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Fun To Be Had With a 10-Foot Satellite Dish?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the build-a-death-star dept.

An anonymous reader writes "I'm moving to a rural community in the central United States. On the property is a satellite dish in excess of 3 meters in diameter that seems to still be in excellent condition. I already enjoy shortwave radio and was wondering what interesting TV feeds I might be able to catch with the dish. What kind of equipment would I need and how much should I expect to spend? If it's not useful for that purpose, what other fun projects might I use it for?"

4 of 386 comments (clear)

  1. How I use my parabolic dish... by elewton · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Get a biquad,2.4 GHz amplifier, and an AWUS 036h. Install Backtrack, set to monitor mode and start scanning your town!

  2. Radio Astronomy by Murdoch5 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We did this at my school. We took a bunch of 3 meter dishes like on your property and turned them in to a astronomy farm. Now to be fair the software end of the project was intense to say the least but the pay off was huge. It was a sweet project and we accomplished it in under a year, It might be something for you to take a look at. Here are some links.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_astronomy
    http://www.nrao.edu/index.php/learn/radioastronomy
    http://www.radio-astronomy.net/

  3. Alien signals from space by AbbeyRoad · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Whatever you do, don't make any broadcasts to alien vessels.
    Also, any signals you receive from the alien's should not be made public,
    or else YOU and your satelite dish will dissapear curtesy of secret UFO coverup agencies etc.

    Eat this message.

    -paul

  4. Use it for what it is... great dish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There are many signals you can receive from space and 10ft is perfect for that.
    With some equipment (preamplifier, receiver that can do 2.3GHz) you can receive signals from interplanetary sondes and classified satellites.
    It's completely new world and if you enjoyed shortwave radio, you will love this.
    For list of signals you can receive check http://www.uhf-satcom.com/ - 10ft will do L-band, S-band, C-band and X-band with correct feed.