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DirecTV in an Apartment?

Posted by Cliff on from the antennas-should-grow-on-trees dept.

Sc00ter asks: "I live in an apartment and I'm seeking advice on how to mount a DirecTV dish without causing damage to the building. I don't have a balcony to put it on, only windows. There are some people that have worked around this by using other types of antennas, but the cost of such a device is too high. I have also seen some window mount type antennas but I don't think I should trust these in the wind. I was hoping somebody out there had been in a similar situation and had a tip or two."

8 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. My Case by k.ellsworth · · Score: 4, Funny

    On the building i lived, i had the same problem, just that i live on the 4th floor (6 floors building), so i asked the community manager about using the internal shafts of the building up to the building's roof, and place my dish on it... i had on ly to ask the manager about and voila'...

    if that doesn't work do a kinda ghostbusters 2 movie solution, turn the whole building into a reciving antena.

    --
    Putting a windows cd backwards, plays evil messages, but it gets worse, putting it right, installs windows.
  2. Ideas by MBCook · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I've seen quite a few dishes mounted, here are some ideas:

    • I've seen people stick a small pole in a large bucket that was filled with concrete and mount the dish on that. If you could get permission to just set that next to the building that would be fine, or you put it inside and point it through a window, but it would be ugly.
    • Lots of people around here have the dishes clipped onto a railing of some sort that they have near (like a balcony, but you might have something). This would hold it just fine, if you have a railing of some kind near.
    • Build a mount. You should be able to rig something up. For example, use a 2" by 4" the height of the window. Then you close the window on it (securely and tightly). You could paint it to make it look better. You mount the dish to the 2" by 4" (or a block of wood attached to it). By putting a small piece of wood on the sides and top/bottom of the 2" by 4", you can make it easily support the weight of the dish with just friction (no screwing into the wall).
    • Neighbors. Do any of your neighbors have dishes? Just attach a multiswitch (basically a splitter for satellites) and you can use their signal with no problem for either of you. It's usually used to allow you to have boxes in more than 2 rooms, but it will do the same for you. You might not even need one if they have a Dual-LNB dish and only one simple reciever.
    • Through the roof. You might (might Might MIGHT) be able to get a usuable signal through the roof (if you are on the top floor) or through a wall. The closer you are to the equator the better.
    • Ask a professional installer. Find one who will give you a free "estimate", and see what they think.
    --
    Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
    1. Re:Ideas by orogorhotmail.com · · Score: 4, Interesting

      What i would do is do the same thig that we did in our building, asking everyone if they want to have a dish ( they ll probably say yes ), then go see the guy in charge of the community stuff, tell him than everyone would like to have a dish, and suggest a proffessional installation for everyone. Our community have 400 flats , they paied eatch one 100, this make a total of 40 000 , now we have 4 proffesionnals dishs installed on the top of the highest building by proffessionals with switches and so, and now everyone have a satellite plug in his house. Notice than it was quite fast to obtain this, well everything is relative , but it took like 4 months. (escuse me for typos, grammary and stuff, french guy there)

  3. Tips by jakev383 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I used to install for Time Warner and Direct TV. First thing is to ask your landlord. Most of them are not too uptight, and will allow an installation onto the roof. If not, we used a tripod whic we purchased for $20 at RadioShack, and sold to customers for $34.95. The buckets with concrete in them aren't a bad idea; we use them now for PTZ cameras we put on our construction sites. My first bet would be talk to the property manager, though. Chances are good you're not he first person to ask.

  4. Re:Put it on the roof by nachoboy · · Score: 4, Informative

    The regulation he was referring to is 47 C.F.R. Section 1.4000 and essentially prohibits restrictions of antennae placement to receive TV broadcasts.

    However, the management of the institution would have been well within their rights to deny the resident the privilege of mounting an antenna on the roof, as the roof does not belong to the resident.

    The FCC has a very helpful Fact Sheet regarding the issue. For those too lazy to click, renters can install an antenna on the private area of their residence (indoors or on a private balcony or porch) but public areas (shared walkways, balconies, and roofs) do not fall under the scope of this legislation. As such, management may impose restrictions on the mounting of such permanent structures as television dishes.

    I would highly recommend any renters read the link above. Many apartment complex owners are not aware of the legislation (or even worse, are acutely aware of it!) and will attempt to bully you into submission by flatly prohibiting any sort of dish installation. The FCC order is rather strong ammunition in such cases.

  5. fcc has info by mrzaph0d · · Score: 3, Informative
    FCC Fact Sheet on Placement of Antenmas

    Landlords and HOAs can prohibit installation in:

    common areas

    rooftops

    outside walls

    window sills

    so, unless permission is granted from landlord or homeowners associations you can't install there. the nice people at dish network have a landlord permission form and a diagram of exclusive areas.

    --
    this is just a placeholder till i send back my real sig from the future.
  6. One word: Plexiglass by affegott · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I had an apartment with no balcony and a Southern facing window.

    I had line of sight to the primary sat, but the signal would not go through the glass. I just went to good ol' Home Depot and bought a sheet of plexiglass and some 2x4's. After building a simple frame and inserting it into the window I was good to go.

    My first attempt involved 2 spaced sheets of plexiglass, but I couldn't get a signal. 1 sheet worked great.

    I lost about 10 points of signal, rain fade was hardly a problem.

  7. Re:Put it on the roof by cdrudge · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You are correct. An apartment compex owner, a HOA, etc can't say you can't have a dish positioned somewhere due to how it might look. They also can not limit the number of dishes that you have installed as long as all are under the 1-meter limit.

    If the community offers the same satellite service and the pricing is not unreasonable, they can deny you the right to install the dish. Say you want DirecTV and they have Dish, they can not deny you the right to have a DirecTV dish. If they say thought that you have to pay $20 just for the access to the line then you can install your own.

    They can deny you the right to do a penetrating mount. This means no driliing/bolting into a balcony, wall, roof, etc without their WRITTEN permission. This would also include running the line indoors.

    Tripod, bucket-o-quikcrete, etc are fine. So is u-bolting to a balcony railing as long as no holes are drilled into their property. As to getting the line indoors, this is the exact reason why inductive couplers for windows/patio doors and flat cable were invented. :)