[AirShark]

Hello all, I have been lurking here for some time and I'm now in the middle of a self install of my new AT9 dish.

My question is this:

I have mounted the J-mast base plate to my exterior stucco wall.

I used two 3 1/2 inch long 3/8' diamater lag bolts through the stucco and directly into a large stud. These go through the top/center bolt hole and the bottom/center bolt hole on the base plate. The mast is SOLID and VERY plumb.

Do I need to also anchor the four corners of the base with hollow-wall stucco anchors, or should this be fine?

This thing is REALLY in there tight with the two lag bolts now as it is, I'm just looking for some advice or someone to tell me if the extra bolts will be overkill or if they are needed for sure.

Thanks in advance!

-Bryan

 

[litzdog911]

You should also install two monopoles from the J-mast to suitable anchor points on your siding. The J-mast base plate is not sufficient by itself. The extra lag bolts on the J-mast base plate probably aren't needed as long as you're using two monopoles for additional wind-loading support.

 

[AirShark]

Well that kind of sucks to hear about the monopoles...I was hoping to be done with it this weekend. I wonder...has anyone here fashioned their own support struts (monopoles)...I don't image it would be too hard.

If I could buy them locally, I would, but I would have no idea where to buy the "official" ones except for online.

I'd imagine a bit of pipe, 2-inch pipe clamp, a few bolts and a baseplate would do the job pretty well...for about the same cost.

Can the monopoles be added later without disturbing the existing dish mount, or do they "slip-on" over the mount which would require the dish to separate from the base for installation?

 

[AirShark]

Still haven't put up my monopoles yet....dish is still rock-solid with almost no effect on signal during a nasty wind/rain storm over the past few nights.

One interesting note....as part of my job, I drive around a good portion of the Bay Area here in California. I have been looking at and counting as many other AT-9 installations as I can see.

Here are my totals for the last two weeks:

38 AT-9's spotted.

Number of AT-9's seen using monopoles: 0

I guess either the installers in this area are doing something wrong, or the monopoles are not "vital" for every installation. Either way, putting them on won't be too hard later if I find that I need them.