Using a 18" Dish for Radio Astronomy Demonstrations--Need SimplePower Supply
 

Somewhere I came across a setup for a simple "itty bitty" radio
telescope a number of years ago. Its purpose is educational. Basically,
it consists of a discarded 18" dish, power supply, and a satellite
signal finder. I happen to have a Channel Master 1004ifd finder, but it
gets its power from the LNB, which apparently gets it from a satellite
rcvr. I have no rcvr. Is there some simple inexpensive 12v dc power
supply (battery pack) that I could use? I would guess that it would need
a connector of some sort to hook to the LNB.

Using a 18" Dish for Radio Astronomy Demonstrations--Need SimplePower Supply
 

On 6/30/2010 6:34 AM, W. eWatson wrote:
Somewhere I came across a setup for a simple "itty bitty" radio
telescope a number of years ago. Its purpose is educational. Basically,
it consists of a discarded 18" dish, power supply, and a satellite
signal finder. I happen to have a Channel Master 1004ifd finder, but it
gets its power from the LNB, which apparently gets it from a satellite
rcvr. I have no rcvr. Is there some simple inexpensive 12v dc power
supply (battery pack) that I could use? I would guess that it would need
a connector of some sort to hook to the LNB.
WEll, lucky me. A small amount of Googling got me to
http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/epo/teachers/ittybitty/procedure.html
I'm not sure our local The Shack has a choke. I may have one. My LNB is
different than the one in the pic. It's a Eagle Aspen DTV32+. I'm sure I
have a battery clip and 8 battery holder. This might do it. I didn't
notice the Rx connector on my CM, but that is where the power goes. I
may be set.

Using a 18" Dish for Radio Astronomy Demonstrations--Need SimplePower Supply
 

On 6/30/2010 7:19 AM, W. eWatson wrote:
On 6/30/2010 6:34 AM, W. eWatson wrote:
Somewhere I came across a setup for a simple "itty bitty" radio
telescope a number of years ago. Its purpose is educational. Basically,
it consists of a discarded 18" dish, power supply, and a satellite
signal finder. I happen to have a Channel Master 1004ifd finder, but it
gets its power from the LNB, which apparently gets it from a satellite
rcvr. I have no rcvr. Is there some simple inexpensive 12v dc power
supply (battery pack) that I could use? I would guess that it would need
a connector of some sort to hook to the LNB.
WEll, lucky me. A small amount of Googling got me to
http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/epo/teachers/ittybitty/procedure.html
I'm not sure our local The Shack has a choke. I may have one. My LNB is
different than the one in the pic. It's a Eagle Aspen DTV32+. I'm sure I
have a battery clip and 8 battery holder. This might do it. I didn't
notice the Rx connector on my CM, but that is where the power goes. I
may be set.
Under the assumption that even though my topic involves an LNB, and
that's not technically a radio, I'll beg your pardon for pressing on
under the guise of "radio" astronomy. Maybe someone here talks LNBs and
satellite signal devices.

I constructed the battery pack in the link above, but w/o the coil. I
plugged it into the 1004ifd and immediately got something of a single
note noise from the device. This seems wrong. Any ideas? I did not
connect to the LNB and disk.