Your garden installations

[phd7]

Im looking to set up a motorised dish in the garden for max sky visibility, and am looking for tips. Rather than stickin the dish on a pole with a sign around it saying "nick me" (and also to protect it from the weather) I am looking for camoflage / protection ideas. Any tips? Feel free to post pics of your endeavours.

I was thinking if just plonking a wooden box around it so any ideas regarding protection against wind would be welcome.

[Dark Cloud]

The 21st March and 21st September are good days to "see" where all the satellites are positioned, on a sunny day !. So this week they will be just ABOVE the sun.
Both my 1.1 Triax and the "Wife's" Zone 2 Sky are on the ground.
Plonking a wooden box around it is not a problem if you draw a line from the bottom of the dish to the satellites.

[Hamrag1]

But be aware, that at 12Ghz Solid Wood presents quite an attenuation. Especially when wet !!

[TonyO]

If your ground site is clear mount the pole pefectly vertical in a position that allows a clear view from 30 west to 42 east, when I say pefectly vertical I mean just that, nothing else will do.

Get two spirit levels and strap them on the pole, one on the south side and one on the west side, adjust the pole till both bubbles are dead on in the middle.

Then concrete the base and check every 5 minutes or so that the pole hasn't moved, after an hour the concrete has probably solidified enough to forget about it for a day or two.

All other problems can be rectified on instalation except a pole that is not truly vertical, its worth the effort to get this right.

[mrbleu500]

I use a heavy duty adjustable floor mount rather than a pole buried in concrete for my garden dish. Dead easy to setup level and vertical, and with a 1m cubed base of concrete underneath, and flags on top with 100mm ground bolts set into the concrete, it isn't going to move unless there's an earthquake :D

Not cheap, about 70 quid 7 years ago, but works a treat, and I can easily relocate it when/if we move house, or the trees block too much of the arc.