Can I Get Satellite Data With An Umbrella?

Here it is, the challenge nobody asked for! Can I get L-band satellite data using an umbrella covered in foil tape? It turns out, yes I can!
I was able to download images and weather data from GOES-East, NOAA satellites, and Russian METEOR satellites. I also got a little bit from some other satellites but the signals weren't as good.
Here's the stuff I used (these links give me a commission if you buy stuff through them, but the price to you is the same!)
Umbrella: amzn.to/3FEpY6t (any umbrella should work)
Foil tape: amzn.to/46RBNCk
(This is actually cheaper at a hardware store, and you'll need 3 rolls!)
Antenna feed: amzn.to/46UMvrQ
Software-Defined Radio: amzn.to/45Yg8qK
Filter/Amplifier: amzn.to/479SjgL
OTG adapter (if using a phone): amzn.to/40fCLFX
Antenna cable: amzn.to/46QiFVn
SDR++ software: www.sdrpp.org/
Satdump: www.satdump.org/
I also used Stellarium for aiming, but I still don't really love it.
Saveitforparts t-shirts and other merch at saveitforparts.myspreadshop.com/
Join this channel to get access to perks:
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Or support me via Patreon at / saveitforparts

[@JohnCompton1]

The irony of holding up an aluminum foil reinforced umbrella during a storm,while scoping out a weather satellite was comedy gold. You made my evening. Thanks so much for sharing...

[@ReligionAndMaterialismDebunked]

🤝🔥😅🫶🏼✊🏼😎😂💯 Shalom. Ciao.

[@kingmasterlord]

gotta find out the forcast

[@mr.engineear0987]

Nah worries mayte

[@peterfairlie2296]

Many fiberglass satellite dishes are actually coated with a conductive graphite paint to make them reflective to radio signals. You could actually do this with that umbrella. Conductive paints consist of a solvent-based acrylic binder pigmented with either carbon, nickel, silver-coated copper, silver, or ESD-safe pigments. Imagine trying this with a large patio umbrella! You could use it to receiver C-band TV signals... that would be crazy cool.

[@gorak9000]

most fiberglass satellite dishes have a fine wire mesh embedded into the fiberglass and resin, not anything in the paint.

[@m8e]

Might work with zinc paint too, the stuff used for rust protection.

[@mikemondano3624]

Conductive paint is not a reflector of radio waves.

[@1NIGHTMAREGAMER]

if ur ok using non automatic one u can chop end off invert the shaft

[@ctrain226]

Just bought my first kit because of you just have to wait 9 hrs for the sat

[@Pyronimous]

I wonder if you can use potato chip bags instead of foil tape (if they're sewn, or glued with something), which are basically foil covered with layers of plastic. Maybe that would result in better foldability of the umbrella.

[@arjovenzia]

If anyone wants to give this a go, I've found you can join crisp packets together pretty well by folding a sharp crease with the sheets together n then running a lighter flame along the seam, melting the two together. I can't remember why I tried this, but was surprised how well it worked.

[@gorak9000]

If you wanted to try this, "space blankets" are the same thing, metal film coated on plastic, but come in huge sheets - no need to heat-seam potato chip bags together.

[@Eidolon1andOnly]

Mylar emergency blankets are made of the same material.

[@mikemondano3624]

They aren't "foil". They are Mylar.

[@Eidolon1andOnly]

@@mikemondano3624 Who said Mylar was "foil?" Only mention of foil I've seen in this thread was in regard to "foil tape" not the potato chip bags or "space blankets."

[@edgeeffect]

I spent my a lot of my young childhood "using" umbrellas as satellite dishes... love seeing "an adult who should know better" trying it for real. Just remembering now that my name for the high-gain antenna on the Apollo Lunar Rover was "the umbrella".

[@Zenefor]

I suggest using one of those thermic foil blankets you find in a aid kit, as it usually reflects at least 95% of most radiation types back in what direction you want.

[@OverUnity7734]

Sweet, I begged Myth Busters to do this one. They never did. Glad to see the results.

[@gorak9000]

What "myth" is this? That you can cobble a bunch of junk together to sort of half-baked 'work'?

[@OverUnity7734]

@@gorak9000 Tell me you never saw the movie ET with out telling me you never saw the movie ET.

[@ChrisGoosman]

“Crime against antenna theory” 😂

[@brycelynch2138]

3:51 - Thank you so much for saying that it takes trial and error and time to get something like this working. It's very easy for those of us who are trying to fight with projects for hours or days and get frustrated. It's good to know we're not alone.

