[01] Gbadamosi Ramoni Adewale, Faculty of Science, National Open University of Nigeria, Akure, Nigeria.

Communication through satellite is very important at this information age. It can provide complete global coverage. It can be used to send and receive information in remote area where other technology may fail. Communication signals are sent in form of electromagnetic signal which are intercepted by the parabolic dish. The offered high-efficiency and high-gain by the parabolic dish makes it appropriate for direct broadcast satellite reception. However, parabolic dish procurement in developing countries is very expensive. This makes it to be unaffordable to majority of the masses. This paper focuses on design and construction of cheap parabolic satellite dish using local readily available materials. An indigenous technology is exploited to achieve the goal of this work. The paper describes from the scratch, how to design and construct a parabolic dish that can be used to intercept electromagnetic signals from the satellite stationed in the space. The proposed design approach offers a number of advantages such as cost-effectiveness and high simplicity. These are due to the fact that; it can be effectively developed with the easily available materials. Besides, it development demands neither special/long time training nor skill. Thus, both technical and non-technical personnel with minimal training can construct it either for commercial and/or personal use. The conducted measurement results show that the apart from being a cost-effective solution, the constructed parabolic dish offers high-efficiency and high-gain benefits.

Dish, Frame, Concave Lens, Antenna

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