Parabolic dish and microphone

[Catmandoo]

2 hours ago, SWWASAS said:

Not sure if a boat radar would show a soft return like a biological entity.  

 

A 'boat' radar will damage your eyes. The antenna can rotate in 'stand by mode' and not transmit though. When close to a waterfront area, do not look at the antenna housings. You can't tell if some goof ball has the radar on scan.   Small boat radars can detect large, dense flocks of birds. Weather impacts performance.  Microwaves are dangerous.

[SWWASAS]

The real problem with using this high tech stuff for bigfoot research is that most bigfooters are not techies, and millionaires.      Certainly throwing money in the form of gear might help but to date we have seen nothing of value deployed.     The Falcon project was in my opinion not well thought out and I said so at the time.     They seemed to have no one with an aviation background involved in the planning stage of the program.   Other than bring in his name for fund raising,    bringing Meldrum in early did not make sense.     I saw that with government simulator development programs.   You really do not want to turn someone that has no idea of the task at hand loose during system development,   because you get all kinds of complexity that is not needed.   

[Catmandoo]

^^^ I believed that the Falcon Project was a scam from minute one.

[SWWASAS]

13 minutes ago, Catmandoo said:

 

A 'boat' radar will damage your eyes. The antenna can rotate in 'stand by mode' and not transmit though. When close to a waterfront area, do not look at the antenna housings. You can't tell if some goof ball has the radar on scan.   Small boat radars can detect large, dense flocks of birds. Weather impacts performance.  Microwaves are dangerous.

I certainly know that as we would check to see that airplane radars were in standby before walking around aircraft.    Flocks of birds do show.    I suppose if you can see a human on shore with a ships radar,   then bigfoot would show up even better.  More than one person thinks boat exploration of the Inner Passage along the coast of Canada might reveal bigfoot along the shore lines.    Would certainly help if they showed on radar.  

 

Another problem is that everyone does research differently and has different goals.       I don't have much need for FLIR gear because I cannot see night research providing what I am looking for.  I would like one to see what is wandering around my yard at night but cannot justify the cost for that.    My perimeter sensors have gone off the last 3 nights in a row.     I turn on porch lights and cannot see anything.    

Edited January 29, 2020 by SWWASAS

[Catmandoo]

Flocks of birds show because the signal return does not have clutter from a background.  A radar return from shoreline shows  hard terrain instead of meat sacks. Even if the radar could discriminate between terrain and meat/lungs the signal would be buried in the return for the 'harder' target. I guess that very high cost military systems may have the capability to detect meat sacks.  Civilian radars operate in the X and S bands if someone wants to research further.

 

On a similar note, 'fish finders' work in a similar manner. The sound beam reflects off of the air bladder differently than the meat. Aspect ratio is everything: sound beam hitting the fish longways or sideways. 'Sideways aspect'  is the strongest return.  Fish without air bladders are difficult to impossible to detect.

 

History buffs can look up English developments as in the 1st radar on H.M.S. Hood and fathometers in the work called A.S.D.I.C. Unfortunately, the 1st  verified radar target that the H.M.S. Hood detected was the Bismarck.

Edited January 30, 2020 by Catmandoo
spelling

[gigantor]

1 hour ago, Catmandoo said:

Unfortunately, the 1st  verified radar target that the H.M.S. Hoodsport detected was the Bismarck.

 

 

[BlackRockBigfoot]

If tried to go the cheap and easy route with a parabolic microphone and ordered the one that I have linked in the past from Amazon.  Sometimes you roll the dice and get more than you paid for...and sometimes you get exactly what you pay for.  

 

I was hoping that this would work out because it was lightweight, fairly compact, and inexpensive (in case we broke it).  We have to carry all of our equipment on our backs, so portability is a big deal.  Two packs have to carry our water food, first aid kit, lights, cameras, spare batteries, other equipment, etc.

 

Looks like I might have to build one that fits my needs.  I have absolutely zero sound or acoustic knowledge...so little in fact that I don't even know if those are the proper terms for what I would need to know to build one.  Lol.

