Discovery Dish on an IEXOS-100

[Pablo Lewin]

This is my Attempt to create a beginners fully steerable and trackable Hydrogen Line Radio Telescope for less than $600 US...to be used portable in good weather but eventually I will build a cheap PVC tubing/Tarp 6ftx6ft cover to have this working year round...so far, so good, the following is the video link to the first structural test..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqW4ugna16M

[kb3puw]

I tried this - for me there was too much RFI, probably due to the iEXOS Wifi.  I also have a Celestron AVX mount - it works quite well - no detectable RFI for me.

On Sat, Apr 4, 2026 at 4:49 PM Pablo Lewin <pabl...@gmail.com> wrote:

This is my Attempt to create a beginners fully steerable and trackable Hydrogen Line Radio Telescope for less than $600 US...to be used portable in good weather but eventually I will build a cheap PVC tubing/Tarp 6ftx6ft cover to have this working year round...so far, so good, the following is the video link to the first structural test..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqW4ugna16M

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[Pablo Lewin]

That's why first I will shield the WIFI with the copper tape and if that doesn't work I will eliminate power to the WIFI board which is easy to do, either by cutting power to it or grounding the antenna...

[kb3puw]

I would be interested in knowing if that works.  Not sure I would want to fiddle with the wiring on the thing, but if wrapping it with foil works that would be good.

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[Stephen Arbogast]

Pablo,

I  worry   about  how much torque  the  stepper motors  can handle  ....  have  you  done any  tests?  As  Don   Latham  pointed  out  stepper motors  can  slip!

[Pablo Lewin]

Stephen, have you watched the video? It should get an OSCAR ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqW4ugna16M

[Stephen Arbogast]

Yes, I just  watched it   again....   very nice   but  I am a  crusty  old  retired  Physics/EE    type.  I   believe   in   testing  testing  testing. 

As  a  kid  I lived in  Anaheim,   Southern  California ....   I  remember  the Santa Anna winds..  early  1960's. 

Just   saying   test the motors  by applying  some  counter  torque.

[Pablo Lewin]

Stephen, it's perfectly balanced and the total weight is well withing the published parameter, plus I left it running for 4 hours and it tracked perfectly. I have sent an email tp Explore Scientific to verify the procedure to eliminate the WIFI I also purchased copper foil to and copper tape to create a faraday cage around the electronics to eliminate any interference including from the stepper motors when I'm done with the foil, the mount will look like the LEM (Lunar Excursion Module).

I think it's going to work..but if it doesn't at least I entertained myself for a few days and I have another capable optical mount for 300 bucks..a win win situation in my book.

Cheers

Pablo

[Mike Otte]

We mounted the "Dish in a box" WIFI antenna on a surplused Meade LXD55 telescope mount with counter weights for the local outreach sessions at the Observatory and it has worked fine for 3 years.  Only 4-5 hours a couple times a month in good weather mostly although I have run it in light rain with plastic over top.  

At home I run only meridian telescopes but at Observatory we are most interested in the different shapes of the spectrogram of  the  Milkyway and of course the MW is not overhead during the summer so you need both RA and Dec.  Then we explain the spectrum shapes as the arms of the MW and how the MW was mapped.  The different interesting points are mapped into the  " observer"  POI so they are a few button pushes away from each other.

 

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Mike Otte W9YS

[Stephen Arbogast]

Let's  be very  clear.....  are  we  talking  about the same  thing?

I have used  my  Discovery Dish  for  about  a  year  now , outside, no  protection  from the   weather, no problems.  I have learned a  lot. I have invested   $700  in the   Discovery  Drive.   Why, I want  to  experiment ....    with pointing  my  dish even  though it  is a  small  dish.     So  far  Discovery  Dish   Drive is  only at   45 %  funding but      I hope  it  is   successful.

See     https://www.crowdsupply.com/krakenrf/discovery-drive

Stephen

[Stephen Arbogast]

So it  is  perfectly  balanced...    what  happens during   wind   see torque...      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torque