If I'm calculating right, all of the dipole antennas could have been packed into a box the size of an old-fashioned toaster (a 15cm or 6-inch cube).
Calculation: Volume of cylinder (πr²h) x 480M antennas (assume half were of each diameter) =
3.14x(0.00254/2)^2x1.78x240000000 + 3.14x(0.00178/2)^2x1.78x240000000 = 3225cm^3; cube root of 3225 is about 15cm or 6 inches
Yup. Even smaller than an old fashioned, toaster, even - although this is assuming perfect packing density, which wouldn't be the case, and would add about 10% to the needed volume.
Since Mythbusters proved that finding a needle in a haystack isn't that difficult, I propose that the term be changed to "finding a needle in the ionosphere." [Not applicable to orbital debris trackers...]
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[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 32.1 ms ] threadCalculation: Volume of cylinder (πr²h) x 480M antennas (assume half were of each diameter) = 3.14x(0.00254/2)^2x1.78x240000000 + 3.14x(0.00178/2)^2x1.78x240000000 = 3225cm^3; cube root of 3225 is about 15cm or 6 inches
https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=the+volume+of+a+cylind...