European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 28, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse A worker in Tallahassee fla., washes a display lot of satellite dishes ready for can now dish it out on the base Deedee Arrington d0ke Kaiserslautern Bureau people on . Military bases and leased housing can now have satellite to receivers at their Homes a under certain conditions. The decision by the american forces information service one of two recent developments affecting satellite reception by americans in Europe acknowledges that Many people already have satellites dishes in place. A what we re doing is legalizing it Quot said John t. Halbert command broadcast officer he . Air forces in Europe. Quot the reason was to get us out of the policing but permission to install satellite receivers is not granted automatically. Local air Force base commanders and for army posts local directorate of engineering and housing operations must approve the installation and use of dishes. In the second development German authorities have decided that american military members and civilians assigned in Germany who own satellite dish receivers no longer have to pay License fees to the Deutsche Bunde Spost. The Bunde Spost is the Federal Agency that regulates the country a communications systems including postal services Telephone and Cable television. The germans recently dropped the fee requirement for . Forces personnel after reviewing a supplementary agreement to the nato status of forces agreement at the request of . Authorities. The fees varied in Price depending on the Region. The afis decision to end its prohibition on Home satellite receivers in base housing docs not mean that every household will Benefit. Local authorities will develop guidelines for their communities based on the availability of Cable to and aesthetics. In addition satisfactory reception is not guaranteed. A a we la have a haves and a have if you live on the Bottom floor on the North Side of a building on the Edge of a Forest you May be out of Luck a Halbert said. Potential satellite buyers need also to consider what a available if they do get a dish. Many English speaking channels Are encrypted or have a scrambled signal. To receive those channels satellite owners must pay the Channel operators a fee for unscrambling the Channel. Or they can buy a pirate decoder that could become worthless once Channel operators change the scrambled code and face Legal consequences if he operators discover the unauthorized use. But for entertainment hungry viewers the disadvantages May be Worth the expense. In Germany for example an Astra dish gets the Astra 1a satellite with 22 to channels and 27 radio channels Many in English among the offerings on the Astra dish Are education a children Schannel mtg Europe eur sport a japanese Channel aimed at japanese hotel traffic the Rtl-4 dutch Channel with movies in English and programming in turkish norwegian and swedish. Dishes May not be bigger than 60 centimetres in circumference Width or length. They can be placed on balconies or in windows As Long As they Are not permanently fixed in place. And the signals cannot be distributed or shared beyond one family a Home. A Small dish to be mounted on a Balcony generally will be permitted but an 8-foot dish on the roof would not said Usa eur spokeswoman staff sgt. Elayne Venoma. Consumer fact sheets and base specific guidelines Are available at local air Force Public affairs offices and army housing and engineering 28,1990 sunday to plus c
