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    Low-Profile Satellite Dish Mount

    I recently came across a discussion of a reverse-focus satellite dish, which is nothing more than an upside down dish. Three aspects of this concept appealed to me:

    1. Its lower profile, which can take more wind.

    2. The small, light-weight mounting system - no more hauling that heavy tripod around.

    3. Ease of set-up.

    sat1 

     

    		  

    This shows the upside down dish mounted on a home-made PVC pipe stand.

    Here's the link to the plans I found for making the stand; I tailored some of the dimensions to better suit my needs.

     sat2

     

    This shows the PVC stand without the dish. Pretty simple, eh? It cost me $10.00 to make it and took maybe two hours.

    The holes in the two end elbows allow me to stake the stand down, but I find it rarely necessary to do so.

     

     sat3

     

    		  A stainless steel bolt with nylon wing-nut connects the two sections. I made it that way so it would stow in a smaller space for travel.

     sat4

     

    		 I bought a "new" dish to use just for travel. The LNB arm folds down for travel. 

     sat5

     

    		  Here is the dish, stand, and cable, stowed for travel. I have three lengths of cable: 10', 50' and 75', enough to find a good spot for "seeing" the satellite, despite the LD being in a wooded campsite.
     sat6  To get the signal from the dish inside the LD, I added a jack inside the propane tank compartment. I chose that location for two reasons: that compartment is open on the bottom and that spot is directly under where the satellite receiver is located inside the rig. After careful measurements, I drilled a hole through the floor, installed a plastic "through-the-wall" cable holder, and caulked it.