DIY Radio Telescope Version 2: Wifi vision - Part 1

Radio telescopes are phenomenal tools for exploring how the world looks in frequencies far to low for any camera to see. In a previous video we built a telescope capable of seeing 12ghz radiation and used it to take a picture of geosynchronous satellite orbiting the earth.
This inspired another idea. What if instead of Ku band (that 12ghz signal) we looked at wifi signal instead. Further, the same system could be used to track satellites as they orbit and pull high quality data from them. While at the time of upload the device isn't fully functional, it is built and we've managed to make it move. In the next video we'll finish the control system and begin taking images and looking for satellites.
Artem's channel: / val3tra
Antenna Calculator: www.changpuak.ch/electronics/...
Gear generator: geargenerator.com/#300,300,100...
Foulab: foulab.org
____________________________________________________________________
Support the show and future projects:
Patreon: / thethoughtemporium
Nebula: go.nebula.tv/thethoughtemporium
Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/thoughtemporium
Become a member: / @thethoughtemporium
Store: thethoughtemporium.ca/
______________________________________________________
Our Social Media Pages:
Tiktok: / thethoughtemporium
Instagram: / thethoughtemporium
Facebook: / thethoughtemporium
Twitter: / emporiumthought
Website: thethoughtemporium.com/
_____________________________________________________

[@mustafaahmed3693]

I tried to do the radio-telescope project for my first semester project. Sadly no-one else wanted to team up with me. That turned out to be tedious but a good thing for me because I had to do everything and learned so much about building, electronics, coding and optimizing a system. In the end I finished it but now I'm still not satisfied. I want to improve it so much more and I know how. I just can't let it go now that I've come this far. I'm not going to stop till I'm done. Your first video inspired me a lot and was probably the thing that inspired me to do this. Thanks for it.

[@jefflucas_life]

Mustafa Ahmed Same here, I just need some radio software to translate the hydrogen line to a viewable images using my satellite dish, I have documented my progress on my channel and my research no one ever says this is how I translate Fourier radio signals to viewable image. I left off with CASA software site. I like to complete this project...

[@satans_crotch]

I need info for taking down government in my country

[@mingerone]

You need a much bigger gear ratio and some kind of optical encoder(out of a mouse perhaps) to measure the angular distance the gears are actually moving your antenna to have a hope of creating an accurate scan. The angular measurement encoder will overcome any jankyness in gears. Microstepping on your ramps board and limit switches will also help. Good luck. Loved your radio telescope vid(its why I subbed). :)

[@thethoughtemporium]

There's no need to have that level of precision at this scale. The antenna itself, while directional, has a pretty wide focal point because it's so short. The difference of a degree or two shouldn't matter too much. For the version 3 which will host much large antenna with a much tighter focus, then I'll need tight tolerances.

[@mingerone]

Just speaking from my experience of building a motorized Dobsonian for satellite tracking. A closed loop system with cheap or free encoders from a mouse or optical encoder disk ripped out of a printer will make the system more precise and repeatable. Yes with very accurate gears you can get away without it for some applications but at a cost. All gear trains have errors , so this is why mostly all consumers printers use closed loop encoder systems because it is cheap and easy to implement for a fixed budget. [edit] to be clear I am hoping to learn something from watching this. I can build an accurate moving platform using my telescope building experience but the radio/microwave stuff is all new to me. I hope to emulate their design for the antenna (both radio and wifi) and put it on my own telescopes to scan the clarke belt and other cool stuff. Thanks for the feedback. We are all learning throughout life ideally.

[@mrw1160]

Do a 3rd gear pull with it

[@TannerTech]

I can't wait for part two!!!!!!!!!! Awesome!!

