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Plans and Pictures

Updated: April 19, 2007

More pictures will be coming soon as work continues.

The SRD Plan We are solving many, many problems as we actually build the thing, so if it ends up actually looking like this it will be a miracle.

Vanload 1 In May of 2006 we did a beta assembly of the superstructure to test a wide variety of basic SRD concepts. (Lead technical engineer seen testing van-mounted forward auxilliary observation seat).

Vanload 2 The "single Toyota van" transportation principle was deemed successful after all the components were loaded/unloaded without crew injury, damage to the van, or trouble with the cops.

Beta Assembly 3 The pictures of the actual assembly look like crap, so we aren't going to post them. It was a success, however, on many levels: 1. It did not fall over. 2. Four guys were able to point it pretty much skyward. 3. It fit in the van. 4. We made it over the initial hump between "theory" and "reality" without losing our minds or uncovering insurmountable flaws in the concept.

Free! The outer skin of the microwave has been sawzalled away, revealing the 1kw magnetron and the control electronics inside. Cost if purchased from commercial communications company: $10,000. Cost if purchased at Wal-Mart and extricated using crude power tools: 50 bucks (its nice to keep the pointy end of economies of scale aimed away from you).

Front Face The mangled oven from the front, still showing the marketing stickers. There is some kind of cutoff that prevents the unit from operating unless the door latch is in the closed position. I was in the midst of rigging a bypass when my friend picked up the door we had hacked off and stuck the latch into its slot. Viola - the microwave with no front, bottom or sides is now convinced that the door is safely shut!

Closeup A closeup of the unit itself. We will unbolt it from the oven-carcass and mount it at the focal point of the dish. Wires will run back down to the oven control unit which we will still use (including the push buttons and the timer).

Carousel Not exactly sure what we will do with the derelict carousel. Such a strange fate for this inanimate object...to be snatched from a mundane destiny as a heater of food and an accumulator of canned chili spatter, to playing an integral role in an interstellar communications project!

Side View Another view showing the emitter housing and the separated oven unit. After eagerly hacking the oven in half to see what was inside, we realized that it comes apart quite easily just by loosening a few screws. What the sawzall lacks in subtlety it more than makes up for with drama, so I am okay with it. Still, it would have been cool to have the oven casing completely intact, with just a couple of wires running out the back to the dish.

Top View Another angle on the transmission unit in its factory housing. Note the cooling fan (this baby gets HOT when it is going full-throttle, so we are going to make sure there is a cooling fan in the transmitter housing assembly). Another note on heat: my physics friend pointed out that due to the "quantum tunneling" effect, the area several millimeters behind the reflective surface will get very hot when making transmissions. Fire estinguishers will be close at hand. My other friend, upon hearing this, suggested that we capitalize on the quantum tunneling effect by using it to heat up tortillas for the after transmission snack.

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