You know those big dish satellite receivers people bought 8 to 15 years ago? Most of them are unused and can likely be purchased for about $50. Sorry I don't know how to optimise the receiver for radio astronomy, but the receiver has most everything you need, if someone knows how to make the minor electronic modifcations. The control arm will, all but surely, not track the Clark arc after you re-install the dish, but you want to look at an arc of sky that does not contain satellites, so that is good. The six to ten foot dish will not detect the weaker radio sources, but you should be able to hear the hiss on the TV speakers from the strongest sources without modification. You need to learn the fancier option of the receiver for satelite reception. There are dozens of channels that are not scrambled. If you buy a system operational on Ku band as well as C band, you will have additional frequencies you can search. Neil