When we got the first batch of Force110's in we thought the assembly could be easier but all in all not that bad. When we actually installed the first few Force110's the installers started complaining immediatly and loudly. I thought it was just new and they would figure it out eventually. However the complaining continued and I was starting to have to go back on a lot of installs where the installers had installed a bare radio instead of a force 110 or the force110 was poorly aimed because they hate these things so bad.
So I spent the day yesterday attempting to figure out the best way to install/aim one of these things and... wow did I fail. I had a 6' post set in the ground meaning I was standing on the ground instead of a ladder or roof so I had it as easy as it gets. Just holding the dish in place while I attempted to tighten the nuts down proved to be a little challenging/frustrating. With one hand holding the dish and the other turning the nut I needed a third hand to hold the carriage bolt in the square hole so it wouldn't turn along with the nut. Ok, not a huge deal standing on the ground, I messed around with it managed to pretty much hold the dish in place while simultaneously keeping the carriage bolt pushed in. But I had to admit this would be a lot more frustrating on a ladder/roof. Why carriage bolts ? Why not a U-bolt ?
So I get one bolt finger tight and now , without moving the dish I need to move my hand to hold the other carriage bolt in place so I can tighten it down... fail. The bolts move independently of each other (wouldn't happen with a U-bolt) and shifting the unit even slightly as I try to re-position my hand causes the first bolt to move and now it's no longer tight. I go for the second bolt (the one in the vertical adjustment slot). This one proves a little more difficult as the carriage bolt does not really fit exactly in the long curved hole for it, it takes more effort to hold it in place. I persevere and get both nuts/bolts finger tight. I slowly start letting go of the dish to see if it will stay and.. again the bolts shift and GRRRR I have to mess with it some more.
Ok the above didn't take a terribly long time to do but it was annoying, several times I would think I had it secure enough to hold itself in place and the bolts would shift. I 'm standing on the ground perfectly positioned to the dish so any problems or frustration I have will be meany times greater for the installers who have the added challenge of staying on the ladder or roof and they often can not position themselves optimally in relation to the dish they are mounting.
But I'm not done. I have the dish where it will stay in place , now I have to aim the thing. So I get my wrench and tighten the nuts down enough that I can move the dish with a little effort. This proves to be fairly simple for moving the dish left to right, the bolts shifted a couple of times resulting in it suddenly being loose on the pole again but that even happens with u-bolts. Then came adjusting the vertical alignment... there seemed to be no middle ground here. The nuts were either too loose or too tight and the carriage bolt did not seem to like sliding in the curved slot and as you attempted to loosen/tighten the nuts the carriage bolts would shift making it suddenly looser. So I start just moving the dish through the max vertical adjustment over and over too wear the paint out of the grove and hope it will move more smoothly. This seems to kind of help a little. The vertical alignment took a great deal more time and effort as it was a constant battle with the carriage bolts shifting around. But again, I persevere and I get it acceptably aligned. Now to just tighten down the nuts and OAKL!@)*!@#* it moves when you start to tighten it down those @#*)@#*! carriage bolts and the bracket shift and... it moves.
I also realized that while I was trying to aim this thing I had my tablet laying on my truck so I could use both hands to adjust the dish while looking at the RSSI on the tablet. The installers don't normally have this option, they need one hand to hold the pda/phone/tablet whatever they are using and the other to hold the dish while balancing on a ladder or roof. I don't know how they install them , I now understand the bare SM's and poorly aimed Force110s.
I messed with this thing literally all day yesterday and by the end of the day I decided I would find some u-bolts that will fit it and see if that makes them any easier to work with (we are 100 miles from any major city and none of the local hardware stores have u-bolts that will fit). We have installed enough nanobridge/nanobeam radios to know that U-bolts don't make it a cake walk but in my expeirence they are way easier to work with in this situation than the carriage bolts on the force110.
I'm either not smart enough to figure it out (and I admit this possible, thus my request for something to show me how it's done) or these things should have u-bolts instead of carriage bolts..
How are you all mounting/aiming these things ? Is there some trick to it that my installers nor myself have been able to figure out yet ? Any videos out there that shows how this is done in the real world ?
Thanks