Innovative project that brought about outside broadcasting

Two people stand in front of a large satellite dish which is on a wheeled truck. The BBC logo in on the satellite dish.

Harold Perkins was the founder of Western Electronics UK Ltd, a company which manufactured towers and masts for radio communication purposes.

The company was contracted to work with the BBC to design and fabricate an innovative mobile Satellite Up-link. The trailer mounted satellite dish that was created gave the BBC the opportunity to televise outside broadcasts, the first of which was the climbing of Mount Ben Nevis.

TV transmitting towers for the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Corporation (IRIB), which were 102m high, self-supporting structures designed to withstand earthquakes, were also manufactured by Western Electronics. Harold graduated with a degree in Handicraft in 1959 and went on to be awarded a Centenary Honorary Degree in 2009.