be warned that these are rarely as strong as they may look – they can be unsafe if not regularly inspected and maintained and are vulnerable to frost damage), but if not, a pole firmly concreted into the ground is the best foundation for any dish.
Pole position Fixed in the corner of the lawn or in a wide flower bed, the dish and pole will (usually) be out of sight from the front of the house (and possibly your neighbours too) and out of the way. Consider the location carefully with regard to line of sight to the satellites. Without the bulky ground stand or tripod, you can have
Disclaimer You should only attempt any project when you have read the full instructions and feel confident to proceed. What Satellite & Digital TV cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage resulting from this article. Remember: Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.
Guide to Concreting a ground pole TEch project
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Sledgehammer – use for first embedding the pole to hold it in place
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Concrete mixer – not essential but saves work if you can borrow one. Otherwise mix the concrete with a spade
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Poles – choose between aluminium or steel (a scaffold pole)
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Trowel – use to remove loose material from the hole as it gets deeper
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Bucket for measuring out the cement and ballast and carrying wet concrete
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Rubble – use in the bottom of the hole
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Cement and ballast – enough to fill the hole. Use dry ready-mixed concrete if you prefer
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Spade and shovel – use the spade to dig the hole and the shovel to mix and move the concrete
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Pick and/or long crowbar to loosen the soil as the hole is dug out
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Spirit level – use to ensure the pole is 10 perfectly vertical before the concrete sets Angle grinder – use with a metal cutting 11 disc to cut the pole to the right length Plastic sheeting – 12 enough to cover the hole while the concrete sets Scaffold fitting – can be used as the anti13 rotation fitting on the base of the pole Plastic cap – fit to the 14 top of the pole to keep out water Cord & tent pegs – to support the pole 15 upright while the concrete sets Also needed – a bolt or 16 other anti-rotation fitting on the base of the pole, and water
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grass right up to the pole or grow plants around it so it fits into the garden better. The length of the pole is key. You want the dish to be relatively close to the ground to avoid the pole whipping in the wind, but sufficiently clear to allow the grass to be mowed around it or plants to grow at the base. Keeping the dish just a couple of feet above the surface also makes installing it – and subsequently working on it, of course – a real doddle. For a really secure installation you should reckon on about a third of the total length of the pole being underground – so you will need a pole that is 1.5 times the height above ground.
Very large dishes Once you know the length of pole that’s required it is time to make a decision about the pole itself. Most satellite mounting poles are 2in-2.5in (50mm-65mm) in diameter, and suitable lengths are available from satellite dealers in aluminium and steel. Aluminium doesn’t corrode, but it is not that sturdy and you may bend the pole if you hit it with the lawnmower or the kids knock it. If you use steel, make sure it is well galvanised to prevent it rusting underground. A scaffold pole is ideal – very strong, well galvanised and cheap if bought secondhand from a local scaffolding firm. If you are mounting a very large dish that requires a pole
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three inches or greater in diameter, you will have to source the pole from a specialist company or see if you can find a length of, say, 3in gas pipe. If you were thinking about using a wooden post – please don’t! Wood is not as strong as metal, doesn’t last and will move as its moisture content varies, so accurate alignment goes out the window.
Cabling considerations In this project we’ve not gone into burying the cables that run from the dish to the receiver inside the home. How that is handled is a really matter of personal choice and circumstances. You may like to think about laying the cable first and routing it up through the pole (it must therefore be laid before you reach the concreting stage) but it is best to run more cables than you think you’ll ever need as they will then be there for good, offering some flexibility for your system setup in the future. Although many do-it-yourself dish installers are put off by the apparently serious building work involved in fixing a pole in concrete, like so many aspects of dish installation, it really is not as difficult as it first appears. You don’t need to have specialist post-hole drilling machinery or a concrete mixer (although if you have access to such equipment it does make it all easier). Anyone who is reasonably ‘handy’ with some simple tools and has no fear of a bit of hard graft should be able to manage this task n Geoff Bains November 2011 What Satellite & Digital TV 3
TEch project Guide to Concreting a ground pole
Concreting a ground pole mount
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Choose the position for your pole carefully; once it’s concreted in, it can’t be easily shifted (quite apart from concreting it into a new hole, it takes a lot of effort to remove it). Check that the surrounding buildings and trees will allow a clear line of sight to the satellites that you want. Remember that relatively low trees, which won’t worry a dish high on a house wall, may obstruct one a couple of metres from the ground.
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Pay as much attention to the ground as to the sky. Make sure that you have sufficient access to dig the hole, work around it, and support the pole while the concrete sets. You should also pick a spot without any services running beneath the surface and with suitable ground – not too soft to support the pole, nor too hard to dig.
