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Satellite Workshop



This is the seventh in a series of articles which will help you to save money.

I'm constantly being asked "how can an Internet connection save me money?" Well, it works like this for me: I pay 100.00 per year to my local Service Provider for Internet Access.
Having an Internet address means that I can send and receive mail from around the globe. I keep costs down by dialling up the server for just two minutes each evening. During those two minutes I retrieve about fifteen messages and send my replies to the messages from the previous day. I'm currently handling around 150 per week. The messages generally arrive within two hours - often much quicker than this! It's not as quick as fax but remember that I can send fifteen messages by e-mail in the time it would take to send one fax and I'm paying for just a local call.
The alternative of typing, printing, posting letters is far less efficient and cost effective. In fact I could not send more than fifty local rate letters per month for the same overall cost.
The "Web Page" allows anyone in the world to read about me and my upgrade kits and other products. I attract visitors to the "Web Page" by listing lots of information about satellite TV. To ensure that they find it, I got my Service Provider to "register" dozens of "key words" with the "search engines." So anybody searching for the manufacturers' names "Amstrad" or "Pace", for example, will be given my "Web Page" address.
"That's fine for mail order but I just have a shop" you say? This argument crops up frequently. But if you sell something which is not readily available in a small village in Outer Mongolia (for example) somebody there might be interested in having you post it. Only last week, I had an enquiry from a small village in Switzerland from a guy who wants an LNB. He'd rather pay me to post it than drive eighty kilometres to the nearest town! Don't think that, because you have only a local shop (or just a van!) nobody will be interested in buying from you. Don't limit your sights to your local area. You might live in a town where prices are depressed - well that's all the more reason to advertise world-wide.
My advice is to try an e-mail connection first. Better still, use a ready-made service such as CompuServe. This is great for a beginner because the computer set up is simple and you get immediate access to "Forums" (discussion groups) where you can make useful contacts, both for business and socially. When I was made redundant a few years ago. I was in desperate need of advice and help to start my own business. I paid for access to CompuServe and never regretted it. I found lots of people willing to help. In fact, even though I now use a local Internet Service Provider, I still maintain my CompuServe account.

Bandpass Filters


In a previous article, I mentioned a lack of bandpass I.F. filters for satellite TV. This prompted Bengt Jöckert of Parabola AB to contact me with his range of filters which are available in four segments: 950 to 1200, 1200 to 1450, 1450 to 1700 and 1700 to 2050 MHz. For more information fax Bengt on +46 300 40621 in Sweden or email: sm6cku@parabolic.se

Channel Listing


Keep up to date with those satellite channels by visiting the Internet site http://www.funet.fi/index/esi/channels/
You'll find a list of programme channels for each satellite covering Europe and more.