# Odd components inside a Satellite dish



## PlainsScrapper (Mar 12, 2017)

Hello everyone, I hope you all are having a good day.
I have a question about this component pictured below.


How would you go about processing these? I have seen quite a few of them on these boards.
Any help would be appreciated.


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## goldsilverpro (Mar 12, 2017)

PlainsScrapper said:


> Hello everyone, I hope you all are having a good day.
> I have a question about this component pictured below.
> DSCN6324.JPG
> How would you go about processing these? I have seen quite a few of them on these boards.
> Any help would be appreciated.


Plastic or ceramic?


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## PlainsScrapper (Mar 12, 2017)

These happen to be plastic.
I am aware of ceramic versions of them, but they have Beryllium Oxide, correct?


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## PlainsScrapper (Mar 24, 2017)

Any ideas?


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## Topher_osAUrus (Mar 24, 2017)

PlainsScrapper said:


> Any ideas?



I havent processed any of those. But, I do have ideas. (good and bad)

I would try to hit one with nitric and water in a test tube. See what happens.

Id try to incinerate one (wind at my side) to see how readily the plastic is coerced from the metal.

Id try one in AP.

Hopefully the second option works, as I think it would be best to incinerate before nuking them in nitric.

The difficult thing to work around, is some plastics will dissolve in some acids. So, nitric may cause a mess. Or the copper (II) chloride leach may as well.

Could even try the sulfuric cell.
Really, all you can do is test. See which method lends itself to the smallest mess, and choose that one.


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## aga (Mar 24, 2017)

They look like dual-gate GaAsFETs, and seeing as they're in high-freqency kit, they probably are.

The older/higher spec ones have a ceramic 'body', the cheaper/more modern ones plastic (those look like plastic).

If you have not got 1000s to process, the 'body' might pop off just using wire cutters or maybe a hammer.

In either case, do it inside a plastic bag to avoid the bits flying everywhere (like your eyes :shock: ).


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## PlainsScrapper (Mar 24, 2017)

Topher_osAUrus said:


> PlainsScrapper said:
> 
> 
> > Any ideas?
> ...



Thank you for the valuable response. I am currently in college at the moment, and focusing on studies. I am also not quite comfortable with trying to incinerate anything or doing any processes yet, other than using nitric acid and other chemicals to recover some silver out of a few keyboard mylars. I haven't even done enough research on the forum on building a furnace or planning on incineration. I am purely collecting components right now, and learning about various processes in Hoke and on the forum from individuals like you. I will be sure to keep this information in mind.



aga said:


> They look like dual-gate GaAsFETs, and seeing as they're in high-freqency kit, they probably are.
> 
> The older/higher spec ones have a ceramic 'body', the cheaper/more modern ones plastic (those look like plastic).
> 
> ...



After doing some research on Google, this makes sense. Thanks for enlightening me on this. I have always had an interest for electronics and knowing what all the components do, and their purpose. Since I get only get a few satellite dishes or pieces of microwave equipment a year, I definitely could separate them and get them apart. 

Thank you all for this information, and I will be sure to update this page some time in the future if I do anything else with these components, along with any other questions I may have. Best wishes everyone, and take care.


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