Anyone have any ideas about what one might do with a television
receive-only (TVRO) antenna? The thing is 10' diameter and it's mine
for the price of dismantling it and hauling it out of the present
owner's back yard.

I'm thinking radio astronomy. Might be nice to make my own radio map
of the galaxy. I'm guessing that this would work okay somewhere
between 1 and 10 GHz... which means making a feed horn... which is
easy enough to do.

What else could I do with this antenna? Other than covering it in
polyethylene sheet to make a really big bird bath...
--
Dave Typinski
AJ4CO

Dave Typinski wrote:
Anyone have any ideas about what one might do with a television
receive-only (TVRO) antenna? The thing is 10' diameter and it's mine
for the price of dismantling it and hauling it out of the present
owner's back yard.

I'm thinking radio astronomy. Might be nice to make my own radio map
of the galaxy. I'm guessing that this would work okay somewhere
between 1 and 10 GHz... which means making a feed horn... which is
easy enough to do.

What else could I do with this antenna? Other than covering it in
polyethylene sheet to make a really big bird bath...
==================================
Possible usage:
1) EME amateur comms
2) WiFi low power experiments (provided there is line of sight freedom)
I remember having seen a web site with reports (incl photographs) that
some youngsters bridged a 125 km path using off the shelf equipment and
dishes having a size like yours.

Hopefully you don't have just the dish but also a mounting pedestal and
perhaps even a motorised system .


Frank GM0CSZ / KN6WH

"Dave Typinski" wrote in message
...
Anyone have any ideas about what one might do with a television
receive-only (TVRO) antenna? The thing is 10' diameter and it's mine
for the price of dismantling it and hauling it out of the present
owner's back yard.

I'm thinking radio astronomy. Might be nice to make my own radio map
of the galaxy. I'm guessing that this would work okay somewhere
between 1 and 10 GHz... which means making a feed horn... which is
easy enough to do.

What else could I do with this antenna? Other than covering it in
polyethylene sheet to make a really big bird bath...
--
Dave Typinski
AJ4CO

Additional Phase 3 satellites (AMSAT-DL P3E and AMSAT-NA Eagle in the
2009/2010 timeframe) are epected to be lauched in next 24 months -- plenty
of leaisurely time to rework and install a BUD for "S' or "C" band -- on a
budget.
http://www.ultimatecharger.com/dish.html

Robert, W0LMD shows you how to build a proper Dish Feed
http://www.ultimatecharger.com/Dish_Feed.html

"Dave Typinski" wrote in message
...
Anyone have any ideas about what one might do with a television
receive-only (TVRO) antenna? The thing is 10' diameter and it's mine
for the price of dismantling it and hauling it out of the present
owner's back yard.

I'm thinking radio astronomy. Might be nice to make my own radio map
of the galaxy. I'm guessing that this would work okay somewhere
between 1 and 10 GHz... which means making a feed horn... which is
easy enough to do.

What else could I do with this antenna? Other than covering it in
polyethylene sheet to make a really big bird bath...
--
Dave Typinski
AJ4CO

Hi Dave

NOAAPORT uses a satellite over the Equator, South of Texas to transmit
satellite images in near Real Time. You can easily build a station for
displaying good images of the Florida as seen from space.

Jerry

On Sun, 21 Oct 2007 01:01:19 -0400, "Jimmie D"
wrote:

"Dave Typinski" wrote in message
.. .
Anyone have any ideas about what one might do with a television
receive-only (TVRO) antenna? The thing is 10' diameter and it's mine
for the price of dismantling it and hauling it out of the present
owner's back yard.

I'm thinking radio astronomy. Might be nice to make my own radio map
of the galaxy. I'm guessing that this would work okay somewhere
between 1 and 10 GHz... which means making a feed horn... which is
easy enough to do.

What else could I do with this antenna? Other than covering it in
polyethylene sheet to make a really big bird bath...
--
Dave Typinski
AJ4CO

I know of a couple of guys that took two of them, one for rx and one for tx,
tx was a microwave oven mgnetron. He and his frined talked to each other via
troposcatter. I do know if a maggie operates within a ham band or not but it
didnt matter too much for these guys because they didnt have a ticket
anyway.

Jimmie

I thought about magnetrons... but not for communication. My idea is
to set it up as a radar station to measure the distance to the Moon. A
microwave oven magnetron operates at 2450 MHz, which is right at the
upper edge of the 13cm ham band. Unfortunately, magnetrons produce a
really dirty, wide output. Worse, being right at the edge of the
band, half the RF energy would be out of band.

I don't know if one can re-tune a magnetron by the addition of
external components; I'd like to get the thing down to 2.42 GHz to put
the emission in the center of the 13cm band. There are such things as
tunable magnetrons; but, they aren't found in microwave ovens, which
means they won't likely be had for free.

That said, I'd sure like to look at the output from an oven magnetron
with a spectrum analyzer. Maybe the output isn't as dirty and wide as
I think it is.
--
Dave Typinski
AJ4CO

On Sun, 21 Oct 2007 11:39:12 +0100, Highland Ham
wrote:

Dave Typinski wrote:
Anyone have any ideas about what one might do with a television
receive-only (TVRO) antenna? The thing is 10' diameter and it's mine
for the price of dismantling it and hauling it out of the present
owner's back yard.

I'm thinking radio astronomy. Might be nice to make my own radio map
of the galaxy. I'm guessing that this would work okay somewhere
between 1 and 10 GHz... which means making a feed horn... which is
easy enough to do.