[@Robert-cd5zr]

That's super awesome!!! They make parabolic umbrellas with a reflective coating for photography, and I bet if you spray the back side with sno-seal it would work as a regular umbrella too!

[@SaraMorgan-ym6ue]

you thought an umbrella was not good for satellite reception you thought wrong

[@JamieBainbridge]

Finally! I keep finding random rolls of HVAC tape and SDRs in my pockets and I had no idea what they were 😅 I don't know anything about radio but I love watching you build working things out of scraps and junk, very entertaining and ingenious.

[@ketas]

was there a cat too?

[@robsyoutube]

It would be neat to build a custom umbrella like mechanism and have a Mylar parabolic. If I still had access to a machine shop I would try to make this. It would be able to close and open still.

[@Ziraya0]

I was thinking of replacing the canopy on a cheap umbrella with one made of conductive fabric. Maybe it'd be easier to get a parabola with a cane style umbrella?

[@TheAbevalle]

I bet a talented seamtress can whip one up real quick

[@robsyoutube]

@@Ziraya0 weaving in a grid of copper with the smallest gaps being 1/8 of a wavelength in square inches would accomplish the same thing. They don't have to be solid to light. Just solid to the wavelength you're reflecting.

[@wu3705]

I thought of mylar as well. Will mylar reflect radio waves or will they pass through? I have no idea.

[@robsyoutube]

@@wu3705 It reflects it, that said an umbrella shape isn't ideal. If you put a network analyzer on it it would give you a bad SWR getting worse as you went up in frequency and the wavelength got smaller. Nasa had a really crazy inflatable mylar antenna in space long ago back when they did cool things regularly. The kids these days have no idea how cool NASA use to be in my day. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflatable_Antenna_Experiment edit: It wasn't just NASA that was better, Canada was way cooler and more impressive and lead making real innovations back in the day too. Just look up the CRC (Canadian Research Center) They did really cool stuff like the SHARP project where a drone was powered/recharged by a radar beam and they would fly it around. These guys got ruined by Justin Trudeau and his Minister of Industry Navdeep Bains. Now Rogers Wireless board of directors member. This guy was something else he was Rogers Wireless/Rogers Cables puppet in every aspect of his job. Nothing he did was for any purpose other than helping this monopoly.

[@richardfritz9479]

Please keep doing what you’re doing. This is gold!

[@SaraMorgan-ym6ue]

a communist Android well damn what will they think of next?🤣

[@scurtumarcel9115]

That POCO actually holds enormous tinkering potential if you want to go down the android roms and mods and rooting rabbit hole and with a little tinkering you should actually be able to run some linux sdr stuff like gqrx directly on the phone especially since if I'm not mistaken you can actually boot real linux on that thing, maybe a suggestion for another video. Anyways keep up the good work man.

[@Ki-lr6ub]

Yeah there's no reason to be so paranoid about Poco. They make good phones. Just toss a different ROM on it or stock android.

[@wu3705]

I certainly don't understand satellite radio feeds or any of that stuff. But what I do understand is a guy willing to share his failures as well as his successes. The ability to pass on what didn't work is as good as passing on what will work. Many may not understand what I am saying but it is very important. In other words, another excellent video sir.

[@saveitforparts]

Thanks! Glad you like it :-)

[@brown56765]

There's something so beautiful about using an umbrella to listen to the weather XD

[@seanwatts8342]

To answer the title question - *YES* I was in the Army in the 90s. Although I was not in communications my battalion had a field portable sat text/phone that used a metallic fabric umbrella and linked to INMARSAT.

[@ET2carbon]

I was the satcom tech. The 90s ones were replaced with a couple varieties the main one was like a bunch of sticks and wire. They found the parabolic thing to not be so important as was the grid array skeleton structure and LNA in higher frequency like EHF. I was also a strategic SHF tech which were the parabolic and larger antennas.

[@ARockRaider]

you have no idea how happy this makes me! that something so silly and cartoonish actually works!

[@peabnuts123]

Love to see the process; it's about the journey not the destination! I wonder if you could apply the tape in such a way (or apply some precision cuts to the tape) that it can fold along the natural seams of the umbrella 🤔

[@JonW77]

Hey mate, hi from the UK. Another great video. You should try using a cut up foil blanket glued to the umbrella instead of foil tape. Being much more thin and flexible it might actually be able to be folded up afterwards. Watching your stuff has inspired me to get into trying to get the satellite weather data myself. Not a whole lot of success yet but I'm still trying. 😂

[@saveitforparts]

I might try the foil blanket thing next!

