A unique satellite dish... anyone with further info?

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carson

carson

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  In the late 70's I worked briefly for a Satellite installation,service/sales business. They were doing some research on the side and played with a "wooden" dish. It was made out of wood slats, formed in a parabolic shape. It was about 3 meter in diameter with the LNB  mounted at the focal point. There was no metal used anywhere on the surfaces. Lo and behold... they actually received a usable signal,(which I witnessed), which blew my mind. I never did find out their technical theory of it, but seeing was believing.

  Anyone here able to elaborate/add a bit on this?

carson FL 91.0F





 
Not sure what there is to elaborate.  Wood will have some reflective properties, certainly not as good as metal - but if you build the dish big enough it would be possible to get a signal...
Practical?  Probably not... Especially with warping and long term weather/heat/cold issues with wood.
 
Just for the record: There was no paint on the structure at all.

  I doubt that there was any kind of sealer on it, as it was being worked on in a construction phase and was not totally finished. It looked like raw wood. It never did hit the point beyond a prototype.

  Also, it was not a solid plane dish, but rather like a grid of slats. Maybe the engineers had too much time on their hands or they were very curious... But it did work.

carson FL


 
A wooden satellite dish sounds about as useful as a styrofoam anchor.
 
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