Tell us how we can serve you on this site!
Coop's publications have always been "two-way" in dialogue from his flying
finger tips at the keyboard to readers world-wide. If you have comments,
suggestions, critiques, send them along (skyking@clear.net.nz) for consideration
here.
YES - that is Senator Barry Goldwater (K7UGA)
inspecting the world's first consumer computer controlled TVRO receiver, ending
with the pointed query, "Where the hell are the knobs???" Oh yes, the
tall guy to the right is Astronaut Gene Cernan, the "last
man on the moon".
And you might recognize David McClaskey (center) from the front cover of
PORTOBELLO: Two (with his lobster). There's a well known 'ham' behind
Goldwater in top three photos - can you work out who that is? In fact - three
other 'hams' in photos including a VK2!
"I noticed on your 'Who's on First?' page the mention
of Slingbox. Until now I did not realise how up to date that you have managed to
make the book and wrongly thought it would end with Rolf/MadMax." (Ian
Fisher, NSW, Australia)
In fact the last chapters take the reader
into February 2006 including the TV2Me and TelePhoSee Internet creations as well
as 3G delivery on cell phones.
"It has been 20 years since
I spoke with Coop. When looking at the 5th Birthday Party video, I was in the
third row of the audience. I remember to this day the feeling of 'validation' I
felt for our industry to have such a simple thing as a Pioneer's recognition
ceremony. You bring a lot of memories spread over many years!" (Ted aka Alpha - "still careful")
"As the Director of Flight Operations for RCA Satcom (F1-F4) at Vernon Valley, I wanted to thank Coop for his generous assist in reconstructing 'my past' while there in the late 70s. The DVD ('Visit to RCA Vernon Valley'; JV-011 here) you supplied was a tremendous assist in creating my own memoirs of RCA's first leap into space! Thank you again." Archie Miller, Manchester, NJ
Miller has been asked by his grandchildren to "write it all down" from his discharge (US Navy) to the first-ever-RCA-jump into space; a book we anticipate sometime in 2011!
"I have often wondered what happened to Coop - so good to see you alive and well in NZ! David Brough stayed with us for 2 or 3 months a few years back, was working on a small swimming pool idea for exercise. In 1989 I built a new cable TV system here in Salem, my son Monty owns it and is doing OK. The main dish is a 16 foot '8-BALL'; HA! I thought this would be my last major project but in 2002 I bought 80 of the old AT&T tower sites; got the towers, land, buildings and everything in the buildings - paid scrap prices and gonna do OK on these. These are huge 175-360 foot high four legged towers - really BIG!" Haden McCullough, Salem, Arkansas
"Just stumbled across your website. I started a company in the early 80s with a fellow CATV buddy, Frank Abruzzo, called 'Satellite Link' and we played the Miami home shows and the like. Hired another buddy working at Sensormatic, Alli Lake, who was good with an iron. I built the entire CATV system in South Caicos (for Turks Islander Eben Mills) from the headend down to the taps - lacking hardware we wrapped .540 and .412 around each pole and ran on to the next one! We are currently building a home on the north coast of St. Lucia off-the-grid with a 1kw helical wind generator, a cistern, and an uplink through my 'friends' at Hughes for Data/Telephony." Steve Freidah.
"Wanted to let
you know I received my copy of Television's Pirates today - and as this
was my day off, I started with chapter one. This is really great - I have never
read anything so detailed on the television reception business - and now with
copies of the CATJ/CSD DVD, I have it all - what an amazing collection of
everything ever known or important about television reception!" James
Stanley Barr, Texas
"To My Old Friend Bob
Cooper. Do you remember me from bygone days of SPACE, the original
'Dealer Board', VideoCipher receiver compatibility trials conducted by myself
and Frank Abruzzo in Miami, Florida? I remember fondly times spent with you, Bob,
both on and off the air before SPACE and then later at trade shows doing tongue
and cheek bantering while you lampooned the likes of John Sie and other pompous
moguls of the day. How I always enjoyed your quick wit, your verbal skills and
your keen technical intellect. How time flies." Jerry Fischette CEO, TechNet International,Inc.
