by Ralph Cerney
I continue to be amazed by the various contortions folks go through setting up their DSS. First, and probably the most interesting, is watching someone take great pains to level their DSS dish--question--how do you level what is basically a circle? I've set my DSS up at all angles, including upside down--and guess what, it still works. Second, and this is really fun to watch, is the various contraptions folks use to set up their dish. Some are really innovative and very clever, and others are downright Rube Golberg. I've always worked under the KISS principle--keep it simple (son)--and have seen some other folks doing the same.
The arm that is normally used to mount the dish onto a house can also be used to mount to the ground. I've used this method for a while and have yet to find a place it won't work. So what do I use for attaching to the ground?.......Well it depends on the ground. In soft soil or even clay, a cheap set of long screwdrivers hold very well--in harder soil I use 10" nails with large washers, so I can pound them into the ground with a hammer. Both can be easily extracted when you move on, particularly the screwdrivers--they have the handle already attached!
And do they hold!......even in a strong frontal wind! Now I've only had to face 60 knot winds to this point, but after seeing the perfomance in those winds, I'm confident my dish will be there when others have fallen. Another advantage to this mounting system is it keeps the dish center of gravity lower to the ground than many other systems making it less suseptible to rollover.
The DSS system is simple to use, the dish setup can be simple too.
PS. LW Blenis "storage" system (described in another "How To" item here) really works and follows the same KISS principle--wing nuts do make life more simple.