$10 Wok as a Dish!

[putney]

$10 wok keeps TV station on air - National - NZ Herald News

:up

Why pay $20,000 for a commercial link to run your television station when a $10 kitchen wok from the Warehouse is just as effective?

This is exactly how North Otago's newest television station 45 South is transmitting its signal from its studio to the top of Cape Wanbrow, in a bid to keep costs down.

45 South volunteer Ken Jones designed the wok transmitter in his spare time last year when he wanted to provide wireless broadband to his Ardgowan home.

"A group of us wanted to connect our computers to each other and then we worked out a way to get of getting the signal between two points," he said.

He discovered satellite dishes were between $100 to $400 retail and that smaller dishes, the same size as a wok, were $80.

Mr Jones thought he could do better.

Along with friend Murray Bobbette they worked out mathematical equations to prove the curved metal face of a wok would have the same effect as a small satellite dish.


"We have spent a lot of time getting it right -- the first time we installed one we had it up a pole with the handle still on the end of the wok," he said.

"We had it connected to the woolshed and initially you couldn't get a signal the width of the paddock and now it can reach up to 20km."

When the television station 45 South (UHF channel 41) started up in September last year, Mr Jones thought the same technique could be applied.

"The $20,000 for a commercial link was just money we didn't have, so we bought several woks from The Warehouse instead which was convenient and cheap," he said.

Pre-recorded clips at the studio are fed through a computer and beamed to Cape Wanbrow where they are relayed off to television sets around North Otago.

The classic case of Kiwi ingenuity has made its way onto the internet and the technique has been posted by an American website, Mr Jones said.

"People wanted to know all the details about how to make their own, so it is now all publicly documented," he said.

One of the issues they had to deal with was making the pole that the wok sits on high enough to clear the Kingsgate Brydone Hotel.

They needed a clear path from the station to the hill, so the only way was up, building the pole more than eight metres high.

Mr Jones said one wok was providing Oamaru with the signal at present and there was no need to provide another wok for some time.

 

[Jim S.]

Must not be anybody making dishes in that part of the world if a small one costs $80.

 

[Mr Tony]

funny story

 

[Digital Logic]

Must not be anybody making dishes in that part of the world if a small one costs $80.

$80 New Zealand Dollars... still about $58 US

 

[1ADAM12]

Wok Antennas, nothing new.

usbwifi.orconhosting.net.nz/

 

[putney]

New to me!

Nice link, thanks.

Wok Antennas, nothing new.

usbwifi.orconhosting.net.nz/

 

[Mr Tony]

new to me too

 

[Stargazer]

I have saw these years ago posted online and saw it on tv when it was TechTv when they showed how to strengthen wireless internet signals and how to make cheap antenna's. They showed that with the cantenna's (pringle's can). I also saw where they used the Primestar dishes for distant links.

 

[putney]

I have saw these years ago posted online and saw it on tv when it was TechTv when they showed how to strengthen wireless internet signals and how to make cheap antenna's. They showed that with the cantenna's (pringle's can). I also saw where they used the Primestar dishes for distant links.

Yeah, I remember the Pringles can

 

[1ADAM12]

Dish Network on a CD

Saw a post by a couple of EE's on their lunch hour. Pointed a LNBF at a CD and got usable DN signal. Cd was the reflector.

 

[Bill_KY]

I need to ask, has anyone here built ...or modified something into a 30" - 39" Ku Band dish?

 

[Stargazer]

I remember the signal from a CD thread. No more response? I was hoping to see more clever ideas.

 

[SatelliteAV]

Played around with two 90cm dishes and tuna can feedhorns with 802.11g. Got 5 miles.... Read about this record!
237 Mile 802.11 Link

 

[Skjellyfetti]

Wok dishes, they cook!

 

[Pepper]

Only question now is, how do you cook the delicious fried rice?

 

[Skjellyfetti]

Only question now is, how do you cook the delicious fried rice?

Move to Ecuador I would imagine. (LOL)

 

[Anole]

I need to ask, has anyone here built ...or modified something into a 30" - 39" Ku Band dish?

If you mean wi-fi on a Ku dish, how about the BUD below?
Someone posted it to the forum about a year ago and I saved it.

If you remember, wi-fi is on 2.4ghz and 5ghz, so a BUD is probably more appropriate.
However, we are not trying to hit a satellite that's 2° from a neighboring bird at 23000 miles, so even a wok or small dish is better than nothing. -

Well . . . I cannot find the picture to post! However, the following will prove interesting:

Here's an old thread from 2008 on the wi-fi subject.

Back in 2005, I mentioned the NZ web site.

 

[Bill_KY]

If you mean wi-fi on a Ku dish, how about the BUD below?
Someone posted it to the forum about a year ago and I saved it.

If you remember, wi-fi is on 2.4ghz and 5ghz, so a BUD is probably more appropriate.
However, we are not trying to hit a satellite that's 2° from a neighboring bird at 23000 miles, so even a wok or small dish is better than nothing. -

Well . . . I cannot find the picture to post! However, the following will prove interesting:

Here's an old thread from 2008 on the wi-fi subject.

Back in 2005, I mentioned the NZ web site.

Has anyone built their own Ku Band dish out of other materials like metal trash can lids, grill with screen, round type sled, sheet metal?

 

[Anole]

There's a whole discussion from 2004, of making a dish from scratch, over on the Aussie satellite forum: Vetrun.
Probably not what you had in mind, but sorta close.
They got about 80% the performance of an equal sized commercial dish, as I recall.

 

[Bill_KY]

There's a whole discussion from 2004, of making a dish from scratch, over on the Aussie satellite forum: Vetrun.
Probably not what you had in mind, but sorta close.
They got about 80% the performance of an equal sized commercial dish, as I recall.

Most interesting thread, thanks.