inc@fluke.UUCP (07/17/84)
Hello -- I don't normally subscribe to this newsgroup, mainly because I
don't know what you're talking about most of the time!! However, it seemed
to be the right place to request some information. First let me give you the
background:
When I lived in Minneapolis, a friend of mine built a home-made satellite
television receiver, and for his parabolic antenna, he used one of those
aluminum "Saucers" that kids slide down the snow on. Anyway, what I wanted
to know, is:
A. Do those saucers describe a parabola accurately enough for use as an
antenna? If not, what does? Is there an item as easily available, as
cheap, and as close to a real parabola to work? Or can I easily make
one? I was considering using sand as a mold for a fibre-glas one. I
seem to recall a magazine article that told how to do it, but can't
recall any details.
B. Once I have my parabola, how can I find the focus? That's the place I
have to put the transducer, and I can't seem to locate any of my old
math books that tell how to locate the focus of a parabola.
Thanks to anyone responding to this: please send direct to me, since I think
that this topic is not of general enough interest for the whole newsgroup.
Thanks, I appreciate anything you can tell me.
--
Gary Benson {ihnp4!uw-beaver}{sb1!allegra}{ssc-vax}
John Fluke Mfg. Co. {decvax!microsoft}{ucbvax!lbl-csam}{sun} !fluke!inc
Everett, WA, USA *- ALL INPUTS GLADLY MULTIPLEXED -*