Abstract :
The late 1980s saw the emergence of strong interest in systems employing VSATs-very small aperture terminals (sometimes called microterminals). These small dish systems offer a number of opportunities for communication; for example, one major asset is their `bypass´ feature, meaning that a PTT infrastructure may be totally avoided. This is attractive especially to large organisations with a number of dispersed sites, and to multi-national companies. Due to the lack of technically based courses on VSATs, the University of York mounted a short course in April 1990 entitled `Small Terminal Satellite Communications: VSAT Systems, Technology and Opportunities´. The author discusses the aims of the course, the course content, how the course was marketed, the costing, and how successful the course was