Jerry - the John Sie "incident" you
recall is related starting on page 713 of "Television's Pirates". It was a
'turning point' for the attitude trade Association SPACE carried towards the
programming world - TVRO would never be the same, again!
"Just
ordered the book from your site and will give it to Dad on father's
day. We put together an Orbitron SX-10 back around 1986, still in good shape. He
scans the birds every day, has 3 receivers, even a Universal SCPC 200 but very
little left on that format. He is WA2HDQ, and 86 years young. We built the
antenna on a hangman looking stand, set it up in the backyard. Before long I was
watching 'Entertainment Tonight' test pattern at 3:30PM - VERY COOL! We had
created a 25' pole at the back of the house, using a rope hoisted the dish to
the roof and a welder made brackets allowing us to drop the dish right into the
slot on the pole. My father let out a 'YAHOO!' while I'm on the ground looking
up at my 10' Orbitron atop a 25' pole. THIS IS REALLY COOL! thought I - and I
still do. Oh yes, Dad was the editor of Radio Electronics
(RE) and Popular
Electronics (PE) back in the 60s." Gary Cornell
Gary -
Coop's first-ever published major magazine article appeared in PE (June 1956) at
the tender age of 18. And RE was his 'home' from 1957 onward as the TV-FM DX
editor and well into the 80s with dozens and dozens of articles including
several that made the front cover. It is a 'small world' my friend!
"We
met briefly at one of the Las Vegas TVRO shows, 84-85, during the wild
years of TVRO. We all have our stories from those days right up until that
fateful day when the dreaded scrambling announcements were published. Hundreds
of pissed-off customers, reels of cables, boxes of LNBs and receivers lying
around getting dusty, laborers getting laid off...but look what we have in the
USA now - 6 bucks of programming for 35 bucks a month and the public seems to
eat it up. Makes me sad that the modern industry was born via the broken backs
of the pioneers. But then, look at what Tesla accomplished. I was so pleased to
find your site and it's a bit ironic that I was just in the basement last night
pondering what to do with all of the CSDs I accumulated over those 6 or 7
years. I learned a great deal from those magazines, both about writing and
technology. You were (are) a great inspiration to me." Ron Krauss, Chief
Engineer, WYSU-FM
"Book Review: Television's
Pirates: Hiding Behind your Picture Tube by Robert B. Cooper reviewed by H. Paul Shuch, N6TX Copyright © 2006 Far North Cablevision, Ltd. (New Zealand) ISBN
0-9777980-3 $29.95 US. Updates and ordering:
teknix4solar@yahoo.com. At the May,
2006 Dayton (Ohio) Hamvention, the world's largest amateur radio
convention, I had the pleasure of running into an old friend, journalist and TV
technologist Bob Cooper, K6EDX/ZL4AAA. Although never a SETI League member, Bob
is owed a huge debt of gratitude by those of us who repurpose surplus satellite
TV dishes to our particular interest. Almost single-handedly, Bob gave birth to
the industry that created our dishes. This book, his personal memoir and a
history of the satellite TV revolution, is must reading for those of us who
point parabolic reflectors at the stars. "Television's Pirates"
traces the development
of satellite TV from the early days of cable television
(Coop was himself an early cable TV system designer and operator), all the way
through to today's ubiquitous half-meter offset-fed dishes feeding Direct
Broadcast video to hundreds of millions of households worldwide. Along the path,
he reveals inside secrets of the pirates who brought about this technological
revolution, motivated by fame, fortune, and the challenge of the game. It should
surprise no reader that many of the original satellite pirates are now SETI
League members. But some of what happened along the road, as revealed by Coop
for perhaps the first time, impresses even me (and I was there!). During
the 1970s, a handful of hams (your humble reporter included) vied for
the honor of becoming the first to intercept and decode video-modulated photons
from space. It's reminiscent of our present race to be the first to detect ETI,
and the parallels will amaze you. One of our number (now sadly departed) early
declared himself the 'Father of Satellite Television'. Bob Cooper examines Tay
(W6HD)
Howard's claim, and makes a good case that the title rightly belongs to our very
own life member and Advisory Board stalwart, Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Coop also
makes-public the intrigue, subterfuge, competition, and cutthroat commercialism
that have led to competing claims and counter-claims, even up to the present.
