$10 wok replaces $20k satellite dish, transmits signal 20 km

I like to save money as much as the next person, but Ken Jones from New Zealand takes the prize for the best bargain. Ken works for television station 45 South, and determined that the station didn't need to spend $20,000 for a satellite dish to transmit when a cheaper alternative might be found. A little bit of mathematics and some shopping at a local store provided the answer: substitute a $10 wok for the $20,000 dish!

"The $20,000 for a commercial link was just money we didn't have, so we bought several woks from The Warehouse instead which was convenient and cheap," Jones says. Kiwis in the local area: just tune your wok, er dish to UHF channel 41 to catch your local television. Rumor has it: you can eek out a little more signal gain by attaching chop sticks to your dish in the form of rabbit ears. ;)

Comments

[Tom Mac]

This works for WiFi with a USB wifi stick... due to the fact all rf is processed in the stick ,there is no feedline loss down a usb cable to the computer. Just drill a hole in bottom of 12" or so aluminium mixing bowl,put thru usb cable and a wood dowel(small piece of rubber hose for grommet),attach wifi usb stick to dowel end and slowly find best location in bowl (best sig streight) ie, focal location. Mount on old camera tripod or such...You'll see prob at least 5-8x range/signal increase...I can get working conditions over 700 feet.
tm

[medah4rick]

thats absolutely true tom. i happen to use a chinese food catcher instead and i get at least 10db gain if not better.