Grote Reber's first radio telescope, 1930s. In 1937, 26-year-old radio engineer Grote Reber built the first dish antenna radio telescope, constructing it in a side yard of his mother's house in Wheaton, Illinois, USA. He used wooden rafters, galvanized sheet metal, and spare parts from a Ford Model-T truck. With this 31-foot-diameter telescope, Reber mapped the radio structure of the our galaxy, discovered bright sources of radio waves outside our galaxy, and made observations that would later help physicists discover non-thermal radiation.