I'm not sure if it's been done before, but what about using a screened patch antenna? Fabricate a reflector / cone and mount the patch half wave off the patch reflector pointing toward the dish. This should give a decent gain without lots of noise, though as you say, the source signal will be very low (without any head amplification). You may be able to get away without phasing the dishes by using delta phase measurements to create an image. The patch should give about a 60 degree beam width (to the dish). An interesting experiment......... |