[@chandrahasan3225]

I have is that possible make using wifi single and make images like x-ray images?. "WiFi image"

[@chevsev]

If I understand you then yes its posable but it would be cheaper and you would get better quality imagi*¹ using x-rays. Wifi uses 2.4 or 5Ghz and every government controls the transmit strength for that band so the depth or distance will be limited and WiFi cards and AP will add a lot of noise in residential and industrial areas. So yes it could be done, but would be more of an exercise of theory than making anything useful. *¹ both the power used and the size of the wavelength limit resolution so 5Ghz would yield better results than 2.4Ghz. The antenna size also plays into this as the antenna needs to be larger for 2.4 Ghz than 5Ghz and that still more so than X-ray so for imaging you could not have as many antenna per square cm. but this is moot if you are using a single scanning antenna like they do here but this will not work well with moving targets.

[@aryanghotkule7785]

U r wright

[@xWood4000]

The unpleasant fumes are hydrochloric acid. Edit: technically hydrogen chloride as fumes but reacts with water in the lungs to form acid.

[@logansutton4464]

RIP

[@xWood4000]

Logan Sutton Yes, if you butn enough of it.

[@logansutton4464]

did that really need a reply?

[@henrychan720]

Hydrogen chloride. They only turn into Hydrochloric acid when in contact with water.

[@xWood4000]

Henry Chan That is true but when you breath in it dissolves and turns into acid.

[@MoisesCaster]

We can't find this kind of project on KZbin, good job.

[@xWood4000]

Moises Castro We can now.

[@themarblers4399]

You did perfect with those tin snips. I'm studying jewellery and I doing it the same. Cutting, filing and done. But, if you get a shorter and curved tinsnip you get a better cutting job.

[@tesseract342]

Thank you for working so hard to bring these projects out. Respect.

[@MarkFunderburk]

I like the idea of using flattened PVC pipe, I have looked into buying sheets of PVC before and it is very expensive. You could also use PVC cement to do the final assembly for a very strong joint.

[@jamesluck2969]

Mark Funderburk, I got a sheet 3'-4' of black PVC plastic for only around $20-30usd once you added shipping

[@SaitoGray]

Yeah, i will use that too ! I needed PVC sheets for my pond filter but there is no way i spend more than 35€ for a piece of plastic. I have a heat gun, some PVC tubing, that'll do !

[@BenThatOneGuy]

So happy that you are back to messing with radio! You are who inspired me to start listening to what's out there, and i'm hoping to start building a NOAA receiver with my SDR soon. Looking forward to see more!

[@darealpoopster]

Wow, I loved your first telescope. It’s where I found your channel. You have been growing so much

[@danielpiotrowski1681]

This video got me so excited. I've wanted to build a radio telescope ever since I saw your last video! Can't wait to see where you take this project. The fact that I am currently working with synchronized steppers in my own project will make your videos even more fun to watch.

[@PantsB4Squares]

Whoa super cool with the pvc being made into sheets. Thanks for sharing!!

[@Chlorate299]

Ooh I loved the radio telescope video, looking forward to the next installment!

[@evanro2396]

Super cool! I'm excited to see anything you are able to pickup with this!

[@CRuggles3]

So excited for the Wifi Vision! This has some really neat aspects about it. Thanks for the great work.

[@dezkelz]

Very cool project. I watched your original satellite dish radio telescope a while ago and then just happened across this video today. I've been wanting to get into radio astronomy for a little while now and these videos of yours are really exciting to watch. I just subscribed and am looking forward to next week's video!

[@besenyeim]

Two things to consider: when you don't need high torque, you can use friction drive; when it doesn't have to turn too much, you can use cable drive. Cheap, easy to assemble methods with good results.

[@themarblers4399]

Máté Besenyei ezek szerint itt is vagyunk :)

[@remiranda]

try to balance the antenna on itself, make the turning axis on the middle of its center of balance.Doing so will make the counter balance weight not necessary, resulting in less stress on the motor and the gears, hopefully a more precise movement. great work so far! can't wait for the next videos.

[@orlando9163]

I was so hyped for this video glad it came out

[@nordykid]

This is incredibly cool I'm amazed with your craftsmanship, keep it up I can't wait for part 2

[@quantumlab9130]

I can't wait to see the final product... this channel is awesome... I would also be interested in an update on your super capacitors.

[@josephf151]

This is the first I have ever heard/seen of you channel, I am glad I was suggested it!

