Aerial woes (and recommendations)

[evilpumpkin]

Our caravan had one of the old style permanent Antennas. However, due to extreme weather conditions while we were on a long trip, somewhere along the line, we lost it! We didn't notice it was gone until we got to our next site and tried to plug the TV in, so there's about 200 miles and it could have come off anywhere.

There doesn't seem to be any structural damage to the van, other than the hole where the cable was now being open to the elements and it appears that all the brackets are still in place.
Given that we already have the fixtures and fittings for a permanent aerial, we're looking to replace it with something similar rather than fixing the hole. However, there's always the possibility that the same thing might happen again and it's an expensive item to have just blithely disappearing on a motorway - not to mention I'm still worried that it might have hit someone and caused an accident or damage
I'm looking at the Stratus 330/5 and I notice that there is an option to remove the aerial and put a blanking plate in place. This might be the answer to my concerns as we could remove it for longer trips. Does anyone have this option with this unit (or something similar)? How much of a faff is it to do this? Generally for long trips we'd be doing a couple of days at each site. It's only a 2 berth caravan so I'm not really happy about having to pack a step ladder along with all the other things we cart around - both from a space and a weight perspective. We're definitely not interested in the jockey wheel attachment option for pretty much the same reasons.
I see they also do a suction cup option - has anyone used this? How well does it work, particularly in wet weather?
We don't need a satellite or anything like that - it's just to have TV in the evening as a fallback option when the weather is bad and for background music when our DAB radio decides it can't see anything and we have no wifi.
All advice and expertise gratefully received.

 

[Damian]

I would go with the Status 550 if it could utilise the existing hole with modification.

 

[Raywood]

I would agree with Damiens suggestion of the Status as ours works well. It des have instructions to remove it and cap it but it looks more trouble than it is worth.

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

mines capped off as we dont use it anymore, I can't see how anyone would want to use the cap as a temporary measure,
as mine uses the 4 original screws and is stuck down with sealastik,

 

[Surfer]

mines capped off as we dont use it anymore, I can't see how anyone would want to use the cap as a temporary measure,
as mine uses the 4 original screws and is stuck down with sealastik,

It is a whole lot cheaper to buy a satellite dish off eBay and to pick up a second hand digibox off Freecycle than it is to replace the status aerial. The big plus is that you do not have to battle trying to locate the local Tv transmitter. For more advice have a look at http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/ You do not have to subscribe to Sky as you will be able to get all the free channels.

 

[RayS]

If you are carrying and using a laptop with wifi you can now get most TV stations over the internet and not have to bother with TV antennas, sets etc. You need a reasonable speed of download, but much much easier if you canget away with it.

 

[evilpumpkin]

Wifi isn't really a solution for us as even with "Darth Wifi", we still only get limited coverage at a lot of places we go to. We had looked at satellite previously but thought it was a bit expensive for an entertainment standby. That link doesn't resolve btw?
Thanks guys - we'll revisit satellite as an option as well.

 

[otherclive]

mines capped off as we dont use it anymore, I can't see how anyone would want to use the cap as a temporary measure,
as mine uses the 4 original screws and is stuck down with sealastik,

It is a whole lot cheaper to buy a satellite dish off eBay and to pick up a second hand digibox off Freecycle than it is to replace the status aerial. The big plus is that you do not have to battle trying to locate the local Tv transmitter. For more advice have a look at http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/ You do not have to subscribe to Sky as you will be able to get all the free channels.

satellite is an option but remember that its not always possible to get a line on the satellite due to trees, other units, hills etc. we retained our old Status aerial (the round one) as its often possible to obtain a good signal. But we carry a lightweight pole and cheap lightweight domestic aerial and 10m of coax cable. The domestic aerial clamps to the side of the van using two self adhesive universal mounts on the off side of the van. It rises about 9-10 ft high on a three section pole and is steady in windy conditions. With the clamps you can remove them if you sell the van using Wd40 or sticky stuff remover and dental floss. The 10 m cable can also be used to plug into the site outlets where the signal is brought to each EHU point. This latter aspect came in useful recently at CC Crossways where even on the top level north pitches people could not get sat line ups, and even directional aerials could not get a signal. So a direct coax link to the site wide bollards kept us and the grandchildren slightly saner on a very wet day until we went out to brave the elements.