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Teen turns scrap into satellite booster

2014-07-24  Staff Report 2

Teen turns scrap into satellite booster
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By Nuusita Ashipala

ONGWEDIVA - A self-made inventor from northern Namibia has invented a satellite dish booster from scrap material to boost internet connectivity through radio signals for people in rural areas or in areas that have weak network signal.

Josua Nghaamwa said he is inspired by Alexander Graham Bell who invented the modern telephone that has presently become a daily necessity.

Nghaamwa initially made his mark at the age of 18 when he created a cellphone using discarded radio parts and old toy cellphone scraps and other junk material.

His first invention could reach a cellphone of the same altitude over 1000km using radio signals.

After four years since his first invention, Nghaamwa is back with a home-made foil satellite dish booster, which aims to deliver fast internet access to the widest population at the lowest usage and capital cost and create a strong competitive business.

Nghaamwa says the dish is designed to fit in a laptop bag and has a USB serial port that enables users to plug in their modem, router or cellphone into one of the ports to increase the internet connection speed and it is also a wireless device that supports Bluetooth and wireless (WI-FI) technology.

“The prototype satellite dish is a device which is built with foil, designed to improve internet speed and poor availability of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) signal, especially in rural areas were digital communication is at its fancy.” According to Nghaamwa “the products target farmers, as well as anyone with internet access to a GSM device anywhere in the world and want to have a faster and more reliable connection.”

Apart from its distinctive radio signal usage, the dish is designed in a small package with user-friendly satellite terminals that could be used by anyone depending on the wavelength and the location from where the recipient is using his amazing gadget.

Besides the great inventions including the unfortunate incident in which he half burnt his uncle’s house after a mixed-herb experiment went out of hand, Nghaamwa says many promising inventors will continue facing the sad reality of having to store their work at the back of their garage instead of being transferred into something usable by society.

According to Nghaamwa, the inventions bring a lot of excitement, however, there needs to be complementary encouragement in terms of state funding to make the projects usable.

“Many of these social networks that we use today were experiments from other young people in other countries,” related Nghaamwa.

Nghaamwa said that there is much to be desired for young inventors saying it is about time that Namibia creates a manufacturing company of its own.

Despite the insurmountable challenges he faces Nghaamwa encourages his peers to invent things that could make life much easier. At the moment Nghaamwa is hopeful he would find sponsors to patent his invention for commercial use.

The young innovative man has a patent certificate issued by trade and industry.

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2014-07-24  Staff Report 2

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