Thread: No Way That Could Work! -The FTA Mad Scientist Thread-

Here is what happens to a Satellite Guys Member that has nothing to do and on a 75 degree sunny nice day!

Don’t laugh, some day you will get this way as well If you’re not close to there already!

For some of us here strange things to use and try in this hobby is nothing new and if it can be done, one of us has for the most part tried it but this on has been itching me for some time now and today we gave it a go!

I know this is strange and quite possibly the weirdest thing you could try or have patience for but I seen this done sometime back and also seen a Lego Dish made by someone that was really small and wanted to try this for myself to see the results! The Lego dish was very small but I had to try something smaller!

The Lego dish was all made out of course, Lego's with a foil back and a DSS LNB pointed at one of the DSS birds using Sub Equipment! I was inspired and had to try it for myself using FTA Equipment!

So how small can a dish be?

Well, for FTA use I would say you need a 31” or larger and these results could not be done with this kind of experiment! So, we are going to use a DBS bird since they are the most powerful up there and see for yourself!

I know you Members like this sort of thing so here we go!

The Satellite:
EchoStar 7 at 119.0°W

The LNB:
Invacom QPH-031


Circular Side
The Dishes:
CDR Computer Writable Compact Disc


&
Skoal Snuff Can Lid



The Receiver:
Fortec Star Dynamic



The Coax:
Nothing Special, Just LEVITON Brand Standard RG-6



The Meter:
Sadoun Analog SF95L DSS DBS Satellite Signal Finder


as a secondary helper! Took it out after each lock!

The Pictures:
1. The CDR Size On A Tape Measure
2. The Invacom QPH-031 Placement On The CDR
3. Fortec Star Dynamic OSD Signal & Quality For NASA –CDR-
4. Fortec Star Dynamic OSD For NASA 2 –CDR-
5. Fortec Star Dynamic OSD For NASA 3 –CDR-
6. Fortec Star Dynamic OSD For NASA 4 –CDR-
7. The Skoal Snuff Can Size On A Tape Measure –SNUFF CAN-
8. The Invacom Placement On The Can Lid –SNUFF CAN-
9. Fortec Star Dynamic OSD Signal & Quality For NASA –SNUFF CAN-
10. Fortec Star Dynamic OSD Very Watchable Signal & Quality For NASA –CDR-


First of all it was not hard at all to find the signal with the CDR, when I hit the skew, boom it came right in! How good how about 61% Signal Quality and a Level of 83-87%!

How good was the picture?
Very watchable! But this I knew was not that amazing so we move to the snuff can lid!

Now on the Skoal lid,
An amazing Signal level of 80-81% but the Signal Quality was about 29-32% and the picture was freezing a bit, OK a lot but sometimes it would lock for about 10 seconds of watchable picture and sound! You know 30% is too low but the results were astonishing!

How good was that picture?
The coolest thing is the Snuff Can Lid got about 80% of the signal and you could see a picture! Watchable for a couple seconds without pixilation! Just the dreaded freeze!

This was a fun experiment to do; I will later post different things that I think can grab a signal want to try! Another reason this is a great hobby, the experimentation!

If it is weird or seems impossible or you can make it work post your FTA Mad Scientist ideas here in this thread! It can get interesting!

So You think you can go smaller!?!

Give it a try and post results and pictures here! We would love to see it!


This experiment could have not been possible without the fine products & equipment from our Proud Gold Sponsor Sadoun! (Plug Plug! )
They have kept me in the FTA business for 3 years and going!







K E V I N

Now only if you could make those reflectors parabolic you would be better off and the LNB size to match it.

Neat stuff.

When I was younger I was able to catch C Band signals bounching off a chicken wire fence.

As cool and unbelievable as all this is, I think it only begs the question "what are we being bombarded with from outer space?"
How powerful does a signal have to be to be effectively picked up with a small, flat, certainly not optimal antenna such as a CD-R?

Nice work though! Definitely smaller than anything I would have expected to work!

Originally Posted by Inno

As cool and unbelievable as all this is, I think it only begs the question "what are we being bombarded with from outer space?"
How powerful does a signal have to be to be effectively picked up with a small, flat, certainly not optimal antenna such as a CD-R?

Nice work though! Definitely smaller than anything I would have expected to work!

I think it's more of the other side of that equation..how sensitive is the receiving equipment?

I can remember back in the late 80's / early 90's when they first started talking about the DBS satellites, there were jokes going around saying that you would be able to use a trash can lid to get satellite TV. It turns out that it is in fact possible. I never would have guessed using a CD to get satellite TV though.

Originally Posted by Inno

How powerful does a signal have to be to be effectively picked up with a small, flat, certainly not optimal antenna such as a CD-R?

Nice work though! Definitely smaller than anything I would have expected to work!

Great question and thanks!

How powerful, well looks like …very! Makes you wonder doesn’t it? Now, I am no scientist and never pulled not one single slide rule out or scientific calculator to make any brain activation calculations here!

Just set everything up and moved them around till I got a signal on the satellite meter! At first you are riddled with doubt but when it locked with the CDR in the receiver, I knew about where to place my snuff can!

In both of these rigger dishes they are not even pointed at Echo 7 directly! The LNB is way out of whack at about where the 123.0°W Galaxy 18 Ku position and the disc is facing a bit in east about to the 97.0°W Galaxy 19 Ku stuff should be! You would not think it would work but remember, neither of these surfaces are parabolic in shape, and sounds impossible!

If I had to guess the these two dish substitutes were at about 124.0°W or facing a little more to 127.0°W if I was to use this the way I tied it!

Sounds totally impossible but can be done! Who knows why it worked, it was cool!

The LNB looks far away in these pictures but it is not as you can see by the reflection in the CDR. I was amazed that it was even possible too on a flat surface reflector! The CDR had to be to the left a bit and the Invacom had to be to the right, it was all not right according to standards but I got it to work!

Was really amazed on the Snuff Can lid! Had to work at that one a bit but we got it! From where the can lid was on the brick it was almost the same principle as the CDR but I had to raise the Invacom up to get Echo 7 to bounce off the lid back into the LNB!

For the record, the Invacom was off to the side (Facing Left looking into the can) about 2 inches from the snuff can, and took some moving around in all directions and up and downs!

I really did not think to measure the CDR; it was back a little father! That was kind of easy hit for I have done that one before last year!


This was fun beyond the word, if you still think you can’t do it, there is nothing stopping you from trying this experiment yourself! You can do it!

Scott Greczkowski Neat stuff.

When I was younger I was able to catch C Band signals bounching off a chicken wire fence.

Very Cool Scott!


K E V I N

that is seriously some of the funny yet coolest stuff I've seen in a while..

Awesome thread!