[@raybokor2]

great stuff ive been in the radio hobby for 40yrs doing all sorts of stuff with antennas and radios

[@b.6603]

Wow, so amazing to see a project as it comes to live!

[@oscill8ocelot]

+1 for ClickSpring reference. =)

[@Estabanwatersaz]

Thank you for the honesty. Now we will not feel like total Clutz as we carry on. Your the BEST EVER!

[@NeedsMoreSubs]

Your videos are amazing. the first time I ever visited this channel I was about to click away because all of the thumbnails looked like information overload. I'm glad I gave a few videos a try because they ARE information overload but I never knew how satisfying information overload could be.

[@Ryan-rq6dx]

I love your radio telescopes and other radio related videos!

[@Sazoji]

why is the sub box blocking videos that I actively watch every video on the channel, I'm "bell"ing this channel, I dont understand why youtube doesn't want me to watch you.

[@Imaboss8ball]

If you ignore notifications eventually KZbin will stop sending them or only send them times you are known to respond to them. This results in irregular notifications. The reason this is done is because most people get way too many notifications to the point that it annoys them. I remember several years ago my notification bar used to never have an empty space.

[@wildkev1010]

Man I LOVE your videos. I wish there were some easier projects for people like me could do on their spare time. Love tinkering with stuff like that, just don't have the extra time to fully do it

[@hikiwi]

Amazing work as always!

[@Diditixi]

Amazing! I look forward to this!

[@hubzcaps]

this is the best thing on youtube. very acurate build nice helix beamer!!

[@geodeaholicm4889]

cool project & interesting to hear the trials & tribulations. very clever way to get structural plastic sheets.

[@nospoiler9550]

Seus projetos são uma inspiração para mim, continue com o bom trabalho amigo.

[@A1OFFENDER]

Great video and you have huge potentional

[@bassome3000ify]

Suggestion, maybe using open scad, 3d print a guide for the coil, so u won't have to accurately bend it

[@deadmeat1126]

Ok, that PVC idea is so useful

[@alexhiggins2551]

Really enjoying the content! Radio telescope project is very interesting please keep it up.

[@PeterVB00]

Such a cool project!

[@Marius-ob]

Waited sooooo long for this super cool video

[@GaryMcKinnonUFO]

That's a meaty-looking heatgun, mine looks like a pen in comparison! Nice follow up to your first project.

[@chinmaygandevikar5773]

DUDE!! Finally youre here!!!

[@dentaldickwad]

Awesome. But to get your antenna symmetrically perfect I suggest Cad Cam or CnC pipe benders.

[@analarmingnumberofbees4571]

Looking forward to seeing the massive radio telescope down the line. I bet you could get one of those 10 foot satellite TV antennas from the 80s for cheap or free if you really felt like going jumbo.

[@jasonpatterson8091]

PVC sheet is readily available at big box stores these days. A 4'x8'x1/2" sheet is ~$60, while a 4"x10' pipe is $16. The prices are quite comparable when you compare areas, but the sheet is already perfectly flat and you can use it to make larger objects.

[@Andersss]

Awesome!

[@fathantara7894]

Finally i wait for this

[@andrer.6127]

I just caught this. "Wifi is just radio at a lower frequency." LMAO I love The Thought Emporium it gave me the idea to do this, but with beam forming so there are no mechanical parts

[@KarlToona]

just FYI, if you need flat sheets of PVC, talk to a sign shop. they do a lot of mounting onto 4 and 10mm pvc, and usually have some scraps that have scars not suitable for printing, but sandable and useable for things like you're doing.

[@ymj4256]

Keep it going I love your content.

[@Soupie62]

When I made a helical antenna, I took 2 long strips of perspex and cut slots in each one [going from end to middle]. For base plate, I used a blank double-sided Printed Circuit Board [PCB].

