How to Make a Parabolic Microphone With an Old TV Dish
by M-shameel-kv in Circuits > Audio
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How to Make a Parabolic Microphone With an Old TV Dish
In this project I am going to show how to make a parabolic microphone.I think you have an old TV dish that is laying around your house because you no longer use it. It is time to take out your TV dish and re purpose it. I was Thinking what will be useful for someone like Mcgyver and can be made with stuff that is in your house. the parabolic microphone can even hear low voices from 25 meters away. This will be a perfect tool for Mcgyver.
Let's Start
Gather Everything !
Materials Needed:
- An Old Rusty TV Dish
- Paint Brush
- ESDEE Super Set AUTO FINISH (or any paint)
- Earphones with Microphones
- A Small piece of foam board
- Tape
First you need your rusty dish which is our parabolic structure. This structure will collect sound from all around and reflect it to a certain point. You are also going to need a painting brush and a can of paint I am using a metallic finish you can use any paint or you can leave it as it is. The next thing you need is a earphone which have a microphone I took The earphone which came with a phone. You are also going to need some device to record everything I used a phone. You need a piece of foam board for later use. You are going to need some tape you can use any kind of tape I am using transparent tape because it is what I have. Gather these things and start working!.
Cleaning the Rusty Dish
Start by taking a bucket of water and steel scrubber or something to brush of the dirt.Now you can pour some water and brush of the dirt. After a minute of cleaning look if it is clean and repeat this process until you are satisfied. Note that the rusty part may not go after cleaning and that is not a problem. Wipe of all water from the dish and let it dry.
Painting the Dish
Make sure that the dish is dried and you can start painting. Open your can of paint and mix it very well and take your paint brush and start painting. You can make your dish any color you want I used an metallic finish because I only had that paint left. Let your paint dry it can take 1 or 2 days. Let's wait for it to dry. We need do some stuff with our receiver unit in the dish. So we can jump into our next step.
Opening Up the Receiver Unit
Let's open up the receiver unit. Start by removing the screw from the stand that is holding the receiver unit. You may need a big screw driver because it is possibly a big screw. I had to put some effort on unscrewing this because the screw was so rusty. After you remove your receiver unit you need to open it. Open it up by using a flat screwdriver and pushing up like shown in the image. Be careful it maybe filled with insects luckily mine was clear. Take out the Metal thing inside. If you look close they are really covered with some kind of red glue or something. I think the companies do this to make it waterproof.
Repurposing the Receiver Unit
Scratch out the covering in your receiver unit. Yours may not have the covering. There will be some screws unscrew them don't throw them away you need it later.Apply some force and take out the white membrane which is in top of the unit.After unscrewing you will see a circuit board take it out. don't throw anything everything is useful.
Setting Up the Microphone
Take a 6mm drill bit and drill a hole. I used 6mm to drill because my microphone could go through it. You can use what suits you. Pass your microphone through the hole. If you look at the top of the casing you will see 2 things shaped like cone's inner side.After you have placed your microphone you can make some holes to the membrane with a screwdriver. I made holes in a pattern. Let's close it up
Closing the Unit
Use a piece of foam board to hold the microphone.feed the microphone's audio cable through the hole in the bottom of the unit.If there is a nut then remove it. Take the membrane and place it where you got it. Tape the base and the membrane of the unit. After all of that it should look like the above images. Make sure everything is nice.
Placing the Unit in the Dish
Place the unit in the dish and tighten the screw. Now the parabolic microphone is complete. This can hear the faintest noise from meters away. You can use this to spy on people or here bird songs. Now we can see how can you use this. You can use this to spy on anyone and the sound quality is not depleted.
Record the Sound With Your Phone
Connect The earphone's pin to your phone . Use The app that came with your phone for recording sound. You can save it and here it. With this you can record what people are saying. Now go Outside and spy on someone!.
Support
support this by sharing and voting this for the mcgyver and first time author challenge. I am new to instructables and need your support For making new instructables.