 dish0 (4") small large huge |  small large huge |  cardboard dish0 foiled small large huge |  yes, it is very small small large huge |
 added simulated driven element small large huge |  dish1 (8") small large huge |  small large huge |  dish3 (22") small large huge |
 small large huge |  dish3 cardboard small large huge |  small large huge |  started adding reflective surface small large huge |
I've started work (read: thinking about how to) on build a circular parabolic dish. Possiblities include mangling a DirectTV dish (too small), or building one out of an umbrella (like the Brolly dish).
I've started by building surface plots out of paper. I have made the patterns for these available in pdf and postscript. Note that the postscript versions can be edited with a text editor to change the parameters such as dish width, focal length, cardboard thickness, base depth, etc.
These were built with the assistance of Jami Ward (behind the camera). First, I built small prototypes, then larger prototypes, then a big cardboard one that we'll probably actually try. Mistakes were discovered and learned from at each stage. Pictured above (in order, two each) are dish0 (one page) (pdf ps), dish0 with foil added, dish1 (two pages) (pdf ps), dish3 (14 pages) (pdf ps), and the cardboard version of dish3.
In case you are wondering dish0 is very small to simplify construction so we could tell if the full size version was worth building. Similarly, dish3 is wavy because paper is flimsy. The coardboard version is much more stable.
This week, we began attaching foil to the large cardboard dish, but had to stop when we ran out of hot glue. 8-> We still need to build a driven element and figure out how to mount it on the dish.
More pictures of the coardboard dish3 are also available.
return to ssd's antenna pictures
return to ssd's ham links page