What else could I do with this antenna? Other than covering it in
polyethylene sheet to make a really big bird bath...
==================================
Possible usage:
1) EME amateur comms
2) WiFi low power experiments (provided there is line of sight freedom)
I remember having seen a web site with reports (incl photographs) that
some youngsters bridged a 125 km path using off the shelf equipment and
dishes having a size like yours.

Hopefully you don't have just the dish but also a mounting pedestal and
perhaps even a motorised system .

Frank GM0CSZ / KN6WH

Yep, got the pedestal and the azimuth drive motor.

125 km at 2.4 GHz? How's that work? What were they bouncing the
signal off of? That's definitely further than line of sight.
--
Dave Typinski
AJ4CO

On Sun, 21 Oct 2007 06:00:35 -0500, "gb"
wrote:

"Dave Typinski" wrote in message
.. .
Anyone have any ideas about what one might do with a television
receive-only (TVRO) antenna? The thing is 10' diameter and it's mine
for the price of dismantling it and hauling it out of the present
owner's back yard.

I'm thinking radio astronomy. Might be nice to make my own radio map
of the galaxy. I'm guessing that this would work okay somewhere
between 1 and 10 GHz... which means making a feed horn... which is
easy enough to do.

What else could I do with this antenna? Other than covering it in
polyethylene sheet to make a really big bird bath...
--
Dave Typinski
AJ4CO

Additional Phase 3 satellites (AMSAT-DL P3E and AMSAT-NA Eagle in the
2009/2010 timeframe) are epected to be lauched in next 24 months -- plenty
of leaisurely time to rework and install a BUD for "S' or "C" band -- on a
budget.
http://www.ultimatecharger.com/dish.html

Robert, W0LMD shows you how to build a proper Dish Feed
http://www.ultimatecharger.com/Dish_Feed.html

Heh - I had bumped into that web site a coupla months ago, which is
what got me thinking about this project. Then I lost the link - so
thanks for posting it!
--
Dave Typinski
AJ4CO

On Sun, 21 Oct 2007 16:48:28 GMT, "Jerry Martes"
wrote:


"Dave Typinski" wrote in message
.. .
Anyone have any ideas about what one might do with a television
receive-only (TVRO) antenna? The thing is 10' diameter and it's mine
for the price of dismantling it and hauling it out of the present
owner's back yard.

I'm thinking radio astronomy. Might be nice to make my own radio map
of the galaxy. I'm guessing that this would work okay somewhere
between 1 and 10 GHz... which means making a feed horn... which is
easy enough to do.

What else could I do with this antenna? Other than covering it in
polyethylene sheet to make a really big bird bath...
--
Dave Typinski
AJ4CO

Hi Dave

NOAAPORT uses a satellite over the Equator, South of Texas to transmit
satellite images in near Real Time. You can easily build a station for
displaying good images of the Florida as seen from space.

Jerry

Now /that/ would be a cool project! Thanks, Jerry.
--
Dave Typinski
AJ4CO

"Dave Typinski" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 21 Oct 2007 16:48:28 GMT, "Jerry Martes"
wrote:


"Dave Typinski" wrote in message
. ..
Anyone have any ideas about what one might do with a television
receive-only (TVRO) antenna? The thing is 10' diameter and it's mine
for the price of dismantling it and hauling it out of the present
owner's back yard.

I'm thinking radio astronomy. Might be nice to make my own radio map
of the galaxy. I'm guessing that this would work okay somewhere
between 1 and 10 GHz... which means making a feed horn... which is
easy enough to do.

What else could I do with this antenna? Other than covering it in
polyethylene sheet to make a really big bird bath...
--
Dave Typinski
AJ4CO

Hi Dave

NOAAPORT uses a satellite over the Equator, South of Texas to transmit
satellite images in near Real Time. You can easily build a station for
displaying good images of the Florida as seen from space.

Jerry

Now /that/ would be a cool project! Thanks, Jerry.
--
Dave Typinski
AJ4CO

Hi Dave

If you do build a system for receiving the NOAAPORT images, please keep me
informed about your progress.
I too got my dish free. The PCI card TV receiver was low cost. The rest
is computer and software. eBay is a good source of very good antenna parts
at low cost.
I am presently stuck due to my poor Linux skills, and Linux is used by the
guys who write the software (free).

Jerry

"Dave Typinski" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 21 Oct 2007 11:39:12 +0100, Highland Ham
wrote:

Dave Typinski wrote:
Anyone have any ideas about what one might do with a television
receive-only (TVRO) antenna? The thing is 10' diameter and it's mine
for the price of dismantling it and hauling it out of the present
owner's back yard.

I'm thinking radio astronomy. Might be nice to make my own radio map
of the galaxy. I'm guessing that this would work okay somewhere
between 1 and 10 GHz... which means making a feed horn... which is
easy enough to do.

What else could I do with this antenna? Other than covering it in
polyethylene sheet to make a really big bird bath...
==================================
Possible usage:
1) EME amateur comms
2) WiFi low power experiments (provided there is line of sight freedom)
I remember having seen a web site with reports (incl photographs) that
some youngsters bridged a 125 km path using off the shelf equipment and
dishes having a size like yours.

Hopefully you don't have just the dish but also a mounting pedestal and
perhaps even a motorised system .

Frank GM0CSZ / KN6WH

Yep, got the pedestal and the azimuth drive motor.

125 km at 2.4 GHz? How's that work? What were they bouncing the
signal off of? That's definitely further than line of sight.
--
Dave Typinski
AJ4CO

Hi Dave

Evidently there are places in or near Venezuela that have line of sight
adequate to get WiFi over 380 km.

Jerry