Can I Get Satellite Data With An Umbrella?

[@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

[@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".

[@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."

[@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.

[@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.

[@ChrisGoosman]

“Crime against antenna theory” 😂

[@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

[@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 :-)

[@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.

[@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?

[@daryllect6659]

You sir, are a freaking GENIUS!

[@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?

[@1NIGHTMAREGAMER]

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

[@ARockRaider]

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

[@GaryMcKinnonUFO]

'absolute crime against antenna theory' :)))

[@FaustoTheBoozehound]

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

[@Defensive_Wounds]

This was your coolest side quest!!!!

[@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!

[@oberonpanopticon]

3:27 What a glorious moment

[@richardfritz9479]

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

[@SaraMorgan-ym6ue]

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

[@mattstosh6960]

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

[@qy9MC]

Finally a man with real questions and good answers.

[@tfairfield42]

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

[@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.

[@Patterntrick]

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

[@AbhayRajKarun]

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

[@LiamHanson-b8g]

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

[@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 🤔

[@brown56765]

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

[@dsuess]

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

[@benotsilent6703]

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

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

You made an _Umbrellabolic Dish._ 😊

[@W8RIT1]

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

[@GaryMcKinnonUFO]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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!

[@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.

[@plazmaguy13yago9]

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

[@antoineroquentin2297]

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

[@MatthewJohnCrittenden]

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

[@EarthWalkerOne]

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

[@mnoxman]

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

[@luisestebanr6311]

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

[@hiloruslan]

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

[@RC-nq7mg]

I use sdr touch on android, you do have to buy a key for full access though. I do not recall what it cost.

[@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

[@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!

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@Umski]

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

[@philamend4778]

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

[@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.

[@Venlaw]

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

[@Tomatopriest]

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

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@dougtaylor7724]

That looks like the contents of my wife’s purse. Add Kleenex and lipstick and you’re there.

[@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?

[@skonkfactory]

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

[@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!

[@Uncertified-Unprofessionals]

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

[@dmacpher]

You sir have MASSIVE pockets

[@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.

[@ShayBlez]

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

[@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

[@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.

[@Big_Not_Good]

Okay, I wanna do this.

[@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.

[@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

[@russotragik]

We're facing some unearthly heat, and a girl had a terrible(not actually) idea, she used a spray contact adhesive and space blanket to the external side of the umbrella to block UVa/UVb radiation, and she did sold a lot, so I was wondering, if you could do the same thing with another umbrella, but puting the space blanket by the inside and then, making if portable again

[@peterzhu1329]

use a more parabolical shaped umbrella and spray paint the intside with reflctive metalic paint, might work better? I really liked your initial idea of DIY dish signall receiver, that's so mind openning.

[@InfiniteWonderz2]

Keep it up I really enjoy these videos!

[@iamgriff]

I used my Boofweng radio to listen to the I.S.S. On my 3rd attempt I finally picked up some transmissions. My neighbor and his son were there. Lol, now they have Boofweng (baofeng) radios, and we have been monitoring a neighborhood channel. I am going to try this Gabe! Steve, and Little Steve, if you two are reading this…. Heeeeelllllooooooo!!!!

[@gorak9000]

I don't think Gabe is going to appreciate it when you boof him with a radio - that might cause some permanent damage. PJ and Squee might not approve either...

[@truthreigns7]

Man, i think you could take a soup can and make anything out of it.

[@To-mos]

Finally a tutorial that utilizes every item in my pocket.

[@darkforcesjedi]

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

[@leimococ]

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

[@neoboost6377]

You could try using reflective spraypaint, instead of tape, it may not offer the same reflectivity, but it might just be enough, also this would allow the umbrella to fold.

[@rey273]

a portable antenna could be really useful. i wonder if you could use the stuff they make thermal blankets out of. or the type of stuff they have in chip bags. i wonder if anyone else has tried to make one before, especially in the 80s-90s when this type of tech was more commonplace with TVs and stuff. thank you for sharing your experience.

[@ET2carbon]

There are literally a bunch of collapsible antennas available already... We used them for tactical satcom in the field

[@rey273]

@@ET2carbon sorry, i’m new to this community. this popped into my recommendations and i haven’t heard of a portable antenna before. i’m still learning about all the wonderful hardware for this type of stuff :)

[@ET2carbon]

@@rey273 you good, it's a cool thing to get into

[@valtersvasilis]

McGyver edition! 👍

[@iamjessieray]

This is pretty cool and actually gives me hope for doing some radio astronomy or pulling some data from weather satellites for myself. I have access to some old internet dishes and an old TV antenna. I was wondering if I could use the old antenna to pick up some data from any of the LEO weather satellites. What do you think?

[@saveitforparts]

It depends on the dish, generally bigger is better for satellite antennas, although this silly umbrella thing isn't that large. If you mean a Yagi-type TV antenna (with all the rods sticking out), that probably won't get much from satellites without a reflector and a re-tuning (cutting the elements to a specific size), but I've never actually played with one!

[@iamjessieray]

@@saveitforparts The dishes I have access to are an old direct tv dish and an old hughes-net dish. It's been a while since I have seen the TV antenna but I remember it having several metal rods in loops so I suppose that may not work. I might still set it up and try it anyway just for the fun of it. My parents also said I can have their old 2ish meter dish on their hill if I can get it out of the trees, but that will be a later project that will be specifically used for radio astronomy

[@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 :-)

[@chriscox4085]

Came for the satellite, stayed for the goose.

[@RoboArc]

The big floofy kat ❤❤❤ 😊 made me happy when she?he jumped up and inspected the gear.

[@NexxuSix]

@Gabe, Adafruit has conductive fabric. Makes me wonder if you could use that instead of layers of aluminum tape? Not for sure what the efficiency or reflectivity would be but it might be an interesting experiment 😮

[@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.

[@Paranoidtimes]

what about space blankets ????

[@SteveTech]

I think SDR++ has a driver built in, because I use it all the time on my phone to record my brother's flights and don't have a 'driver' installed, and I've also have never had it crash. Although it'll fail to pickup the SDR unless you plug it in before starting the app, then tap on the refresh button below the selection menu once the app's loaded. Edit: Oh I just saw you did get it to work, so idk how to fix the crashing after five minutes. I usually record for about an hour at a time without issue but I was running an older version, so maybe there's a new bug?

[@RoadRunnerMeep]

I honestly love these weird ass designs and jobs with little materials. It's what helps you learn, and what makes it so fun. The experimentation. Could use a silver based spray paint to reflect images on the umbrella rather than the foil tape?

[@saveitforparts]

Most metallic paint doesn't have much if any actual metal, I did order some of the fancy stuff with high metal content and will try that.

[@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

[@JoducusKwak]

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

[@Offgridhomestead77]

Have you thought about painting the fabric of the umbrella with aluminum paint? For I think it should still reflect as a dish and still be foldable on the intention of the idea. For I may have to try this .

[@saveitforparts]

I haven't found a paint with high enough metal content yet.