 

 

[hiflier]

What could be cool would be someone on the Forum who could make some small portable units and sell them on the BFF? Just designate the models of the recorders and mics the dishes are set up for. Members could then purchase those items on their own and just install them. Or, just get these for about 8 bucks: https://www.caufields.com/jumborubberears.aspx

 

 

[BlackRockBigfoot]

On 2/3/2020 at 10:39 PM, hiflier said:

What could be cool would be someone on the Forum who could make some small portable units and sell them on the BFF? Just designate the models of the recorders and mics the dishes are set up for. Members could then purchase those items on their own and just install them. Or, just get these for about 8 bucks: https://www.caufields.com/jumborubberears.aspx

 

 

That's a pretty good idea.

[hiflier]

12 minutes ago, BlackRockBigfoot said:

That's a pretty good idea.

 

NAH! You'd hate those ears  

[wiiawiwb]

What would be super helpful is for someone who has made a portable parabolic microphone to reverse engineer it and provide a list of the parts he/she used.  As I've mentioned before, I went over to Home Depot and Lowe's and tried to figure out what size PVC pipe works and how to get a 90 degree angle to accommodate the handle. Then I tried to figure out how would I connect the PVC pipe solidly to the dish.

 

I finally gave up.

[NorthWind]

On 2/6/2020 at 8:55 PM, wiiawiwb said:

What would be super helpful is for someone who has made a portable parabolic microphone to reverse engineer it and provide a list of the parts he/she used.  As I've mentioned before, I went over to Home Depot and Lowe's and tried to figure out what size PVC pipe works and how to get a 90 degree angle to accommodate the handle. Then I tried to figure out how would I connect the PVC pipe solidly to the dish.

 

I finally gave up.

 

 

The stainless bowl is a round bottomed mixing bowl from Ikea.  I drilled and then cut a hole in the bottom. I could have used a squirrel baffle from Home Depot, but I got the bowl free and after buying a FLIR, I am kind of broke for a while.

 

The PVC s 3/4". In the end cap, I have epoxied a connecting nut that is made for all-thread rod, so I can later mount this on a tripod if I want to (same threads). On the inside is a 3/4" coupler, that has a slot in it for the Velleman Super Stereo Ear kit that I soldered up (that kit was less than fifteen dollars and took about an hour to build.)

 

I drilled a hole in the elbow so I can run wires, battery and audio (either headphones or to an FM transmitter which I haven't built yet).  It's still a work in progress. I will paint it all when I get it together.

 

I hope that's helpful for you, @wiiawiwb

[SWWASAS]

Its likely not true parabolic in shape but probably close enough.    I have to warn you about transportation.   I nearly burned up my truck when I left the dish in the sun and it focused the sun on the seat back.     I put it in, smelled something burning, and quickly put out the fire.    Had I not smelled it burning the seat it could have been very bad.  Also if you are not thinking, aiming it at the sun will cook the electronics.  

Edited February 17, 2020 by SWWASAS

[NorthWind]

10 minutes ago, SWWASAS said:

Its likely not true parabolic in shape but probably close enough.    I have to warn you about transportation.   I nearly burned up my truck when I left the dish in the sun and it focused the sun on the seat back.     I put it in, smelled something burning, and quickly put out the fire.    Had I not smelled it burning the seat it could have been very bad.  Also if you are not thinking, aiming it at the sun will cook the electronics.  

 

 

Yeah, it's not a true parabola, but it is close enough for now, anyway. I used a laser and determined the height for the mics on the kit. I am going to paint this thing camo, I think. Or just a flat green / brown.  Depends on what I can scrounge up. I want sound reflected, not light.

 

And yes, I know about the dangers of solar rays! I got a Fresnel lens from an old projection TV (it's about 3 x 4 feet) and mounted that in a frame. When I place that beast in the sun and remove the black cloth I have covering it, it will melt and boil a handful of pennies in a matter of seconds. And I mean totally vaporize them. That heat is so high it is scary, and you have to wear welding glasses because the light is so intense. I can melt range lead with it.

 

Thanks for the warning, @SWWASAS

 

[wiiawiwb]

Northwind...that looks great and thank you for being so thoughtful.  Forgive my greenhorn handyman questions because I'm not handy at all:

 

1) How did you attach the 3/4" coupler on the inside part of the dish to the pipe coming through the hole?

2) When I found squirrel baffles that I liked, the hole in the dish would not snugly accommodate any size pvc pipe I could find in Home Depot.  How would I go about filling the space and fitting the pvc pipe snugly so the dish doesn't slide around?