El Loco Ricardo and His Company Cosmosat

COMPANY REPORT
Installer and Dish Manufacturer Cosmosat, Argentina
El Loco Ricardo and His Company Cosmosat

196 TELE-audiovision International The Worlds Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine 01-02/2013 www.TELE-audiovision.com
El Loco Ricardo in front

of his 3.4-meter double reflector antenna.
Learned everything about satellite reception on his own Installs head end stations for cable operators as well as community systems Planning his own dish production Turned his hobby into his career
www.TELE-audiovision.com 01-02/2013 TELE-audiovision International
197
COMPANY REPORT
Installer and Dish Manufacturer Cosmosat, Argentina
From DXer to Dish Producer

Is this crazy or what? Ricardo has a professional 3.8-meter double-reflector dish installed in his yard and this includes a professionally cemented mounting platform. Crazy in Spanish is Loco, hence his nickname El Loco Ricardo, and naturally this giant 3.8-meter dish isnt his only antenna: he has a total of 11 antennas scattered around his property and on top of that theres an uncountable number of other unconnected dishes of all different
Buenos Aires
Ricardo and extreme reception. Hes
pointing the dish to EUTELSAT at 10W. I might be the only one that can receive this satellite here in Argentina.
Ricardo in his reception shack.
Ricardo is using his hand to align to the right
position. Reception range spans from 116W to 10E, comments Ricardo.
sizes. Obviously, Ricardo isnt crazy but he succeeded in converting his hobby into his career. He has been living and working in Itzuzaingo, a suburb west of Buenos Aires, since 2001. He explains to us how it all started: I was 12 years old when my father moved to Colon in the Entre Rios province. That was in 1977 and there was no TV reception there at all. So, what does an ambi-
tious teenager do in a case like that? Its simple: he builds and builds as long as needed until hes able to receive TV from Rosario 300 km (190 miles) away. And the rest is history. Young Ricardo was infested with DX reception and started playing around with other frequency ranges. Back then via shortwave I could hear every receivable station from around the
world and I collected QSL cards from those stations. When satellite channels started beaming down from the sky, Ricardo was one of the first in Argentina to try this new technology. He remembers: I built my first satellite dish in 1985. He needed almost a full year to build a 2.5-meter dish but the thrill of receiving that first TV channel was even greater. He still remembers today what
One of the standard homes as
seen from the outside. Only if you look really close can you see the antenna hidden in the garden.
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1. Ricardo still has his first analog receiver stored in his shack: its a model from DX Antenna that he used to receive his first TV channel back in 1985. 2. Ricardo even has a bending machine in his workshop that he uses to bend mounts and attachments for dishes. 3. Ricardos homemade device for the reception of circularly polarized C-band signals. 4. In Cosmosats warehouse: Ricardo is very happy with the AZURESHINE dishes that he resells and also uses at his cable operator installations. 5. Also homemade: a Ku-band feedhorn.
those first TV channels were: It was the cable TV channel VCC and its competitor CV. It was also the state-run Canal 7 and the just-started private TV channel Canal 9. These four channels were on the INTELSAT V-F13 satellite. I could also receive the channels on BRASILSAT A1 and GORIZONT. It didnt take long for him to realize that his 2.5-meter dish was too small for the C-band and in 1987 he was able to acquire a 3.4-meter antenna. The following year 1988 he began working for a living and started as a technician at a TV broadcaster. He soon realized that his fellow technicians and engineers were quite familiar with the theory but didnt have all that much practical experience with reception. Ricardo on the other hand was always testing dishes and LNBs and knew exactly what size dish and what type of LNB was needed to receive a particular satellite. After installing satellite systems in his free time for years, he finally de-
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cided in 2004 to become independent: I founded my own company Cosmosat (www.cosmosat-digital.com.ar). He focuses on installations, mostly for cable operators, and also on the installation of cable head ends and community systems. In my first year I installed around 50 dishes, today its more than 200 a year. In 2008 he expanded his activities to include the sale of components. Some of these products I get from wholesalers and the others I import myself. Far more interesting are his own creations. He shows us a Ku-band feed: I designed this myself and have it manufactured here locally. Another highlight of his handiwork is a C-band conduit for the reception of circular signals: A friend of mine makes these for me here. And it gets even more interesting: Im currently in the process of setting up a satellite dish fabrication plant. The casting molds are already finished: Right now Im still experimenting with the right dish material. Ricardo wants to start with the production of 1.5-meter dishes; larger sizes would come later. For his initial target market Ricardo is first looking at his home market in Argentina, maybe later on Ill consider exporting. Ricardo has the know-how when it comes to how satellite dishes function and he knows best what size satellite dish is needed for a particular satellite. Its valuable experience that will certainly help him market his dish production. Maybe crazy Ricardo will soon become dish Ricardo instead.
1. In a metal workshop of a friend Ricardo has a model of a panel that he had them build for him. He wants to start his own dish production here soon. 2. Ricardos yard is a treasure chest for old dishes and components. To the left is a professional rectangular antenna and to the right old framework for a 3.4-meter dish. Over here I still have old framework for a 4.7-meter antenna. In front of Ricardos feet sits an unusual microwave antenna with various reflectors and an interference radiation grid. Ricardo loves exotic antenna shapes like these.
A look at some of Ricardos
dishes. On the roof of his house youll find a 1.0-meter dish for TELSTAR 12, a 60cm antenna for GALAXY 28, an 80cm antenna for HISPASAT, a 1.5-meter reflector for AMC6 and a 100cm antenna for the AMAZONAS. An additional 1.8meter motorized dish sits on top of his reception shack. A total of 11 dishes are mounted here and in operation.
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COMPANY REPORT

Installer and Dish Manufacturer Cosmosat, Argentina

El Loco Ricardo and His Company Cosmosat

El Loco Ricardo in front

www.TELE-audiovision.com 01-02/2013 TELE-audiovision International

Installer and Dish Manufacturer Cosmosat, Argentina

From DXer to Dish Producer

Ricardo and extreme reception. Hes

Ricardo in his reception shack.

Ricardo is using his hand to align to the right

position. Reception range spans from 116W to 10E, comments Ricardo.

One of the standard homes as

www.TELE-audiovision.com 01-02/2013 TELE-audiovision International

A look at some of Ricardos

www.TELE-audiovision.com 01-02/2013 TELE-audiovision International

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