Satellite dish

Silent Shrill

Hi all.

I wanted to know if I can use a standard satellite dish for picking up frequencies from space? I own a very nice, self-automated, astrophotography set-up, where I can stay in my cave and use the PC to do all the work, moving the scope, etc.

I would now like to get into pointing a dish at the same location as my scopes, using a tranceiver, (which I have), and listening to.....white noise? I would use a motor to turn the dish using another finder scope attached to the dish, again connected to my pc for indoor use.....weather too cold in Ireland for standing outside.

So my question is....can it be done? if so, could someone direct me to some sort of site/forum where I may get assistance in building this. I have the necessary mechanical skills and tools, I can raise the dish pretty high if needed, but I do not want to get a massive dish, even though the property would be large enough to hold one. Something in the region of a standard dish used for tv signals would be the preferred choice.

Thanks

jmcc

It depends on whether you want to receive TV/broadcast satellites or other signals. The broadcast signals are easy enough to receive with off-the-shelf hardware. The satellites transmitting those signals are typically in geostationary orbit so they appear as in an arc across the sky. The hardware for that is also available off the shelf. Before direct broadcast and high power transmissions the satellite dish mounts used to use Azimuth/Elevation (AzEl) positioners to move the dish. The mounts were a bit more complex and the dishes larger. There's also an issue of what frequencies you want to monitor. As I said, the hardware for the broadcast transmissions is readily available. Transmissions on other frequencies would require different frontend hardware. Some HAMs have adapted off-the-shelf gear or built their own hardware (a lot more complex). There are some people on Twitter that do this.

There's a Satellite forum here on Boards.ie that might be of interest. It might be worth asking the question there.

https://www.boards.ie/categories/satellite

The problem, when you try to receive signals other than broadcast, is that the signals are often weaker. That typically means a larger dish than the ones used to receive Sky or the other channels.

Regards...jmcc

Silent Shrill

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120058596#Comment_120058596

Thanks for the info.

If I just wanted to listen to other users in other countries, what antenna should I be thinking of getting? I am a novice at this new venture and am looking to get started relatively cheaply. As I progress I will be getting more purpose-built equipment, but initially I just want to get some sort of output through the speaker.....preferably some sort of coherent speech.

Thanks