Making a portable Sat dish Tripod.

[gordon_s1942]

I have an old Hills Hoist I want to destroy by converting it into a reasonably portable tripod to support up to a 1.2m KU dish.
I use the word 'Destroy' based on my proven lack of skill, even AKIA flatpacks have been known to suffer at my hands.
I have seen some that use a cast aluminum 'Spider' for the legs but a friend had one and it literaly fell to bits after a bit of use.
The Hoist is one of the current Green powder coated models and except for the plastic winder has lost the handle and one arm has had a brace bolted on at the plastic support point (I didnt do it), its in fairly good condition.
The option is to keep and use all 4 arms or re-arrange into 3.
I havent tried to seperate the 2 pipes as yet but that would reduce the weight somewhat making it easier to handle.
Any bright ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[LeroyPatrol]

you could use a pedastal fan stand and tent pegs to keep it in place but a 1.2 might be a bit big for it.

Leroy

[gordon_s1942]

Problem with similar bases is they are designed for a flat surface and that may not always be the case.
I thought of old rims etc but apart from their weight which doesnt lend to portability, getting the mast 'plumb' is the other major difficulty.

[mtv]

Never mind the stand being portable.... a 1.2m dish isn't exactly going to be easy to transport as a 'portable' dish.

[CONAXLE]

I just probably would use an old axle shaft (preferably out of a truck) bolted to an old spare rim and tyre...

[gordon_s1942]

I stipulated up to a 1.2m dish as a MAXIMUM load size, not neccassarily actual dish in use size.
Most likely it would carry between the standard 65cm up to maybe a 90cm.
If you look at those hoists they are very robust, powder coated light guage tubing and I think by reversing the fixed and sliding plastic parts that attatch the 'arms', it should work they way I have in mind
The 'arms would be shortend of course as well as the actual mast may have to be, I have no intention of having 6 foot support legs.
I want the whole thing no more than 5 foot tall by roughly the same diameter.

[toyboy11]

I have an old Hills Hoist I want to destroy by converting it into a reasonably portable tripod

So if you want it portable is it for your Caravan

[gordon_s1942]

Portable means exactly that.
One idea is to use it to do an onsite Demo for anyone who is considering VAST and doesnt have a dish in place.
Put it in the back of the wagon or whatever, dish, cable etc,use it here in the yard.

I have done some hacking and slashing already and apart from a few idea changes, its looking good.

Shopping day today but will hack away over the next few days and hopefully some pics if anyone is interested.

[oyama]

would a video camera tripod work.

has elevation & Azimuth mine has a spirit level as well.

never tried it tho

[oyama]

Just put this together seems to hold its own 65cm dish

[Mysterex]

PVC pipe sat dish ground mount

[gordon_s1942]

Mysterex, that is one neat bit of gear you have there.
I am using the hoist because I had it to hand and so far the only tool used is a hacksaw and some elbow grease.

[bigboy]

Mysterex, I love your design

Must be very heavy tho it's cracked your driveway, also with the dish upside down wont the picture be upside down LOL
I guess you can invert the sat box or TV to sole the problem

[mtv]

would a video camera tripod work.

has elevation & Azimuth mine has a spirit level as well.

never tried it tho

Yes, I use one for pointing a (terrestrial) microwave dish for radio comms, but there's no reason you can't do the same for satellite.

The one I use is an old Miller professional fluid head tripod with wooden legs.

The gimbal head makes it fast and accurate to set it up perfectly level.

I weigh it down with shot bags. so
A.... it doesn't lose alignment. B... so it doesn't take off in the wind and cause damage and/or injury.

[gordon_s1942]

Inverting the dish isnt often seen done but apparently it works but its not a good idea for some LNB's because you then have the connectors pointing up and you would need to ensure you make them waterproof.
Msterex, is that parfticular dish designed to be installed that way ?
Feeding the coax through the arm is an excellent idea.