does anyone know if a standard corner fence post will work for directva directv AU9 dish? or better yet what diameter pole is used. i have new client that wants to do alot of stuff but, first he wants dish remounted. it is on pole now but installer used the adapter to turn skinny 18" round sized pole to the new AU9 size dish. the adapter is actually ok, it is the fact that they just burried the pole with no concrete or anything. so anytime a good wind comes he loses signal because the whole assembly swivels including the pole. since we are going to redig and concrete the pole in i told him we would go ahead and get proper sized pole.

yes a standard fence post will work in a pinch (my personal dish has been mounted this way for four years now and works like a champ)

the pipe/pole to mount a dish would be a 2" OD

You need a 2" OD post. Yes, a corner 1.90" OD corner post will work. Set it as deep in concrete as you can and drill some holes in the part in the concrete and put some galvanized bolts through it allowing them to stick out. Or hammer the end flat. Keeps the post from twisting.

Dig a bell shaped hole.

Mount the dish to a tree....




Yes, I saw that done before....LOL

 A fence post will not work for the slimline or swm dishes.  

I REPEAT...A normal standard fence pole that you find at HD or Lowe's will not work.  It's a smidge to small for the dish to "grab" hold of.  

I REPEAT....it will not work.....I know this like it is the gospel.  

Now, there may be a fence pole out there that will work, but I've never found one at HD or Lowes.

Back in the day with the 18" and 18x24" dishes no problem.

uhmmm, yeah you can make it work, as my Slimline dish with 5LNB head is mounted on a fence post that is part of my fence (as I said its been this way for the last 4 years & I have never had to tweak it).
I would not recomend doing it for a client though, and definatly not as a stand alone installation option.

You can make it work is not the answer he was looking for.  I can lay it on the ground and liquid nail it to a rock and it will work for a minute.    

Again, the pole that you find at HD or Lowe's for the corner of a chainlink fence is not the same pole as DirecTV.   You can "rig" it up, but he's not in the "rigging up" business.  

Just trying to save him the hassle of combing through the HD aisles looking for the right size pole.

The poles that you find at HD or Lowes are 1 5/8 or 2 3/8.  The DirecTV system needs 2" OD.  You certainly can't put 2" on 2 3/8" , so we'll work off the 1 5/8 or 1.7"  

So now how do you expect to close a 3/8" gap in a DirecTV mount?, still align it, make the customer happy, and keep your good company name?

DirecTV is about an 1/8 of an inch accurate to 23,000 miles.  Let's use the right poles. 

And they can't be found at HD or Lowe's

thanks guys, my dish guy finally called me back, hes got me ready to pick up AM. I searched a little bit on google and found alot of info. It is definitely a 2" OD pole but, is not as readily available as one would think from the big box DIY guys. i am VERY well versed on all that is DTV bbut, it has been a long long time since i dug a hole for one!!!

and yes a got some precut rebar from lowes to stick through holes drilled in bottom of post to keep it from twisting

 Eric,

Another great trick to use when mounting a pole into the ground is to cut the end that is going into the ground on a 45 degree angle.  Make it look like a spear. 

Once you do that, and drive it into the ground, fill it with concrete that thing ain't going nowhere.  Just make sure that puppy is plumb and level and sighting it in will not be a problem.

+1....they do NOT have them at Lowes or HD....although I did see a dealer use a 2" OD galvanized gas pipe in a pinch.....I have never tried it, but did see it!!

A little trick we have used for years.

Use the standard mast/foot assembly that comes with Dish/DirecTV. Dig your hole and fill with concrete. The foot grabs the crete like mad. The dish does sit down almost on the ground, but we have found very few situations this cannot be worked around. You do have to pay attention for perfect plumb, but the time saved in not sourcing a post is golden.

If you regularly have 24" of snow on the ground, perhaps not the best option, however I think even then it is better than any roof/eve mount. YMMV.

Have fun out there guys.

So I should drive this post into, say, the loose dirt I find in the San Fernando Valley, then fill THE POST with concrete? If you meant for a larger hole to surround the post, about how large should it be to "ain't going nowhere"?

It's been amusing to see dishes on front yard posts just north of large trees, or attached to chain link fences back in the days when we only had to aim at the 101 satellite. My favorite was the one I put on the side of a chimney in new construction where the GC told me which direction was north from the plans, and it was wrong. I had a satellite mount built onto the side of the chimney before water seal, and I had to build an extension to move the dish about 20" out from the chimney to peek around the corner in the correct direction.

No you can't. But you can at a fence supplier. That is where I go mine custom cut to length. Have also heard of people getting them at muffler shops. The one I got seems a lot thicker walled than a muffler. The guy at the fence company said it was for medium duty commercial.

Ernie, we dont have that shitty earthquake prone loose dirt over hear on the Beast Coast!!!!!!!