[@paulsengupta971]

@@saveitforpartsMaybe look up Faraday Cloth.

[@dpidcoe]

@@saveitforparts Also you wouldn't necessarily have to tape it to the inside either.

[@msmith2961]

Silly Side Projects are often the most entertaining ones.

[@user-si7mq2wp2e]

you're hilarious and informative dude love all the content and you inspired me to mess around with this hobby a month or so ago and it has been tremendously fun, thanks man

[@mattstosh6960]

Next door neighbor is watching you and speed dialing 911. Another amazing video...

[@oberonpanopticon]

I always figured something like a folding vegetable steamer would be a decent way to make a radio dish more portable but this is way better.

[@saveitforparts]

I've used one of those for Wifi before.

[@oberonpanopticon]

@@saveitforparts I’ve only watched this one video by you and I’m already ready to believe that immediately

[@saveitforparts]

I probably still have it in the basement somewhere, I should pull that out and do a short about it 😂

[@oberonpanopticon]

@@saveitforparts I fully support that plan!

[@plazmaguy13yago9]

I love this idea retractable non suspicious looking antenna with adjustable focal point

[@RegsChannel]

Truth! A lot of folks don't realise the amount of editing and trial/error that goes into putting out a KZbin video to make us look "perfect" great job as always, way to innovate!

[@benotsilent6703]

8:35 - getting both apps to work splitscreen like that and have active aiming ability. Loved it.

[@FaustoTheBoozehound]

I appreciate your sense of humor almost more than your technical skills 😄

[@Tomatopriest]

I seriously appreciate the dedication to all of your projects. I keep learning and I love it!

[@EarthWalkerOne]

Sweet build. Duck tape actually refers to the duck cloth it's made of. From the Dutch word doek.

[@AbhayRajKarun]

The fact that I don’t understand anything of how and what are you doing but I still love watching your videos.

[@kerplunkboydotNET]

This is phenomenal! Helped me so much to demystify this kind of technology. I'm a layman on all that and all your "technish" means nothing to me, but I understand the basic concept and now I can understand that this kind of thing is not a uber-ultra-mega-difficult thing. The theme in my mind the whole time is "apocalypse situation" getting satellite data.

[@tfairfield42]

"Crime against antenna theory" had me laughing so hard 😂🤣 Also the hair cut and trim looks great

[@oberonpanopticon]

3:27 What a glorious moment

[@Nf6xNet]

This one really challenged my ability to suspend my disbelief. Do you really expect me to believe that you wouldn't make room for the cat?

[@WayneMetcalf]

You should try a photography flash umbrella, they're parabolic. It would be a good comparison

[@saveitforparts]

I can't tell if they're actually metallic or just silvery cloth.

[@WayneMetcalf]

@@saveitforparts nothing a bit of aluminium mesh won't sort out.

[@gorak9000]

I highly doubt they're actually parabolic - you're trying to create an even light with those, but scattered off the reflector so less harsh and not directly from the flash - a true parabolic reflector would give you a point. And for roughly bouncing light around to light an object, you don't need a perfect parabola - just a rough approximation of one. If you're trying to collect RF from a satellite and actually focus it to a receiving antenna, you actually need a real parabola - getting the energy "close" to the antenna but not actually on it is like not getting it at all

[@WayneMetcalf]

@gorak9000 they are indeed parabolas. The idea is that the bulb is at the focus of the parabola, which bounces off the reflector and projects out straight, think of a newtonian telescope mirror in reverse.

[@Patterntrick]

This was fun! These are the kind of vids that made me fall in love with the Save It For Parts channel.

[@dsuess]

0:20 Omg, best intro ever!! The blooper reel was worth it You won the internet today

[@brake_4_cake]

KZbin says it doesn't listen to your conversations, yet this appears in my suggestions 3 minutes after a conversation about satellite dishes and data transmission, neither of which I usually talk about

[@saveitforparts]

I've heard modern TVs have a microphone and will listen to you for advertising and sell that info back to Google etc.

[@antoineroquentin2297]

I thought about this for decades.. thanks for doing it! This is great.

[@jasonsummit1885]

You might be able to use a space blanket and spray adhesive to make the umbrella foldable but still use it as a dish as it's more flexible than HVAC tape.