[@UpcycleElectronics]

Nice. Just suggested in my feed, Sub'd. This is the first time I've seen the PVC flattening idea - genius. BTW you know "PVC cement" is a thing. That stuff chemically melts and bonds the PVC creating a chemical bond instead of the mechanical adhesion of hot glue. I've only used it for fixing plumbing and building custom PVC studio lighting stands, so I don't know how well it works on a tee or butt joint. Be sure you want a permanent bond before using it though, as you will need to cut the part to defeat it. Thanks for the upload. -Jake

[@thethoughtemporium]

I knew there was a good chance this whole thing would be taken apart and rebuilt, so didn't want to go with something so permanant. Also we were out, so I'd have had to go buy more so I used what I had around. Glad you like the project!

[@mspeir]

You can also buy PVC sheet at a plastic supplier.

[@pekwalker]

I really like your projects and watching your videos, my only wish was that the projects were simple enough and repeatable for common folks like myself to be able to repeat them. Good job on another project.

[@thethoughtemporium]

I'm glad you like the projects. I will say though, the code will be posted when the new video goes out and is totally open source, as will be any of the schematics that are digital, the materials are literally garbage for the most part and only common shop tools are required (and the 1-2 3d printed parts can be ordered online for like 10 bucks and aren't even strictly necessary, I was just lazy). By all definitions that is repeatable. The goal of this channel is to show that these seemingly complex project aren't impossible and could be done by anyone with sufficient patience (with a few exceptions like the lactose thing). That's why I built this whole thing by hand with only a bandsaw, a scroll saw, a heatgun, a glue gun and some files. And it can be simplified further. Don't be intimidated by complex projects. Face them head on and know that most challenges aren't insurmountable. When I got started in nuclear physics I had literally no idea what I was doing. Sure it took me a year to get my thing working, but I got there through trial and error. Mostly error. You'll learn a million times more by picking a project you think is too hard and forcing yourself to make it through it.

[@AtlasReburdened]

Btw, if you're looking for something that can provide a snug, but low friction dry bearing surface, getting a roll of conformal, silicone backed PTFE tape is totally worth the price tag. I originally bought mine in an attempt to cheaply protect copper thermal transfer lines from a weak nitric acid solution but since then it's ended up between lots of bearing surfaces where it's not practical to contaminate with dry or wet lubes, and also a few places where high temps are concerned. It's one of my favorite niche material to throw at a problem.

[@vat_1989]

Awesome awesome work 👏👍

[@rypedub7973]

Bro I love these 3 videos !!!!! Do you have a video on how to make a radio reciever / transmitter? And you only need an FCC license to transmit on specific ranges of frequencies sets &/or after transmitting above X amount of power &/or reach longer than X distance. We can hit walkie talkie frequencies and not need a license, and we don't need a license to listen in at any range 😜

[@abgehn7869]

This is awesome!!!!

[@TheEEStudent]

You can improve your feeder by using a wave guide.. 2.5" tin can can work just fine for wifi frequencies.

[@azyfloof]

TheEEStudent good idea 😃 Cantenna style

[@gamereditor59ner22]

Interesting!!

[@cameronkeys49]

awesome

[@kgeorgejunior]

I really love your work! Some advice from me, I find it faster and safer for my hands when boiling the PVC pipe instead using the heat gun (also, doing it that way the pipe can't be burnt).

[@thethoughtemporium]

I had no issues with the heat honestly. I'm used to working with stuff that's a lot hotter than the plastic was. But thanks for the suggestion!

[@thekidofalltrades8648]

Thanks this is awesome..... You are awesome!

[@wormdamage]

Nice job! But I would suggest that it's worth the time to lower your bandsaw guide for all the flat cut work. The blade will be much better supported for a more precision cut and as a bonus it will make it harder to cut your entire arm off in case of a mishap.

[@juhailmarisalminen]

Nah Clickspring would be proud:D

[@jaymercy224]

3:05 Great attitude!

[@LordDecapo]

"Not clickspring quality" xD xD hahhaha. Great work either way :D

[@bogdanbogdanovich140]

You deserve much more fame for what your doing, some people are making horrible nursery rhymes and get millions of views and you have less than 100k

[@bryanst.martin7134]

May I offer a suggestion? Instead of your classic design, use a pair of rollers of 1/2" tubing, wider than the length of the tube you have,(8"-12"?) mount in parallel bearings, and drive one roller with the stepper motor. Section a center potion of the tube and mount your scope and counterweight in it. It will improve the torque and resolution of your elevation 10 fold. A similar setup could be used for azimuth. A 3 axis gyro could be mounted to sense scope x,y and z. Arduino stuff. There's much more but I'll keep it short.