The pole should be cut with an angle grinder to 1.3-1.5 times the intended height above ground. Don’t raise the dish higher than you have to for the line-of-sight to clear surrounding obstructions – it will mean unnecessary digging and a less stable pole. Anything more than about 2m above the ground is likely to need additional supports (and a very deep hole), and it all gets a lot more complicated.
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The set concrete will not grip the pole so you must fit something to the base of the pole to stop it turning. In the wind, the dish will exert considerable force so the pole must be secure (if it turns by just one degree your dish will be out of alignment). The conventional method is to fit a large bolt through the pole about 20cm from the end.
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Drilling the hole for a bolt through a scaffolding pole is not at all easy, and likely to burn out most DIY drills. An alternative is to flatten the end of the pole (right), but this is very hard work in itself because scaffold poles are very tough, so a compromise is to fix a suitable irregular scaffold fitting on the end of the pole (left) – but do make sure that it is clamped on extremely tightly.
Find the exact spot for the pole and start to make the hole. For a 2in pole, it should be about 1ft (30cm) square; larger for larger poles or very soft ground. If the hole is in grass, first dig the turf to about 15cm deep and carefully remove it. It will be put back at the end to tidy up the pole base. Keep the turf moist throughout the process.
Start to dig the hole. Use a spade for the first 30cm or so. Keep the sides straight and avoid eroding the opening wider as you dig down. Cut through any small roots you come across by chopping through with the spade (if you hit a really large root you may have to relocate the pole). Shovel the loose soil out of the hole and dispose of it elsewhere.
As you dig deeper, the soil is likely to become increasingly compacted, hard and rocky. You may need to use a pickaxe or a large crowbar to break up the soil at the base of the hole. Unless you have a post digger, you’ll also need to use a trowel to remove the loose soil as the spade will not reach effectively.
IWhen you have reached the required depth, widen out the hole a little at the bottom to make the finished mount more stable. Remove as much of the loose soil as you can from the base and sides of the hole and put a layer of coarse gravel or rubble in the base of the hole to provide foundations for the concrete.
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Guide to Concreting a ground pole TEch project
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Insert the pole in the centre of the hole and, if you have a bolt in the base or a flattened base, hammer it down a few centimetres to secure it (use a sledgehammer to work it into the hard soil). Support the pole in place and attach a scaffold fitting (or anything to which you can securely attach guy ropes) to the top. Tie on three guy ropes.
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Attach the three guy ropes to the top of the pole and to strong tent pegs, or similar, arranged in a triangle around the pole. Space the pegs about as far from the pole base as the pole extends above ground. Tighten all three of the guy ropes to hold the pole roughly vertical.
Using a spirit level to check the pole’s position, adjust the guy ropes in turn to make sure the pole is exactly vertical and held upright securely. If you intend to mount a motorised dish on the pole, it is essential that the pole is as near vertical as possible and even with a fixed dish, it is best to have the pole truly upright. Take your time to get this stage right.
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Mix up the concrete, making sure you have enough to fill the hole. You can either use a pre-prepared dry concrete mixture or prepare your own (which is usually cheaper). Use a mixture of 1:4 cement-to-ballast. Thoroughly dry mix the ballast and cement first and then carefully add water while mixing until it is a sloppy, lumpy goo.
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Pour the concrete into the hole around the pole to about a quarter of the depth. Use a piece of scrap wood to tamp it down, to fill all the gaps in the rubble at the bottom. Fill the rest of the hole, leaving enough room for the turf to be replaced or earth put in, and tamp it down again.
Before the concrete starts to set, check that the pole is still exactly vertical. Make any further corrections to the guy ropes to hold it in the correct position. Again, precision is important now. This is the time to make any changes – once the concrete is set you are stuck with the position of the pole as it is now.
Cover the hole with some plastic sheeting. If the weather is warm and dry, this prevents the concrete drying out before it’s fully set. If it’s raining it stops the concrete becoming flooded. Leave the concrete to set for as long as you can – ideally until you can see the top is both hard and dry. This may take several days.
If the pole is in grass, when the concrete is set you can replace the turf you took off before digging the hole. Use earth taken from the hole to pack out the remaining hole to the correct depth for the turf. It should be slightly proud of the surrounding grass and then trodden down firmly. Water it well and keep it watered until it’s well established again.
The last thing to do is to fit your dish to the pole. If you have concreted in the pole correctly, this stage should be very easy, with the pole upright, firm and easy to work around, and the pole – and dish – should give many years trouble-free service. You might now think about painting the whole assembly to blend in with the garden.
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November 2011 What Satellite & Digital TV 5