Quote Originally Posted by CVT
That is your actual antenna. It is at the focal point or focus of the parabola....

The rest of the parabolic dish structure is your reflector.

This is geometry at work. The focus is equidistant from any point in the parabola and therefore, all the signals that are caught in the parabola are fedback to the focus, which is the location of your antenna...

Neat isn't it?

7606:mobile1:
No offense, and I mean it, but the dish reflector is an integral part of the antenna ... the very reason why it's called a parabolic antenna. Without it, you won't have a focal point. The reflector is the passive element of the antenna. The passive and active parts are the actual antenna array.

Guess what the resulting antenna will be called once you take away the dish reflector.