[@NicholasA231]

"It may not be Clickspring quality"... because you still hold title to your soul. Seriously, my brothers started using my name as a verb to describe the act of way overdoing some task to perfection, but I'm pretty sure I'd have to sign a fiery scroll in in an infants blood, committing my soul to eternal damnation in order to do what he does. Also, super excited to start building all kinds of stuff with flattened pvc pipe stock. Genius!

[@DarrenPoulson]

Have you seen the SatNOGS project? Its a crowd sourced distributed ground station for tracking and recording satellites with open source plans for the mechanics and firmwares.

[@DigitalAwareness]

Put more teeth on those gears and adjust the ratio to get a smoother more accurate picture. Excellent work man, awesome project.

[@AtlasReburdened]

Yes yes yes, right in line with my current tinkering.

[@nerdboy19]

9:26 it might not be clickspring precision hahahah Love it

[@nirodper]

Make it out of wood and use gt2 belts and pulleys

[@beachboardfan9544]

+1 was thinking this the whole time. 👍

[@blackwingmaster141]

Pretty cool project ;) I will probbaly do something similar during the sumer. Have you thought about using Yagi antenna, for differently polarised signals? Or even a LPDA for wideband scanning ;)

[@thethoughtemporium]

Ya, already have one for v2.1. Gonna be testing it out shortly, just need to get through this project and wait for my new LNA to arrive. Glad you liked the project!

[@qzorn4440]

nice how to video, I jumped to the end to see the done deal. 😎 thanks I want to see how to use it put together? 😏

[@nigeljohnson9820]

Another source of uPVC is roofing materials, soffit and barge board sheets make excellent materials for home projects.

[@nzqualityltd2596]

Great work just a suggestion or 2, if you use smaller teeth on the cogs it would stop it from being so floppy and use cogs on both sides.... all the best...

[@AtlasReburdened]

Have you ever tried a sprung slit gear to try to mitigate the backlash? Seems well within your skill set and it let's you stick to plain gearing. If you just use the pvc you used and cut "H" or "I" grooves in both sides the springs will hold the sides together in addition to the rotational force they apply to the other gears teeth, assuming bespoke fit and such.

[@EthanSeville]

I wanna see more radio projects

[@virtuosohun]

Im lowkey impressed how you were able to Tell that it was intelsat21 by some pixels 0:23

[@elialinnanmaki5749]

"Two bolts covered in nuts" that just sounds so funny XD

[@Scorp1u5]

You should really use flux when soldering. Unless that's flux core? But lit loked like it didn't flow that well. I would have just put a worm gear on the stepper, and used one large gear. I'd also have just used 1.5" PVC and wrapped the coil around that. Then drill a hole in the middle for the main pivot. Slot one end and put your large gear there, the worm gear engaging on the bottom. It's much easier to build and everything will be centered and balanced, so very little tweaking will be needed. The worm gear will give you finer control and you can use a smaller (less torquey) motor (but at the cost of speed).

[@ekkekrosing8454]

You should try to do radio interferometry!

[@mattshu]

I want a garage just like yours ughhhh

[@TheCalvinSkinner]

If you don't have to scan very fast, gear down your movement so it's smoother and more accurate.

[@dawsonmulkey3440]

Ok so down the line you should look into vex kits. I'm part of a high school robotics team and we use vex to to introduce people to the basics of robotics. They produce a lot of the types of gears, axils, spacers, and such that you where using. They are a lot easier to adjust and are pretty accurate. You still might have to have a ridiculous gear ratio but with the vex gears it is a lot easier.

[@dawsonmulkey3440]

Just to clarify I am not talking about the toys.

