diy dish

kamaleon

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hi folks

looking at all the piccies from the members setups section made me feel like doing a diy dish. i thought it'd be pretty cool, i'll just make a small one like 40cm i can hook up on my van ;)

so i thought, if anyone feels like helping, please do impressionate me with your knowledge! i need to know a lotta stuff:

type of materials - like for instances, is just "regular" plastic any good?
shape: as i probably won't find something that resembles an offset dish, can i just get something circular, and if so, for let's say 40cm diameter, how deep does it have to be? is there any mathematical qwirky formula to know that? i thought i'd stick up my lnb right in the middle, held by three metal bits, like and old style dish way before offset ones.

in that case, how to know the distance between the lnb and the center of the dish?

come on then! looking forward for your replies
 

Topper

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Some people have just too much spare time on their hands....
40 cm prime focus would not get reception on very much at all my friend, why would you want to bother with this when you can pick a dish up for next to nothing or even gratis if you keep your eyes open.
 

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I appreciate you trying but...

Lidl are selling 80cm dishes for £9.99.
 

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toppervte33h said:
Some people have just too much spare time on their hands....

yes, in fact, but by the way, are you jealous? i reckon i can do without that sorta comments.

I already have a 60cm, 80cm, 1m, 1,2m! but they don't actually quite fit on the roof of my van...

i realise i might not get anything with a 40cm, but i feel like having the thrill of doing it, and i felt inspired by seeing the portyII one that just sticks anywhere...
 

edd173

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I remember seeing someone get BSB with a buscuit tin lid - Probably quite shrewd considering its short life!!

It would be a simple case of plug and play and see what you get. There are formulae to calculate parabola depth in relation to LNB position but i`m buggered if i`d have a clue. Im guessing the more dish shaped the object, the more signal you would collect. Why not sit/stand behind it holding an LNB wired to a receiver and meter but not fixed to the dish to work out where the horn would need to end? These madcap experiments can be fun, i remember doing the old modify the squarial LNB to get Telecom back in the day
 

kamaleon

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Analoguesat

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Any dish would have to be made with millimetric accuracy at Ku band frequencies, or it would be horribly inefficient. Good luck if you try, but the time and effort involved is way beyond any conceivable decent results you will get.

yes, in fact, but by the way, are you jealous? i reckon i can do without that sorta comments.

A gentle hint - dont take a pop at member with blue or red handles. They are the mod and admin teams respectively, and we run this wonderful forum ;)
 

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Analoguesat said:
Any dish would have to be made with millimetric accuracy at Ku band frequencies, or it would be horribly inefficient. Good luck if you try, but the time and effort involved is way beyond any conceivable decent results you will get.

For day to day use yes, but i have pulled in useful signals off dishes i have warped by dropping, kicking etc. Im guessing that if you wanted to get regular use from this dish you would want to go up to 60-70 cm to compensate for....well....for it not being a satellite dish!
 

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True - Ive got a couple of dishes that have seen better days, including one I straightened out that kids had jumped on..... Its now in service on one of the strong satellite clusters here.

Bent dishes are one thing, building a dish from scratch is another. However, it would be an interesting project, and I wish the OP well in his experiment.
 

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well, the curve of the dish is a parabola which uses a mathematical formula for the shape. It is simple if you would use a CNC to cut the shape. But I may have a suggestion: Why don't you cut down a larger size dish exactly how you want it? That might give you the small size you want. I suppose if you cut an offset dish from the top side you won't have to relocate the LNB...
 

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... or take an existing dish and glass-fibre up a template from which to form a new one.

I guess this is not really about making a useful dish, as it's madness :) but if you want to give it a go, we'd love to know how it pans out, especially if it works well!

:D
 

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Analoguesat said:
A gentle hint - dont take a pop at member with blue or red handles. They are the mod and admin teams respectively, and we run this wonderful forum ;)

yes, thanks for the advice. i realise it's a gentle one. so i should just shut my mouth and be paternalised just because someone else's on top of the hierarchy? no thanks. admins n' mods yes, but not moody ones.

anyway, thanks a lot folks for all your advice. i might have a go at cutting one dish off for a smaller surface! never thought of that before!
by the way, i found a nice formula to calculate the focal point of a parabola, take a look at the wifi mod sites, it's full of useful info. i fond the formula in: http://www.usbwifi.orcon.net.nz/ at reackon it's valid at least for prime focus dishes...

on the other hand, what materials respond fine to reflecting the Ghz frequencies? is plastic ok?
 

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Any smooth surface will be OK if you can get a tin of RF reflective spray paint.
RS used to sell it many moons ago, don't know if they still do though.


L.:)
 

rolfw

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bid0n said:
yes, thanks for the advice. i realise it's a gentle one. so i should just shut my mouth and be paternalised just because someone else's on top of the hierarchy? no thanks. admins n' mods yes, but not moody ones.

You need to lighten up a bit bid0n, the remark was made in jest and not patronising, if you want to snap at everything which you feel might be intended as a snipe, you may be in better company on the news groups.

Gentle ribbing is and always has been part of this fun forum, so don't take anything too seriously and you will enjoy yourself here.:)
 

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hi rolfw, thanks for your tip. i do think your intentions are all good. But why do you feel concerned? i wasn't moaning at you... it wasn't you that made me snap in the first place, why do have to stand up for someone? thanx anyway...

ok enough with the ot and on with it ;)
 

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bid0n said:
ok enough with the ot and on with it ;)

Whereabouts are you Bidon ?
I still have a couple of 42cm dishes left in the shed near Heathrow.

Very compact (cheap to post as well ), and the gain apparently of something larger
 

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bid0n said:
hi rolfw, thanks for your tip. i do think your intentions are all good. But why do you feel concerned? i wasn't moaning at you... it wasn't you that made me snap in the first place, why do have to stand up for someone? thanx anyway...

ok enough with the ot and on with it ;)

You are missing the point bid0n, if you feel that you want to post in the environment where you can "snap" at light hearted asides, then your home is probably better placed in the newsgroups and not here.

To answer your question, "but why do you feel concerned?", I feel concerned, because I have along with the other administration members striven to keep this forum a pleasant place where people can both gain and deposit useful information, whilst having some fun. I want to keep it this way.
 

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Hi Channel Hopper

i'm in france actually, in lyon... i'm not really a brit (nor a frog by the way). Thats quite kind of you! how much do you reckon that'd cost you?

Hi again rolfw, i can appreciate you doing your admin job ;) i can definetly give respect to all you lot making this forum a nice place to be :) but i don't think i can be assed arguing about this anymore, even though i still think "light hearted asides" just a matter of opinion (i tend to think the initial sort of comment i moaned at is definetly not giving that useful information your talkin about). ;) enough speak, at least from my side, so have a nice day.
 
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