the house we moved into recently has a digital satellite dish on it. We use regular cable, so I don't need it for anything. Is it possible to turn this into a rudimentary radio telescope? I have googled this but everything I find involves a pretty deep knowledge of electronics.

Is it possible to do this in an "easy" way using a multimeter, oscilloscope or maybe a shortwave set?

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Eagle Eye Observatory

Depends on your definition of "easy"...

The Small Radio Telescope from Haystack Observatory uses standard satellite dishes to do some basic radio astronomy, but the kits they sell include the dish. You might try contacting them about getting the electronics and receiver.

Setup isn't too hard (I helped build on as an undergraduate, when they were just starting), but also isn't as simple as sticking a camera on the back of an optical telescope.

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Any cheap shortwave radio can pick up the Sun and Jupiter (sometimes its hard NOT to pick them up.... the Sun is particularly nasty about messing with shortwave bands!)

Personally, I don't think you'll be able to do much without a background in electronics - most of the stuff is strictly build-it-yourself.

But, if your interested.... search engines are your friend:

Amateur Radio Telescope