Farnsworth Video Communicator Prop scanner add-on
(as seen in Warehouse 13 TV series season 2)
In one of the episodes it was necessary to create a direction finder that worked on the special protected frequencies that the Farnsworth uses. An add-on has been created by "Claudia" for her Farnsworth and the "field" versions. It is basically a dish antenna assembly which can be plugged in the side of the Farnsworth.
On her unit it plugs into the brass eyelet "sockets" in the side of the case but an extra couple of sockets were added to the other Farnsworths to accommodate it. Also the screen is black and has a red arrow on it. Due to my limited number of screens I am more inclined to go with my original stencil idea for the screen images so they can be changed easily.
I'm also thinking of making a compromise with this scanner antenna so that one unit fits both Farnsworths. It looks as if the sockets are at slightly different heights on the side of each case and I thought to use telescopic rods rather than solid ones to allow for this. Of course once I measure everything it might not be the case at all.
The usual search for "found parts" turned up a few obvious things. The main plug assembly is an off-the-shelf dual banana plug to speaker wire adapter found at many electronics stores. It has two wires added to it which terminate in alligator clips. Also a small capacitor has been inserted into the cable hole in the adapter. There also appears to be a thin metal rod or wire inserted in the adapter.
These are available in red or black and I purchased some black ones on Ebay. A red one is shown as a little more detail can be seen. Also the ones I purchased do not have gold plated plugs.
The metal rods holding the dish to the plug seems to be just that; metal rods or tubes. The dish itself will probably have to be fabricated from pieces of styrene. While it resembles the little umbrellas found in tropical "fufu" drinks, these are usually made of paper and look more like umbrellas than radio dish antennas.
More when I can back to writing this.
The original Farnsworth prop is here and the "Claudia" Farnsworth prop is here.
Thanks go to the members of the Replica Prop Forum (RPF) who are so willing to share their time, skills and experience with others.
As mentioned the parts links might be to sites overseas. Dealing with these companies can be very expensive especially with regard to the cost of shipping even small items to Australia.
Last modified: 14th August 2010