This photo circa 1969 or 1970 shows Dennis Covill, John Pinks and David Grace, left to right, in the front row. Pinks was among the small group of engineers who founded Nautel, and held the title of the company’s chief engineer. Grace was Nautel’s CEO and president for several decades and later served as board chairman. Nautel founder Dennis Covill has been recognized as a Member of the Order of Canada, which is one of the country’s highest civilian honors, to “recognize a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to community and service to the nation.” Covill was tapped because of his contribution to engineering and science.
Covill founded Nautel Ltd. in 1969 to design and build solid-state navigational beacons. In an era when transmission technologies primarily were tube-based, Covill and his team introduced smaller footprints, capabilities for redundancy, hot-swapping of modules. Nautel then expanded its scope, developing AM and FM radio transmitters.
The company has become a major player in the RF transmission business, with a recent expansion into the television transmission industry. Nautel is also involved in aerospace, providing RF generators for plasma-driven space vehicles. Nautel also manufactures transmitters for NOAA’s weather radio system, and develops technologies for navigational beacons.
“Dennis Covill is a true pioneer in RF engineering and the transmitter business,” said Peter Conlon, Nautel president and CEO.
The Order of Canada was established in 1967 by Queen Elizabeth II and is described as “the centerpiece of Canada’s honors system.”
About the Order of Canada