Cheap Car Top Satellite Stand

This is a simple way to put a Satellite dish on top of a car or on a table with a reasonable way to level it. If you have plenty of room around your tailgater and can just set your dish on the ground, then you may want to buy one of the simple tripods. We used a tripod for a while, but found that this homemade stand was much easier to level. We now just set this on top of a card table that also is used to cover our generator from any rain.

Get a 1 1/4 X 12 inch iron pipe with threads at least on one end (this may vary dependent upon the size of your satellite dish).

Get a matching threaded flange that you can screw into place. You may want to put this more towards the side with two legs with a heavier satellite.

Get three adjustable legs and T-nuts that match..

Get a 2x2 foot piece of 3/4 or 1 inch plywood. They sell these precut at Lowe's. Drill three holes just big enough for the T-Nuts in it in a triangular fashion. Much easier to level something with only three legs. Screw the flange in the middle or for balance maybe closer to the side with two legs.

Hammer the T-nuts in from the bottom and screw in the legs.

Final product

Set your satellite on and you're ready to go.

Put the stand on top of your car so no one blocks it or bumps into it.

Once the satellite dish is on top of the car, you'll need to adjust the legs to level the satellite I would suggest using a post level to assist you. You'll be able to level it in two planes. Bring a step stool to make these adjustments. If you climb on the side of the car, it will throw off your ability to level it since your weight is pulling down one side of the car.
Once the satellite is leveled, you just need to dial in your satellite. A compass can be useful if you are not sure which direction to point your satellite in. Just set your receiver settings to "point dish" and turn up the TV loud so you can hear it when you lock into position (at least with Dish TV). Once you've done this a few times, it should take just a few minutes. Usually, we can be up and running in ten minutes. Make sure you do this at your home prior to trying it at a tailgater. Your tilt/skew should never change if your pole is level. Therefore, you only need to dial in the rotation once you're at the tailgater. Of course, you also need a clear view of the southern sky.

You will need a reasonable power source for your TV and receiver. Do not hook up to your car battery. You won't be leaving the parking lot if you watch a whole game. We have used a reliable true deep cycle battery such as the Lifeline GPL 27T with a Jensen JP-30 Dual-Outlet 300-Watt DC to AC Inverter. This powered our Dish TV receiver and 21 inch TV for about 8 hours. The longer you want to watch, the bigger the battery you'll need. In addition, to keep your battery healthy, you'll need a good charger like a Battery Minder. We used this reliably for a couple of tailgating seasons, until the need for additional power to run a stereo receiver, a bigger TV, and a couple of crockpots(on low settings) pushed us into getting a nice quiet Honda 2000i generator. The Honda 2000i is a nice compact unit and is only 46lbs. If you jump up to the 3000i, it's almost double the cost and triple the weight. I wouldn't bother with the Honda 1000i.