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From: inc@fluke.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.math
Subject: Parbola Definition Needed
Message-ID: <317@tpvax.fluke.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 17-Jul-84 15:31:49 EDT
Article-I.D.: tpvax.317
Posted: Tue Jul 17 15:31:49 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 19-Jul-84 03:36:20 EDT
References: none I know of...
Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Everett, WA
Lines: 31

Hello -- I don't normally subscribe to this newsgroup, mainly because I
don't know what you're talking about most of the time!! However, it seemed
to be the right place to request some information. First let me give you the
background:

When I lived in Minneapolis, a friend of mine built a home-made satellite
television receiver, and for his parabolic antenna, he used one of those
aluminum "Saucers" that kids slide down the snow on. Anyway, what I wanted
to know, is:


    A. Do those saucers describe a parabola accurately enough for use as an
       antenna? If not, what does? Is there an item as easily available, as
       cheap, and as close to a real parabola to work? Or can I easily make
       one? I was considering using sand as a mold for a fibre-glas one. I
       seem to recall a magazine article that told how to do it, but can't
       recall any details.

    B. Once I have my parabola, how can I find the focus? That's the place I
       have to put the transducer, and I can't seem to locate any of my old
       math books that tell how to locate the focus of a parabola. 

Thanks to anyone responding to this: please send direct to me, since I think
that this topic is not of general enough interest for the whole newsgroup.

Thanks, I appreciate anything you can tell me. 

-- 
Gary Benson	     {ihnp4!uw-beaver}{sb1!allegra}{ssc-vax} 
John Fluke Mfg. Co.  {decvax!microsoft}{ucbvax!lbl-csam}{sun}  !fluke!inc
Everett, WA, USA       *- ALL INPUTS GLADLY MULTIPLEXED -*