We have been working with Ronard Industries to produce a tripod mount strong enough for the Slim Line and AT9 Dishes from DIRECTV. Thursday I went to our warehouse to check out the prototypes that arrived from Ronard. I was surprised to see they sent nine different versions of this tripod, from a two foot, all the way up to a massive ten footer.
During development they tested the Slim Line dish on various tripods at wind speeds up 100 MPH. What they found is that it is going to take an extremely rugged and well reinforced tripod. What I saw at the warehouse was exactly that. The legs are 1 and ½ inch outer diameter and are made of 16 gauge steel. The tripod legs are round going into the feet, not flat, adding 150% more strength. The feet are 10 inches long and double braced, with a staggered bolt pattern so the wood does not split under high winds. Each mount comes complete with tar pads and bolts.
Since the new dishes like the Slim Line and Dish 1000 take a 2 inch mast, there are not a lot of mounting options out there that will support such a huge wind load. I have heard from many customers that their installers had to abandon the installation because there was no safe way to mount the new larger dish. Ronard has definitely solved that problem, and with nine different versions, this gives you a mount for every situation. Some mounts have the ability to swing one of the legs out for a pitched roof. We will be carrying the same quality tripods for 1.66 inch masts as well.
After inspecting the build quality of these tripods I knew there was no exaggeration when Ronard said this is the “world’s strongest tripod.” We look forward to having the full line of tripods online this week.
Mike
