Adjustable, foldable Double Cross Antenna for NOAA Weather satellites

thingiverse

With this antenna you can receive data from NOAA weather satellites and get live images from orbit of your area. I got the idea from this site: https://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-tutorial-receiving-noaa-weather-satellite-images/. Here are also instructions on how to set up the software and everything. The antenna is based on this PDF file: http://www.qsl.net/py4zbz/DCA.pdf. Usually this kind of antenna is mounted on a roof or so, I designed it to be foldable so that you can take it pretty much anywhere and so that it doesn't take up too much space if you store it. All this might seem a little scary for beginners but it actually is quite easy, even if you have no experience with any of this. You learn a lot while building the antenna and setting up the software. Provided, you have all the building materials and a laptop, all of this also isn't that expensive. The RTL-SDR which I and most people use costs only about 25€ on Amazon. All the software is free. REQUIREMENTS - 2x 20mm PVC pipe (length: 2m) - 2x 16mm PVC pipe (length: 2m) - 8x 20mm M5 Screw + Nut - 8x 10mm M4 Screw - 8x 46cm Conductor for dipoles (diameter in best case: 9.5mm | I used 5mm Aluminium wire) - at least 488cm 50ohm coaxial cable with connector - some copper wire for connecting stuff. - soldering equipment - duct tape - glue (I used hotglue mostly) - HackRF or RTL-SDR (more details in the first link above) The files are named after the following system: partname_1x_L02_N04_I100.stl partname_1x_L02_N04_I100.stl is the name of each file. 1x means print once, L02 means Layerheight 0.2mm, N04 means Nozzle diameter 0.4mm (others should work too), and I100 means Infill 100%. All the parts already have the optimal orientation for printing. Supports are only needed with "RotorHead" and "RotorLock". You should print everything with 1.6mm Wall Thickness and 1.6mm Top/Bottom Thickness. CHANGELOG: 26.06.18 - bevelled edges of "RotorLock" - Added images - The antenna is no longer WIP - Added final STEP 11 25.06.18 - Finished the antenna - Borrowed a soldering iron - Added STEP 9 24.06.18 - Added "DipoleClip2" with additional slots for tripod and extension pipes - Added cable exit holes to "Tripod". The final cable can now be run through the entire lower pipe and exit the tripod - Added "Dipole_Clip" for more sturdy transport - Still waiting for my soldering iron which was supposed to arrive four days ago 23.06.18 - Still waiting for my new soldering iron 19.06.18 - Shorted my soldering iron, ordered a new one - Added 20mm section that has to be cut out of the 20mm PVC pipe - Added more pictures to STEP 7 - Removed local timestamp from changelog - Added motivational text - Rotated all parts except "RotorLock" to optimal print orientation - Rotated "RotorLock" to optimal print orientation and widened holes - Updated STEP 4 - Updated WIP reasoning - Submitted thing to thingiverse education for approval even though I have no idea if this is close to any standard but why not 18.06.18 - Updated requirements (added HackRF or RTL SDR to requirements) - Added STEP 8 to instructions - changed "NodeWIP" to "Node", stretched the model and made more room for the cables