Hopefully the Confederation of Aerial Industries Ltd (CAI) will be contributing more widely to What Satellite & Digital TV especially the new Pro-Satellite and Pro-Talk section. For the uninitiated we thought it a good idea to summarise, very briefly, how the CAI has arrived at its status today as the largest representative body for the UK’s signal reception trade.
The CAI has already heralded its 30 years of service to the industry at one of its most successful exhibitions and gala dinners during June 2008. Since the inception of a trade association that encompassed both installer and distributor capacity in terrestrial aerials and satellite receiving equipment, the broadcast world is a totally different place. The year 1978 saw most folk simply making do with 3 channels of TV served up by the BBC and ITV, Channel 4 was only just emerging and ‘Five’ was never even a concept.
The satellite side of CAI business began to surface in the early nineties with Sky taking lots of capacity on ASTRA satellites in order to cement its place in broadcast history. The status of a trade association for the signal reception trade became apparent as membership accelerated and installers became extremely prosperous. As a then Executive Councillor of the CAI I personally identified a need for some form of inspection or assessment of new applicants and indeed existing members, to make sure they were all abiding by the rules.
The rest, as they say, is history. The CAI now employs 3 full-time officers responsible for an assessment process and a part-time helper aids them during busy times. The CAI now has its very own premises in Watford that it shares with the SCTE (Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers) and Beverley has 2 full-time office staff and 2 part-timers.
Our rapid 90’s growth identified a need for training to upgrade engineers with the necessary skills to integrate satellite TV into existing networks. We quickly established the first ‘Basics’ course that covered general UHF aerial principles and fixed dish reception. This identified a need that SMATV engineering did not satisfy at that time. Again history tells all and the CAI now has a complete raft of courses that covers the basics right through to SMATV and IRS networking.
The latest triumph is to finally see and NVQ established in our industry. It has taken a lot of graft we never thought would be necessary. But it is now possible in some parts of the country to enrol at a college and pursue NVQ levels 2 and 3 in Signal Reception.