We have a vintage satellite meal simply lying around and had been wondering how exactly to connect it as much as my baofeng plus that is uv-5r.

3 Responses 3

Possibly. a big task and most likely not practical getting started. Will make a discussion piece or odd recycling task. exactly How will you point it? Smaller antennas may work as well.

A modern “Dish television” or “DIREC TV” (R) this is certainly of a base across is virtually useless for amateur radio transmitting and getting.

Below is just a stock photo (Wikimedia) of a classic 1980s design house satellite television meal, about 8 to 15 legs across. That is exactly what you intend to play with, when you have the time, power, and persistence.

They certainly were popular during the early 1980s to receive pay TV networks like HBO direct through the satellite, unencrypted, without spending. As soon as these networks had been encrypted and customers had been expected to pay for, the dishes that are huge vanishing from houses and to the landfills.

Now the Baofeng uv-5r is a 144 Mhz / 440 Mhz handheld radio with 5W production. This type of handheld radio would work for usage with neighborhood repeaters. A little further away with more gain you can get into repeaters. You are in a position to hear the SO-50 satellite with a gain antenna, but this will depend on the sound figure of this Baofeng and I also’m a little skeptical. A Yaesu VX-8R can do it sometimes.

But, that you do not fundamentally require a 10 base meal with this. You could hear the satellite with something handheld, such as this portable yagi made by Arrow Antennas from aluminum arrow shafts

An even more choice that is practical including range is a 2m/440 straight or even a 2m/440 yagi. To connect these to your radio you would want an adapter cable to get from the PL259 or N connector in the coax through the external antenna down to your radio connector. Avoid using a right through adapter as torque through the big coax and connector can tear the SMA antenna jack through the Computer board in the Baofeng.

Therefore back once again to the main topics meals.

Below are a few examples of dish recycling by Hams:

So let me make it clear why the meal is certainly not this type of choice that is great 144 Mhz or 440 Mhz, but the manner in which you could probably transform it into one thing interesting.

A meal is a choice that is good high gain at microwave oven frequencies (several Ghz = several 1000 Mhz, wave length is a couple of ins or centimeters). It really is well worth noting that online Wifi is around 2400 Mhz and there’s an overlapping ham radio musical organization. so a classic big TV meal will make a wifi antenna that is great. It really works by concentrating the sign onto a feed point. The radio waves act more like light and the curved dish surface reflects a chunk of the radio waves the diameter of the dish from the target to arrive in phase and combine at the much smaller feed point suspended above the dish at these frequencies. The main is the identical in a reflector telescope, using the meal and also the base mirror the reflectors. These operate in component as the dish/reflector area is large set alongside the wavelength for the sign.

But at VHF frequencies a wavelength associated with radio sign is 2m or about 6 foot. a meal is bit more effective than an easy solitary element reflector in a yagi or quad.

At UHF frequencies the meal nevertheless has some gain. Yet not a great deal.

A number of these meals had been steel, therefore you may find a magnet mount 2m/440 antenna (like for a vehicle), connect it to your dish and call yourself “done”. I can not imagine good cause for achieving this.

A big meal could also be employed on 440 Mhz either by modifying the feed or making it a helix antenna. It might be usable on 144 Mhz by making it a helix antenna.

Changing the feed is described in a few of this ARRL that is old Handbook articles. We appear to remember one recommended feed for the dish is a dipole or set of crossed dipoles. The dipole or dipoles operate parallel to your surface that is dish some height above from the feedpoint axis. If you’d like to make an effort to put it to use for 440 Mhz you would make a 1/2 revolution dipole cable antenna and attach it into the center help over the meal, close to the old feedpoint. It may be better to get rid of the feedpoint that is old supply completely and change it with one thing non conductive that may enable going the dipole down and up. You will have to adjust the height of this feed over the meal for signal strength that is best before determining where you should make a permanent accessory.

You’ll must also check out the SWR for transmitting if you want to use it.

A little more challenging would be to produce a 2m helix on the basis of the satellite meal, because of the meal since the reflector that is rear. This requires supporting a helix of cable over the dish, and admittedly it really is a task. Each loop associated with the helix is mostly about a wavelength worth of cable additionally the travel is just a little lower than a 1/4 wavelength per circular trip round the helix. See Helical Antenna Theory or Wikipedia Helical Antenna.

Transmitting towards the satellite is performed on 2m with a more antenna that is traditional.

But with a dish that is large and ways to aim it, it becomes feasible to produce a 2m helix antenna, or maybe make a double musical organization helix by simply making the spirals concentric swinglifestyle.

While a discussion piece, helix antennas would not have more gain than yagis or quads that one may build or purchase within the ham radio market.