Via the miracle of the interwebs (and a Freecycle mailing list the Wife turned me on to) I am now the proud (well, maybe not proud. Moderately smug is more like it) owner of a 19" satellite dish (Dual LNB) and one digital reciever for DirecTV. What I'll do with the DirecTV receiver, I have no idea. But the satellite dish on the other hand, someday (not all that soon mind you) I will turn it into a backyard radio telescope. I discovered plans for one of these in an issue of Astronomy magazine a couple of decades back, using an old UHF antenna. I actually ran across that issue while cleaning out the garage this spring, and a quick Google search later showed me that backyard radio astronomy has progress by leaps and bounds over the intervening decades. The easy availability of those ubiquitous rooftop satellite dishes, coupled with dramatic advances in home computers has been a boon for the niche.
Besides, I figure if Charlie Sheen can do it, how hard can it be?
Now Playing: The B-52s Time Capsule
And if the former Mrs. Charlie Sheen can be a nuclear physicist, then so can I.
ReplyDeleteMan, just think what geniuses their children must be!
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