[@SeptrothFFXI]

Vex kits are extremely expensive for what they are, better off just sourcing just the parts you need so your not paying for an entire curriculum along with the hardware. There are many places online where you can buy gears screws axles bearings etc

[@SeptrothFFXI]

Also places like eBay have second hand industrial automation equipment that can be bought extremely cheap that will blow the junk plastic vex gears outta the water

[@kirkula]

As someone who was a tin knocker in his youth, I must say that my fingers were stinging looking at that circle you just tried to cut there :-D

[@HennerZeller]

Ah, greetings to Paul from San Francisco!

[@HennerZeller]

Nice. Let me know if you run into any issues with BeagleG.

[@FirewaII33]

As a machinist some of this video causes me so much cringe and sadness. As a non professional no background no nothing amateurish engineer (tinkering designer), I learned a shit ton of little tricks that are so obvious yet would have taken me 43 revisions to think of. So overall I love this video!

[@Wingman4l7]

Damn, I wish you had access to a laser cutter. Laser cut plywood would have been so much faster and convenient than that PVC.

[@hgravina]

Muito legal teus videos! Eu acho que deverias montar ou usar uma antena com mais ganho, 14dbi é bem pouco comparado com outras disponíveis. Com ganho maior vai ter mais direcionabilidade e com isso pode ter uma resolução bem maior.

[@billrussell3955]

Dude, I can't give you enough cash. Wish I could contribute more! We both need resources for materials. I love everything you do. My interests are in plasma, Condensed matter, and magnetic fields. Right now I'm focused on magnetic fields. I have some new mathematics and physics for you. I want to make my home a maker space. I have all the tools you used here and a few other items, like a laser thermometer and other cool tools. Please email me. I would like to have you come to see me and find out what I've got. As another science project look at how the earths magnetic field is related to the moons orbit and how the moons movement away from the earth is linked to the field. Anyway dude, if I can kick more cash to you I will but life's not easy as you have already learned. Capitalism sucks. But that's the social system we have right now. I will continue to support you!!!! Take a nap!!!

[@remiranda]

wow man, don't blame capitalism. you probably meant to say corporatism

[@argenteus8314]

+Renato Miranda Goncalves No, capitalism sucks. Just because you, like most people, have been brainwashed into believing there's no alternative and that socialism is inherently authoritarian doesn't mean it's true. We need to abolish capitalism.

[@billrussell3955]

I didn't mean to upset anyone. Sorry. I support science and creativity. I love McGaiver engineering! I always take shit that needs a new purpose. Anyway sorry for the social economic political science. Let's stick to physics, chemistry, atmospherics Spectroscopy, geometry, mathematics, gravity, and anything else related to nature without social emotional stuff and banking. Best wishes to everyone! This is the best KZbin channel. I've contributed to 3blue1brown, spacetime, and other similar mathematics and physics related channels. MIT OCW, Stanford OCW, and Kahn Academy are also my big favs!

[@raymonroe1983]

Answer me this what about Capitalism sucks? Please explain what makes it so much worse than socialism or communism?

[@billrussell3955]

Pulsejet Lover, my education and experience is in accounting and economics. So I have some modest knowledge in this field. It deals with psychology and social networks. Sooo... let's stick to mathematics, geometry, engineering, and physics! How we get support for these is my consern. This guy is so f'ing intelligent and a great communicator!

[@drspastic]

the logical extension will be to get many people around the world to construct these and aggregate the data into a 3d image. by justified data to account for earths rotation and orbit you could get a full image of leo satellites and deep space objects

[@holetoanotheruniverse4690]

YEEE!!

[@nonchip]

"i was getting complaints that not everyone has a 3d printer" well that's what makerspaces and printing services are for. i for one don't have a printer but no drill press or scroll saw :P

[@intencityfan]

could you PLEASEEEE update us on your super worms, and fungi experiments?!

[@hxka]

Have you considered instead of rotating a heavy antenna, mount it stationary and adjust the direction it's scanning with light metal mirrors?

[@TheDanielConsole]

> get a 3d printer/cnc laser to do the job and a cheap driver from gearbest or adafruit > change video name to "overcomplicated catapult pt.1" > ??? > PROFIT