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Where to find a parabolic dish?

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ShortCircuit

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I am getting into long distance listening and I am looking for a parabolic dish in the 18" to 24" range.Plastic or aluminum,it does'nt matter too much.All I've seen are like the WiFi type dishes."Hey mister, can ya spare a dish?"

SC
 
I used to have DishNetwork for TV viewing. After cancelling, they only wanted the digital box and the receiver eye. Perhaps you could find someone locally who also has a spare DN dish just sitting around. They never ask for them back. I hear you can make birdbaths out of them too. :p
 
the reflector behind a car headlight would probably do the job

Not Really, Its way to Small for Audio. You want at least 15 inches for reasonable reception.

A 3 foot Satelite dish is good, other than it is not a 90 degree focus.
Aiming them is a bit of a problem because of that.
 
How about building yourself a yagi antenna?? Would probably be alot cheaper and easier.

Does anyone know which type provodes more gain?? Yagi or parabolic??
 
pike said:
How about building yourself a yagi antenna?? Would probably be alot cheaper and easier.

Does anyone know which type provodes more gain?? Yagi or parabolic??

As with everything, it depends on the size!, but dishes can give far more gain than yagis - you can get some seriously massive dishes! - however, they have to be EXTREMELY accurately built, hence the high costs for large dishes.

Where yagis come good is at lower frequencies, dishes work best at microwave frequencies, where they give massive gain - a dish for FM radio would be absolutely huge :lol:
 
Well...I went to Edmund Scientific.They had some parabolas ranging from 12",18" and 24" in diameter.Seems like it was $43 for a 18".Sound like a good deal?They are aluminum.

SC
 
ShortCircuit said:
Well...I went to Edmund Scientific.They had some parabolas ranging from 12",18" and 24" in diameter.Seems like it was $43 for a 18".Sound like a good deal?They are aluminum.

Small dishes are usually fairly cheap, the cost rises dramatically with size, mostly due to the problems over their accuracy - slight inaccuracy seriously ruins the gain of a dish!.
 
I'm confused now, I thought the OP was interested in long range audio listening, i.e. using a microphone with a parabolic dish. Maybe I'm wrong, OR maybe you can use a Yagi with a microphone (I severely doubt it!)
Maybe someone could elucidate.
 
JohnBrown said:
I'm confused now, I thought the OP was interested in long range audio listening, i.e. using a microphone with a parabolic dish. Maybe I'm wrong, OR maybe you can use a Yagi with a microphone (I severely doubt it!)
Maybe someone could elucidate.

He was never very clear about what he wanted, which was why someone asked about yagis :lol:

And no, a yagi wouldn't be any good for audio, although a rifle mike would - which is probably the audio equivalent of a yagi?.
 
I thought yagis were pretty much used for radio waves.I used to be alot in the wireless microphone stuff too.Wow..this really is going to be a good forum to visit and talk.Thanks guys for the input.

SC
 
ShortCircuit said:
I thought yagis were pretty much used for radio waves.

Yes, but he wanted to catch audio waves, not radio. I think he wants to snoop on the hot teen girls across the street.

Mike
 
What about using a wok or the lid for a wok

Well Any Reflector is Better than Nothing, MOST are Almost Useless. This would Include A Lid from a Wok.

A Parabolic is a VERY UNIQUE Shape. All Sounds coming in from a Direct Frontal direction are focused to one specific point, (Focal Point) thus Amplifing that Signal.

Take a look at my article on my webste. It may help you.

**broken link removed**

Take Care.....Gary
 
Why would anyone want to listen to hot teen girls when you can see them as well as hear them all over the web? :lol: :lol:
 
Teen girls?...Hmmm.....Got a telescope for that.LOL.I was wondering if the round Direct Tv dishes would work.It seems they are around 18" in diameter.Chemelec,this seems like a good question to ask ya.Any comments?

SC
 
Addendum...I was curious as to the Direct TV dish I no longer use.I took a tape measure and I got a 20" diameter from top to bottom.Will this be good to experiment?I figure the focal point is where the LNB is currently mounted,but I will have to play with that.

SC
 
bryan said:
What about using a wok or the lid for a wok

You mean like this??
 

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Almost...here is the dish I'm talikng about.I want to use the existing arm where the LNB is connected to use as my microphone mount.I was wondering if the parabola is a good shape.
 

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ShortCircuit said:
Almost...here is the dish I'm talikng about.I want to use the existing arm where the LNB is connected to use as my microphone mount.I was wondering if the parabola is a good shape.

No, because it's an offset dish - if you've got one you could try it, but I doubt it would perform very well?.
 
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