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www.TELE-satellite.com —
09-10/2012 —
TELE-satellite International —
全球发行量最大的数字电视杂志
quite heavy; they were made of fiber-
glass with metal braces and weighed
400 pounds.” Tim still remembers today
what an experience it was to be able to
receive a TV picture with his new dish.
“It was an absolute sensation to be able
to receive a signal from space from so
far away.”
Then came the turning point in Tim
Heinrichs’ evening job: a farmer bought
that dish from him. “That’s when it all
started, next I bought two new dishes.”
That was in 1980 and it was at this point
that Tim Heinrichs recognized that there
was a new business brewing. He sold
and installed these dish antennas at a
faster and faster rate. The breakthrough
came in 1982: “I invested $40,000 and
bought my first truckload of dishes - it
was 500 three-meter antennas.” Tim
Heinrichs young company became a sat-
ellite wholesaler.
“At first I worked both jobs; my regu-
lar job at the railroad and at nights and
weekends at my own company DMS In-
ternational.” That only worked for a few
months: he had to make a decision and
naturally he chose his own company.
“My wife Vicky worked along side me
from the beginning; at first she took
care of the books and now she’s the
President of the company.”
In 1991 another big decision had to
be made: the market in Nebraska was
covered so in order to better expand his
business the decision was made to move
his company to Atlanta, Georgia. DMS
International can still be found there to-
day. “Transportation costs are cheaper
here”, rationalizes Tim regarding this
decision and then grins as he adds,
“Besides, the weather is much better
here.” Sure enough, the company expe-
rienced quite a boom in business. Vicky
provides us with a few sales figures: “In
1991 DMS managed sales of roughly
$2.0 million.” The company’s best year
was 2008: “Back then we had sales of
$12 million. Sales have pulled back a lit-
tle bit since then although in 2009 they
were still at about $9.0 million.”
For many years DMS International
was a small company with very few
employees: It was Vicky and Tim along
with one or two warehouse and admin-
istrative employees. “Today we have
10 employees with a warehouse that is
14,000 Sq-ft in size.” Up until recently
DMS International was mainly focused
on the North American market, “that
is, the USA, Canada and Mexico”, ex-
plains Tim. As recently as 2009/2010
1. Vicky Heinrichs is the President of DMS
International and runs the administrative
side of the company.
2. Ivy Bliss is the receptionist and takes
care of DMS International’s website
(www.dmsiusa.com). If you call the
company, Ivy is your first contact.
3. Tina Ryan handles the accounting
sions in the 27 MHz range would skip
off the ionosphere or troposphere allow-
ing for two-way communications over
extremely long distances. “Back then I
collected QSL cards from my contacts
and managed to collect nearly 1000 of
those cards.”
Tim also worked for the railroad in
Nebraska and when word got around
among his friends and coworkers that
he liked to tinker with radios in his free
time, they began bringing him defec-
tive radios, TVs and CBs. At first it was
tedious, but later on it became routine
for him to repair these devices. “Even
the police came to me to repair their
radios.” Tim was becoming more and
more experienced in radio technology.
In 1979 he read an article in a techni-
cal magazine about satellite reception.
This new technology was irresistible to
Tim; he simply had to have it. He spent
a lot of money on his first three-meter
dish. “Back then the dish antennas were