On a personal note: in his book, Bob Cooper generously helps me
to secure my own small place in Satellite TV history. Most of his facts are
accurate. Most of his words are eloquent (even those that are unfortunately
misspelled, due in part to this publication having been rushed to market without
the benefit of additional proofreading). Most of his recollections are clouded by Coop's
peculiar brand of selective memory. And most of his pages are so engaging that
you won't want to put the book down until you have devoured them; all 928."
"I just finished reading 'Television's Pirates' last
night (having picked up a copy in Atlanta) and it only multiplies the
respect I have for you for the things you have done in the satellite industry.
In recent years it seems that every few months I have to re-invent what I am
doing or selling, because of some unexpected change in the landscape of the
industry. Your experiences are at least on the level of 'Lord of The Rings', I
think!" Mike Kohl, Global Communications
"I have
just received the book and cannot put it down. Mike Kohl said there are
plans for a satellite pioneer's convention next year. I will make a point of
being there whenever and wherever it takes place. Thank you again for the great
book; it will be my nightly reading!" George Richardson, Senior Partner,
GWRC LLC (Las Vegas)
"Your first seminar in 1979 is
the reason I am what I am today. I am still designing products for HDTV
and my products are found at Walmart and most US and Canada chain stores. I hold
3 patents on the Mc44c402 MTS Stereo Encoder which is used by DirecTV and Dish."
Bobby Kaylor, Dallas, Texas
"I am really
getting hooked on your Pirates book; it is very interesting to say the
least. I started installing C-bands in 1980 and went fulltime in 1982. The book
has already inspired me to get back into ham radio. I hold a Tech license, have
just ordered study guides for General and Extra. Thank you for writing the book
and re-inspiring me; I love it." Vern Lemasters, Lemasters Electronics
(N9KMU)
"I had the honour to meet Coop at the San Jose
SPTS (July 1980) and after touring the original Dexcel factory
purchased their LNA serial number 71 for $1100 (!). I also got sucked in by John Rohner (in Iowa) and while his receiver worked, sort of, the ICM I subsequently
bought worked far better. I still have a 12' Lindsay in the yard, works well on
C band, but replaced the feedhorn with a standard Ku LNB which I use on T5
(etc.). Welcome back!" John Shivak, Regina, Sask
"It was truly an awesome experience meeting Coop
again in Atlanta. I am already to page 50 of 'Televison's Pirates' and
would have read all 928 pages but have to eat and sleep sometime! " Paul Helfer, Helfer Satellite
"I took ten copies of Television's Pirates with me
to Albuquerque for the National Translator Association's annual
conference; folks attending who were into satellite in the 80s lapped it up! The
book is of keen interest, but I suggest a more detailed table of contents and
more descriptive chapter headings there." Michael Couzens, Oakland,
California
Michael is well respected as 'The Father of LPTV' in
America, having been the FCC staffer assigned to bring together the first rules
for that service in 1981. He currently practices FCC law as a private attorney.
He introduced the concept of LPTV at the fall '81 Houston SPTS Conference
organised by Coop and his suggestions for improving the 'readability' of Pirates
will be taken seriously when (if!) the second edition is pasted together!
"I remember vividly a meeting in 1983 when Coop, David
Johnson of Paraclipse and Taylor Howard of Chaparral came to my office at
National Satellite Communications (Clifton, NY) during a period when I was a
Board member of SPACE. We sat in my office and talked for most of the afternoon
and when it was over, I knew instinctively I was REALLY on the inside track of
the TVRO world. I have stayed in the industry all of these years and have my own
marketing company doing work for DirecTV and their largest distributor (DSI
Systems). One of my colleagues - Chris Walczak former VP of Toshiba Satellite
TV, picked up a copy of 'Television's Pirates' at Satellite Expo 2006 in Atlanta
and I want one too!" Ron Bruce, CEO & President, Affinity Marketing,
LLC