Having moved cross-country from my nice single-family rented house (with a landlady who didn’t really care what I did and holes already drilled in the walls) to a managed townhouse, I have run into the incredible suckiness that is Time Warner Cable (this ain’t a pit thread, so I won’t get started) and what seems to me to be a possibly unenforceable provision in my lease. It clearly states in the lease that satellite dish installation is not allowed. I have argued for a while that the FCC rules invalidate that part of the lease in that I have an exclusive-use area (my balcony) where I can install the dish. I think I can get the right angle, but I’m not sure yet. I believe I have the declination set on the compass properly and am pointing to the right part of the sky. It’d be close, but probably doable. The problem is getting the signal in. I might be able to get a signal while putting the dish inside the house (which of course solves the problem entirely.) If not, does anyone have any advice on how I can politely approach my landlord and suggestions I could make?
It might be a zoning thing, or some kind of yuppie covenant BS that disallows satellite dishes. They make the property look oh-so-ugly, and that makes property values go down for some reason. Plus, your landlord might tell you “if I let you do it, I’d have to let everybody else do it,” and you’d get nowhere.
I know it’s difficult to let go of this dish you paid for, but satellite providers don’t give a crap about them. They write them off as soon as they’re installed.
I just did the opposite of you. I dropped Dish and picked up TW. Dish was charging me $5 a month extra for a phone jack I never used, and told me they couldn’t give me a receiver with NO phone jack. Plus, reception usually dropped out when it rained, and I hated seeing Frank Caliendo in all their commercials. TW gave me more tiers and channels for less than Dish’s price. They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.
What was so bad about TW?
It’s the DVR. It is the most awful thing I’ve ever seen, especially compared to an E* made one. Heck, I can build a better Mythbuntu box easily (the only thing stopping me is the cost.) It’s impossible to do something as simple as building a favorites list in the guide or even just not displaying all the unsubscribed channels.
I want my dish back, too. Here I was being all nice, giving my neighbor some of my delicious macaroni-n-cheese, and what does she do in return? She keeps the dish! Oh, wait…
Completely unenforcable.
But I’ll have to leave it to my fellow Dopers who actually possess tact to suggest a diplimatic way to broach this to your landlord.
When I lived in an apartment (who had the same rule) we just filled a five gallon bucket with cement, and placed a pole in the middle to anchor the dish. There was a unconnected, outlet box next to the sliding door, we were able to run the cable through. The interior cable we just tucked between the wall and the carpet, which created no additional holes.
A couple of weeks later we received a letter stating, that we’re in violation of our lease agreement. I wrote back explaining what we had done, and that they were welcome to come and inspect the set-up. The next week they came in, looked around, and said we were fine. As long as we didn’t drill any holes in the wall.
The RV crowd does this. You can even move it when someone comes snooping around. 
Wow I had no idea landlords couldn’t restrict use of an antenna. My grandmother lives in a retirement neighborhood and has a little house she rents. Poor thing can’t get any cable because the landlords have a ‘rule’ that no antenna/dishes are to be installed. I might give her a call and talk to her. Unfortunately I doubt she’ll do anything to keep from raising a ruckus :\
As far as getting the signal into your residence, you can buy flat RG-6 pigtails that can be closed into most windows and doors with no damage at all.
You have to be realistic about this.
Sure the FCC rules invalidate or overrule the condo association rules, but if you go and put up a dish or antenna and it’s perfectly in your rights you will make a LOT of people mad.
Just remember if you do this, be prepared to live to the letter of the law for every single OTHER rule they have in the association, 'cause that’ll be the attitude. “Well if you’re such a stickler for rules.” You’re gonna have someone watching you every second to make darn well sure you don’t violate ANY OTHER rule of the association and kick you out when you do.
Satellite dishes work fine inside a container, as long as it’s not metal.
So take some wood 2x2’s and plastic and build a nice rainproof endtable, or a flowerbox, or something for your balcony. With a dish concealed inside it. The landlord will probably never know what’s inside it.
Oh, I like how you think…
I’ve been installing satellite dishes for almost 3 years, and this is the first I’ve heard about this.
Perhaps it’s because I live in northern Alberta, but if a dish is aimed through as little as a tree branch with a few leaves in it, it’s typically enough to kill your signal outright…
Is it a different situation, in the US, where the signal would be stronger?
S^G
Leaves contain water, which is conductive, thus interferes with electronic signals.
My wireless internet receiver points out the back side of my house, through a silver maple tree. It works better now, when that tree is bare, than in summer when it’s all leafed out.
They makefake rocks to hide dishes.
I think objects further away can block the point the dish “sees” the signal from.
Maybe I should get that. I have 10’ and 6’ C Band dishes, a 3’ torodial, Dish Network and two 18" free to air. Mrs. Plant is afraid the black helicopters will investigate.
The problem with a 5 gallon bucket set-up is that it will be top heavy. I used a 25 gallon tub instead and gave the whole shebang a lower center of gravity. Four bags of concrete with a pressure treated deck post stuck in it, and it hasn’t moved in 3 years. If you’d like to drive down to Raleigh with a truck, you can have it. (I have TWC now, and can’t bear to take it to a landfill.)
Well, yeah, but I thought the OP would have to move it in order to hide it from the bad guys. Maybe a tripod would be in order.
Porn much? 