As may be obvious at this stage is the fact that I have always been interested in technical stuff. I spent time as a child playing with the TV aerial trying to pick up various things. At the time there was not much available only BBC1 through to Channel 4 which I receive from Belfast's "Divis" transmitter. I was also able to pick up some Scottish channels although the signal was never very good. I was able to work out from the tuner on the TV why certain transmitters were broadcasting in certain areas of the UHF band, which led me to understand grouped aerials and the reasons for them.

I later lived in Belfast for a time and although I was able to receive a strong Divis signal, I had serious problems with ghosting on most channels. I was still on analogue. This prompted me to search the internet for a solution. I came across a digital TV adapter now commonly called a Freeview box. This was at the time when ITV Digital was still broadcasting. Although I did not subscribe to this I was immediately hooked on digital TV due to the quality of the picture and the increased channel numbers. I very quickly learned a little about Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) and how it fitted in alongside the existing analogue broadcasts.

Some time after this I worked for a company that built digital satellite receivers. In my time there I learned a lot about this platform and its advantages over terrestrial broadcasting. Through this job I also learned how to, and installed several motorized satellite systems including one on my own house. I left this job to become a satellite (Sky Digital) engineer. Although I already had considerable knowledge about digital satellite TV at this stage, I became extremely familiar with the largest (by far) single digital TV provider in the UK and Ireland. It is my opinion that Sky Digital is the best and most advanced digital TV provider in Europe if not the entire planet. Through my experience I fear that some of you may disagree with my opinion. If this is the case then please read my reasons for it in the satellite section.