Aalten Vooruit, 11 December 1985
AALTEN – PEA (Pennings Ebbers Antennes) has recently installed Aalten’s first satellite dish. Gerard Pennings and Jan Ebbers started PEA eighteen months ago alongside their regular jobs, and the business is already doing well: they are receiving more and more orders to install aerials on roofs in Aalten and in other places too.
What makes the installation unusual is that they have recently fitted a so-called satellite dish (see photograph). With a diameter of 120 centimetres, the dish can receive programmes broadcast directly by the E.C.S. satellite. This gives viewers access to around ten channels, including ATN Channel, Music Box, Europa T.V., SAT 1, Teleclub, RTL, RAI, News World, TV 5 and World Press News.
The satellite dish has to be aligned very precisely. A direct connection must be established between the centre of the dish and the satellite, which is positioned 36,000 kilometres above the equator. The total distance between the satellite and the dish is 41,000 kilometres.
In addition to the satellite dish, reception of the various programmes requires a receiver and a tuning unit located indoors.
The future still has a great deal to offer. The number of satellite programmes will only increase, while competition between suppliers will make the equipment needed to receive them increasingly affordable.
Mr Ebbers and Mr Pennings of PEA (Polstraat 35) are always willing to provide further information about the satellite dish, and a demonstration can also be arranged.