[@jonathangreenstein919]

Another reason we love to subscribe to you- it’s a great treat to see now content from you and this one was awesome. I am tinkering with an expedient and portable dish as you made and was looking at paint versus foil - maybe a metallic coating/ graphite would work as Dish and DorectTV rigs are coated. I like the portability of an umbrella rig. Thanks again for the awesome video

[@gyrran]

0:30 ... a pack of gum, two shrek dvds (polish dub), my neighbors toothbrush, the tail feather of a toucan, a parking ticket, a q-tip with the cotton removed, one juggling ball, 3D glasses, a bottle cap filled with tabasco, three tabs of LSD, and your mother's blessing.

[@B_T_B]

I know the wife will be happy with me when Im out in the garden with an umbrella saying im getting sat data. 🤣You Sir are a bad influence for me, wanting to mess around with other things that I shouldnt be!

[@NouveauAlchemist]

Great work Gabe! Very inspiring!

[@InfiniteWonderz2]

Keep it up I really enjoy these videos!

[@MatthewJohnCrittenden]

Magnificently silly idea. KZbin needs more of this kind of stuff.

[@JoducusKwak]

the cat coming over was going "how did you fit all of that in your pocket?"

[@philamend4778]

Very interesting Satellite-SDR receiver project delivered with a great sense of humor. Technically fascinating and funny/entertaining at the same time!

[@bobs1345]

Decades ago we aluminum painted C Band fiberglass dish antennas to to receive the new KU Band satellite TV. I often wondered if an umbrella painted with ALUMINUM paint would receive satellite signals?

[@MaxStax1]

Love your channel, always fun and interesting.

[@element_47]

This was a cool project, and something I always wondered about as a kid.. just I didn't know what satellites really did or how they worked. I just would always see the giant satellites in people's backyards in the middle of the desert in the 90s, and always wondered if umbrellas could be a satellite too... Actually got my first kiss sitting inside a giant satellite dish when I was like 5 lol.. also like the peter sripol merch! Also also.. I still don't understand most things satellite.. outside the verrry basic of basics.

[@saveitforparts]

I didn't know much about them either, just started poking around at stuff that I saw other people online doing :-)

[@W8RIT1]

I loved your humor in this video. You're the Red Green of Radio.

[@aionarkhe5260]

I really like this idea! I've seen space blankets brought up, but really any solution that allowed someone to basically "fold up a satellite dish" would be really really awesome.

[@Umski]

"Crime against antenna theory" 🤣 MacGyver would be proud 😎

[@skonkfactory]

You could spray the inside of the umbrella with conductive nickel paint. Or use conductive fabric.

[@PeteWord]

So cool! I really liked this project.

[@Venlaw]

This is great! I've had an RTL-SDR for years and never really put it to use.

[@WimsicleStranger]

This video serves as an awesome reminder to those willing to get into DIY fields like this, or any other DIY-craft I suppose. Very rarely does everything go right, and I bet I could edit down the 80 hours of work into a catchy 20 minute video on my own personal projects like everyone else does if I was into YouTubing lol.

[@qy9MC]

Finally a man with real questions and good answers.

[@ThatOliveMrT]

The umbrella could still fold with extra work. Essentially the reflective material would be cut to the same pattern as the umbrella webbing. Maybe some sewing or gluing. Overall I rate A+ for time put in vs what you got all things considered

[@ShayBlez]

I unironically like this design on the actual umbrella itself, and was surprised to see it. :o

[@To-mos]

Finally a tutorial that utilizes every item in my pocket.

[@Defensive_Wounds]

This was your coolest side quest!!!!

[@adamweb]

This video had me cracking up while still being super informative! You also have more wheelbarrows and kayaks than any mad scientist I know!

[@saveitforparts]

You can never have too many wheelbarrows, usually all the darn things are full of various yard "stuff"! Likewise kayaks, I keep finding cheap ones and for a while I was the friend with the kayaks and the roof rack on every boat trip.

[@daryllect6659]

You sir, are a freaking GENIUS!

[@mnoxman]

Can't tell if this should get a Red Green or a MacGyver award.

[@FlameSilver]

This is the perfect amount of jank, I love it. I wonder if those emergency foil blankets could be used to replace the canvas thing of the umbrella, it might actually be able to fold up then as well

[@luisestebanr6311]

chill, You're not cursed at all, because that is not an umbrella, it's a satelite dish, tecnicly, Your good. Nice proyect!!

[@1NIGHTMAREGAMER]

cover the metal beams with foil and add ducktape to back on umbrella to prevent shaking

[@GaryMcKinnonUFO]

'if only i had some sort of umbrella for this weather' :))

[@davejann4814]

Entertaining, simply entertaining. Thanks

[@CH11LER.]

