Trying if thin plastic and small metal items diminish strength and quality of satellite signal

polgyver

Creative Tinkerer
Original poster
Pub Member / Supporter
Sep 21, 2010
489
371
Toronto
For a quite long time I think of building a small laser, located on a large magnetic compass, which could shine a beam of light exactly parallel to rays coming from a satellite. I already tried lasers which were pre-set and stationary, when I did some experiments with double and triple reflections of satellite beams.
However, I was worried if such a device might weaken the satellite signal, particularly if I also made sort of shielding for the compass.
That's before proceeding with making such compass with laser, I decided to try some "obstacles" on the dish.
I found out, that placing a big plastic bottle (empty and dry), and also 2 LiFePo batteries in the signal path, almost does not degrade signal.
Seven photos attached below:
 

Attachments

  • 5C1B49BC-65FF-45C1-91C8-D0F727BC17E7_1_105_c.jpeg
    5C1B49BC-65FF-45C1-91C8-D0F727BC17E7_1_105_c.jpeg
    256.1 KB · Views: 76
  • 07C9DE66-3A39-4B2D-BBBB-A7F88955C635_1_105_c.jpeg
    07C9DE66-3A39-4B2D-BBBB-A7F88955C635_1_105_c.jpeg
    242.1 KB · Views: 63
  • 8CFFE58F-CF34-4E38-A33F-B2828F3D88DE_1_105_c.jpeg
    8CFFE58F-CF34-4E38-A33F-B2828F3D88DE_1_105_c.jpeg
    256.3 KB · Views: 69
  • 5752422E-4487-4283-9EEF-A889259532D4_1_105_c.jpeg
    5752422E-4487-4283-9EEF-A889259532D4_1_105_c.jpeg
    247 KB · Views: 59
  • A5F6606B-5B21-4C37-A71B-1F0827661C3A_1_105_c.jpeg
    A5F6606B-5B21-4C37-A71B-1F0827661C3A_1_105_c.jpeg
    263.2 KB · Views: 67
  • D9E7DE46-4FC5-4869-8643-84361ECB0290_1_105_c.jpeg
    D9E7DE46-4FC5-4869-8643-84361ECB0290_1_105_c.jpeg
    257.5 KB · Views: 62
  • FFB0870F-535B-4FB3-BAC9-F5DC5DF884E9_1_105_c.jpeg
    FFB0870F-535B-4FB3-BAC9-F5DC5DF884E9_1_105_c.jpeg
    247.2 KB · Views: 65
Sorry for not providing more info in previous post. Half of the big bottle would be a top cover for the compass, preventing its movement from wind.
The 2 batteries were used as a chunk of metal, to represent the metal body of a laser pointer. Initially I was planning to use just a minimal size laser diode (1/4" x 3/4") powered from smallest coin batteries, but now I see it is not necessary, as I can use toy laser of dia = 1/2" and length 2 or 3" - easy to use.
 
Top