Satellite Communications: Mobile and Fixed Services is based on the premise that designers of future satellite systems must take account of the strong competition that satellites face from optical fibers. In future years, satellites will continue to be commercially viable media for telecommunications only if systems designers take account of the unique features that satellites have to offer. Accordingly, Satellite Communications places more emphasis on satellite mobile services and broadcasting, and less emphasis on fixed, point-to-point, high-capacity services than traditional textbooks in the field. Also, an emphasis is given in the book to design issues. Numerous illustative system design examples and numerical problems are provided. The particular attention given to methods of design of satellite mobile communications systems should make it an indispensable resource for workers in this field. The book also contains some recent results of propagation modelling and system design studies which should be of particular value to researchers and designers of satellite systems for mobile communications services. Satellite Communications is suitable for use as a textbook for advanced courses on satellite communications, and is a valuable reference for all those working in the field.

A history of Chard, Crewkerne & Ilminster

When the future Queen Victoria arrived in Sidmouth in the early years of the last century many of the fine buildings which grace the modern town had just been built. Since then the resort has acquired an air of general respectability which the twentieth century with its modern tourist trade has done little to remove: today Sidmouth is one of England's loveliest seaside town. The photographs which comprise this delightful selection bring to life the history of the town in a way mere words can never do. For, unlike the historians, the photographers were actually there when they clicked their shutters. What might have been a snapshot when it was taken becomes in time the most authentic record we could have of a period which has otherwise vanished into the past. If photography was, sadly, unable to capture the visit of the infant Victoria, it has handed down to us a vivid visual reminder of the changes which have overtaken the town and its inhabitant in the last hundred years. With it emphasis on those who lives have been spent in this corner of East Devon, this fascinating volume incorporates an area bounded by Newton Poppleford, Sidbury and Branscombe. For those who know the area i will bring back a host of memories; others will enjoy discovering Sidmouth's rich heritage.