Mr. Rawles:
I had thought I had seen mention of it on Survivalblog, but have been unable to find it. “It” is a commo system for line of sight communications, which could be employed between adjacent homesteads. The technique is to situate two dish type antennae, as in the “C” or “Ku” band (roughly 1.5-2 meter) earth station antennae used for rural satellite television reception, pointing at each other. With gain on the order of 30-35 dbi, they provide roughly 8 to 10 fold amplification of the signal inputted into it. Now, if I were to face the dish, pointing at my neighbor’s place, and speak at a normal tone, my voice would carry roughly 8+ times farther than I could shout, and also have a beam spread of around 2-10 degrees, providing considerably greater security of commo than bellowing. (breathe).
Can you help me find the reference I am recalling? I want to toy with such an apparatus, and am looking for guidance. Thanks!
BTW, if someone has leads on how I might obtain surplus or used dishes for a song, that, also, would be welcome. Thanks, – Skyrat
JWR Replies: The letter you mentioned was posted in SurvivalBlog, way back in November, 2005. Since 90% of the blog’s current readership came on board in the interim, I’ll re-post it, in full, below: