First of all, the instructions supplied by the manufacturer of the dish should be
followed. Even the Code says to do this.
With regards
to grounding, unless the instructions tell you differently, a piece of #8 AWG solid wire, bare or covered, will suffice as
a ground.
The Code requires that all metal non current
carrying parts of your home must be bonded to the electrical systems grounding electrode system. By today's Code, there should
be an intersytem bonding bridge installed near the electric service entrance of your home. Items grounded to this bridge usually
include the grounding electrode (rod) conductor, and the grounds from your telephone and cable TV equipment. If your satellite
dish is physically installed on your house, then it can be grounded to this bonding bridge. If the dish is not physically
attached to the house, then the grounding choice is yours, but you should at least have a cable connector on the outside of
the house with a grounding terminal that can be connected back to the intersystem bridge (with #8 solid).
You can add a second ground rod if you prefer (copperweld or galvanized are both
acceptable). This would be considered a supplemental ground rod. It MUST be connected back to the bonding bridge by the primary
ground rod otherwise a ground loop may result. Use a listed ground rod clamp (usually referred to as an acorn clamp due to
its shape) to connect your conductor to the rod.
With
regards to the first rod, you might want to pound that one all the way into the ground. The Code specifies that it should
be driven to a point below grade (besides, sticking up only makes it an ugly trip hazard!).
