1. COMPANY REPORT Wireless Internet Provider Pignet, São Paulo, Brazil
The Big Ronaldo
• Expanded his hobby into two successful
companies
• Offers wireless Internet in the 2.4 and
5.8 GHz ranges
• Satellite DXing at a very low elevation
■ Transmission towers and • Enthusiasm for technology led to his
dishes: “Big” Ronaldo’s
system hobby and his profession
256 TELE-satellite International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine — 06-07-08/2012 — www.TELE-satellite.com www.TELE-satellite.com — 06-07-08/2012 — TELE-satellite International — 全球发行量最大的数字电视杂志 257

2. COMPANY REPORT Wireless Internet Provider Pignet, São Paulo, Brazil
“Big”
Ronaldo’s ë Louveira
Two Companies
If you live in a city that’s named Lou- ra, a city of 37,000 people in the São and 5.8 GHz ranges and customers can
veira, you’ll quickly come across ambig- Paulo province in southeastern Brazil. access his Internet service within a radi-
uous names. For “Big” Ronaldo Zovaro You can’t miss his main office: in ad- us of about 1km from each of the trans-
it was clear that one of his companies dition to a large 5-meter satellite dish mission antennas. “Our service costs 50
that sells amateur radio equipment there are two masts that streak towards Real per month with a one-time instal-
would get the domain name www.lou- the sky. These masts carry the trans- lation cost of 180 Real”, says Ronaldo.
vetel.com.br. But we couldn’t quite un- mitting antennas for his wireless Inter- Ronaldo is an enthusiastic satellite
derstand the reason behind giving his net service that his company offers. hobbyist. He installed his first dish in
second company, a wireless Internet “Besides these two master transmit- 2002: “It was a 1.6-meter antenna”,
provider, the domain name www.pignet. ters, we also operate 30 additional re- remembers Ronaldo. Additional dishes
com.br. Of course, it’s much more im- peaters throughout the city”, Big Ronal- were not far behind: his big dish is a
portant that he’s a satellite enthusiast. do explains to us regarding his business. 5-meter monster that he erected with
His property is full of every kind of “This allows us to reach more than 90% an actuator motor.
dish. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have all of all the people in Louveira. We install Most of the time he has this dish
that much time anymore to play around roughly 50 reception systems every pointed to SATMEX 5 at 116° west.
with his hobby. “My company Pignet month; at the moment we have about “This is real DX reception here in south-
employs 15 people,” he explains to us 2000 customers that use our service.” ern Brazil since this satellite’s elevation
during a visit to his company in Louvei- Transmissions take place in the 2.4 is just 9°”, adds Ronaldo as he refers to
■ "Big" Ronaldo at the
base of the mast for his
5-meter dish. One of
his 2.8-meter antennas
can be seen in the
background to the left.
258 TELE-satellite International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine — 06-07-08/2012 — www.TELE-satellite.com

3. 1
1. To the left a portion another 1.6-meter dish that is also
of his 5-meter pointed to SATMEX 5: “The smaller
dish, to the right a
1.6-meter antenna antenna is used for Ku-band recep-
pointed to SATMEX tion on SATMEX 5.”
5 at 116° west. It’s
easy to see the low Next to those are two more an-
elevation of 9°. tennas that are 2.8-meters in diam-
2. “Big” Ronaldo eter: “One of them is aligned with
uses a large NSS806 while the other is pointed to
assortment of test
equipment in his STARONE C2 at 70° west.”
workshop. One of his At one point Ronaldo had 19 dishes
companies sells and installed although today he doesn’t
repairs amateur radio
equipment. have as much time anymore to work
3. Ronaldo’s on his hobby because of his two
company Pignet companies.
offers wireless
Internet service in He still remembers when he got
the Brazilian city of his first issue of TELE-satellite in
Louveira. his hands: “A friend of mine went to
Switzerland and came back with two
issues.” Today he reads the Portu-
guese version of TELE-satellite in the
Internet.
Ronaldo managed to take his in-
terest in satellite reception and suc-
cessfully expand it to two companies
that have to do with transmission
technology. He created two success-
ful companies from his hobby.
3
2
260 TELE-satellite International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine — 06-07-08/2012 — www.TELE-satellite.com www.TELE-satellite.com — 06-07-08/2012 — TELE-satellite International — 全球发行量最大的数字电视杂志 261