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Who Needs a Satellite Dish When You Have a Wok?

Posted by samzenpus on from the sweet-and-sour-channel dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Why pay $20,000 for a commercial link to run your television station when a $10 kitchen wok from the Warehouse is just as effective? This is exactly how North Otago's newest television station 45 South is transmitting its signal from its studio to the top of Cape Wanbrow, in a bid to keep costs down."

9 of 250 comments (clear)

  1. I sure hope they bought rust protection... by ForestGrump · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Else the wok rusts out and they're off the air!

    --
    Is it true that more people vote for the winner of American Idol, than vote for the president? -Ali G.
    1. Re:I sure hope they bought rust protection... by PPH · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Sky TV dishes are perforated to save weight and minimise wind effects.
      I always thought that was due to rednecks with too much spare time and a rifle.
      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  2. So basically they made a loss? by Moraelin · · Score: 2, Insightful

    While I applaud his nerdyness, check the following: The Wok replaced the dish, which "the same size as a wok, were $80". So, the price of the dish of $80 has been replaced with a cheaper part for $10.

    Then: "We have spent a lot of time getting it right -- the first time we installed one we had it up a pole with the handle still on the end of the wok [...]".


    So, basically, depending on how much "a lot of time" is, they may have even made a loss? Time literally _is_ money when an employee or two are doing it. You pay salaries for that time. So having someone figure out the focal point, the mounting, build some contraption to hold the LNB in the right place, etc, can end up costing more than $70 quite easily.
    --
    A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
    1. Re:So basically they made a loss? by slntnsnty · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Learning how to do something is not a waste of time. I will often consider doing contract work for less if it is a new experience.

      In this case, the time they spent learning how to replace an $80 part, allowed them to apply the same knowledge and save ~$20,000. If they had just bought the $80 antenna, they would not have known how to create the $20,000 link.

  3. Silly article: by Ancient_Hacker · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Rather silly article:
    • A dish, for best effect, had better be parabolic. Most Woks are not.
    • The $20K cost includes not only the $50 dish, but the feed horn, the Gallium-Arsenide MOSFET low-noise amplifier, downconverter, mount, and warranty.
    • You have to compare the downside-- if the Wok setup goes down for any reason, what is the cost per hour to the station? Initial purchase price isnt a very good barometer here.

    And this is not exactly new, mack in the 1970's we used to use $7 snow sleds to pirate HBO.

    1. Re:Silly article: by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You have to compare the downside-- if the Wok setup goes down for any reason, what is the cost per hour to the station? Initial purchase price isnt a very good barometer here.

      Have you factored in the free advertising this just brought to them? They just paid for a lot more than one uplink with the millions of people viewing an article about them.

  4. No, it's $80 by a16 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    The summary doesn't say it replaced a $20,000 dish, it says it replaced a $20,000 link. I imagine the 20k number is from asking a networking company to come install a link between Site A and Site B, ie. they would have setup everything, including the systems involved etc, not just the dish.

    From TFA:

    He discovered satellite dishes were between $100 to $400 retail and that smaller dishes, the same size as a wok, were $80. Mr Jones thought he could do better. Along with friend Murray Bobbette they worked out mathematical equations to prove the curved metal face of a wok would have the same effect as a small satellite dish.
    So basically they've grown their own wireless solution, using woks. However, instead of spending ages working out mathematical equations and using trial and error, they could have bought the $80 dish and be done with it. Hence the grandparent post's point stands. Saving $20k by spending a few days developing a wireless solution is cool, but for a real world application, saving $60 on that wireless system to use a wok instead of a dish that will likely have years of development behind it is fairly silly. Like someone else has said, what about when the wok starts to rust?

    Maybe if you're going to point the finger at people for not reading TFA, you should read TFA.
  5. Not a satellite?! by bobbagoose · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Can this actually be considered a satellite transmitter as it is only beaming signal to a receiver on top a hill?

  6. Re:MacGyver would be proud. by Dan+Slotman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That's coincidence, not irony. I expected better from a Brit!