GL: Direct TV

[Elliott Bray]

Tom,

Initially when we decided to install DirecTV on the boat we were spending a
fair amount of time in slips.

I made a life-rail attached mount from a clamp-on fishing rod holder and a
short piece of PVC pipe.
(here is an example of the rod holder  west marine sells
http://tinyurl.com/y54hra)

It took just a little work with sandpaper to fit the length of PVC pipe of
the correct size in the holder (either 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 - measure the antenna
before acquiring) . Leave the plastic liner in the holder. I used a little
PVC solvent to glue it in.

After the initial setup, the only adjustment to make when replacing the
antenna is to rotate it on the pipe till you are pointed in the right
direction (I use my hand-bearing compass to get close).
This only works when standing still. On a 25' boat I suspect you can rock it
quite easily just moving around.

After 6 mounts, we got the Follow-Me-TV mount which works great in
anchorages too. I recommend!


I saw a really neat mount for the dock if the boat is still too active.
The fellow had mounted a seat swivel (example: http://tinyurl.com/yjc45n) on
top of a short 6" or so pedestal (example: http://tinyurl.com/ygr7tg ). He
would screw the pedestal to the dock, rotate toll found, and lock the
swivel.


HTH

****************
Elliott Bray
  wintering in Austin
M/V Letitia - Gulfstar 44 MC
  lounging in heated storage in Michigan
****************
> Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 14:14:54 +0000
> From: "Tom Kinsella" <tfkinsella@hotmail.com>
> Subject: GL: Direct TV
>
> We recently ordered a Direct TV service for our 25 foot Bayliner 2560
> boat. We have not even departed for our trip yet and have
> found locating
> the satellite signal when we move the dish to be extremely
> challenging.
> My questions to those who have the system is: How do you have the dish
> set up on your boat?Is it a permanent pole mount or can we do
> something
> smaller and portable?Are you able to receive service in a
> calm anchorage
> or just when placing on the marina dock?Are there any tricks
> to locating
> the satellites easier?Any other advice is appreciated, we are
> beginning
> to think it just won't work for the boat.Thanks, Tom
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------