Instead of foil tape, try emergency blanket(s) and spray glue (look in the carpet fitting section of any hardware store for the best stuff) I enjoyed this video

[@yoppindia]

you can try stitching the foil to the umbrella, also you can stick the foil on the other side(top), it need not be underneath.

[@darkforcesjedi]

I don't know why this video showed up in my feed but I found it very amusing.

[@Scrabled-Bits]

Now, I wanna see what his neighbors were thinking, with him holding up a tinfoil umbrella and pointing it at the sky.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

You made an _Umbrellabolic Dish._ 😊

[@CyclingSteve]

Thanks for answering a question I have had for years.

[@Fronzel.Neekburm]

I always wondered this. Somehow I inherited a cameraman's flash umbrella that has foil coating on it to direct light and I though can this be used as a sat dish. It seems more rounder than yours too.

[@VitorFM]

Yes, I was going to say about that, there are camera flash umbrella that already has everything : tripod mount, it is reflexive and you easily as a holder to the receptor!

[@neo4552]

I sometimes wonder why people don't use old thrown away android phones for everything instead of raspberry pis. They can do a lot when rooted and it gives them a purpose again, saves money too.

[@dmacpher]

You sir have MASSIVE pockets

[@GaryMcKinnonUFO]

'absolute crime against antenna theory' :)))

[@TiagoTiagoT]

Regarding the Chinese phone, look up if you can unlock the bootloader for that model; you might be able to replace the Chinese Android with something a little cleaner like LineageOS. The hardware itself will still probably be off-limits for government agencies and stuff, but at least on the software side there will be a lot less to worry about.

[@JR-hb6jr]

The thumbnail is all I needed to subscribe to your channel.

[@andymuzzo8568]

There’s a lot of old ladies rolling in their graves after you opening the umbrella. Haha. Nice work

[@coondogtheman]

That is awesome. I have an SDR and I can pick up something around the 152mhz band that sounds like data. And that is just with the stock "rabbit ears" antenna that came with it. Wish I could pick up all of those weather maps with the hurricanes.

[@saveitforparts]

There's a lot of random stuff around that frequency range. Business data, TV station audio, private company radios, older police and fire radios, etc. Check out radioreference.com, it's a great site for researching local frequencies.

[@coondogtheman]

@@saveitforparts I did hear data around that frequency and I've identified it as POCSAG pager traffic and have decoded it with PDW program on windows. Surprised it's still in use.

[@OokamiTheWolf]

I wonder if a practical replacement for the umbrella would be one of those metal saucer sleds kids use in the snow. it would be a lot more ridged, and could probably be polished to a mirror finish.

[@Jvird]

omg this channel, i just found it and i love it

[@kaltwarraith5172]

Who knew the phone installation would be the hardest part? *raises hand* As a firmware and software developer for over a decade I have been railing against the design philosophy used for modern software which builds on heaps of dependencies on an extremely inflexible linking process

[@hiloruslan]

такой тёплый ламповый канал :) спасибо! such a warm cozy channel :) thank you

[@michaellichter4091]

A very interesting project; the satellite dish reminds me of the antenna of the Lunar Roving Vehicle, which could also be folded. A metal coating on an umbrella increases its effectiveness as a lightning rod.

[@ET2carbon]

That goofy thing is exactly the reason I know the whole rover thing was fake. You saw it flopping around right? And if you're on the moon, what satellite were you fixed onto in the 60s? Such ridiculous crap

[@moormoor4281]

Mind blowing stuff fantastic thanking you from England

[@thomasdanger8266]

THIS IS AWESOME! I just found your channel, and do not know much about antenna but would love to see if this works when you switch out the aluminum tape with one of those aluminum foil thermal blankets that are used by paramedics or firefighters. Much lighter and more flexible. might be able to close the umbrella and have a concealable satellite dish.

[@belisarius565]

Love the humor!

[@earlyadapter643]

I wonder if a satellite can vice versa be used as umbrella. The offset dish might be useful in windy conditions when it is raining almost horizontally, otherwise the C-band version provided that the rain drops are bigger than the mesh size

[@vaelenorg]

This is amazing. Great work! I'm surprised that you can work l-band LEO satellites by hand at all, yet alone with an antenna made from an umbrella.

[@hacktheory1337]

That's awesome bro!

[@rodneyolinger7955]

Just an FYI, the name duck tape did not come from its use for air conditioning ducting, it came from how it was made. It was made from being backed with canvas duck cloth. Not a big deal but interesting.

[@leimococ]

3:27 "...so let's hook my phone up to my umbrella and try to download some satellite data"

[@nonames100]

Schell's brewery. I see you're a man of taste as well.