Best Satellite Dish for Caravan
- Thread starter haremaia
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Parksy
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I have a 65cm dish on a tripod linked to a freesat box some caravanners use a sky box what you do need is a good satfinder meter which you connect between your satdish and the coax cable for the initial set up, at first this can be worst than putting an awning up but after acouple of times after finding south east because that is where you satalite is its very straight forward,, I personally bought all my kit seperately but there are plenty of sat kits out there,
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We use a 65cm dish (all over UK as well as Belgium and France) with folding LNB arm, tripod mounted for fixing to the ground.This gives more options for positioning dish to avoid trees etc. If the dish is fixed to the van you loose this flexibility.
We bought the dish and tripod together and the receiver separately
Generally speaking a 60cm ovoid dish complete with LNB and 10m of cable is cheaper and more easily obtained in DIY sheds in France than in the UK. [Even for UK use do not buy a 'Sky' dish as they are specifically designed to only just work.] Leroy Merlin do a good range as do Bricoman. My original tripod was a worklight stand without lights from Bricoman for about €12: I have since got a lightweight Konig on eBay for about £20 but it is easier to use.
A good idea is to take with you some 4mm and 5mm wingnuts - such things are unknown in France - to use on the dish mounting U-bolts. You will likely need a couple of combination (ring + open ended) 10mm spanners to adjust the dish inclination.You will also need some good ground pegs to hold the feet down as a dish at even 1m high represents a significant wind loading. As already suggested an in-line signal finder (about a fiver from Aldi or Lidl when on offer) is very useful. If you have an Android phone download a copy (free) of Satellite Director which not only helps with the azimuth (rotational direction) but also shows where the bird is in the sky so that you can avoid trees.
A Sky+HD box with either an expired viewing card or a Freesat-from-Sky viewing card (once of £25) is a good option as it gives many more channels than a Freesat box. However don't try to align the dish using the Sky box signal/quality indication as the are notoriously deaf and slow to respond to adjustments. If you need to buy a Sky box try your local branch of Cash Converters where you will get same for about £10 with remote, mains cable, and a good guarantee. As you will not be able to record on your newly acquired box see if they have a 'multi-room' box which is much smaller and very much lighter but is otherwise identical in operation.
Finally if using abroad note that the footprint covered by UK public service broadcasts (BBC, ITV etc) sits roughly NW-SE across France with the southerly limit on the west being around the Vendee and in the SE roughly around Lyon. Anything outside that area will require VERY careful dish alignment to ensure a reliable signal, and going down the west and for most of the south will be unusable. Coverage in the UK/Eire is saturation everywhere.
Good luck.
A good idea is to take with you some 4mm and 5mm wingnuts - such things are unknown in France - to use on the dish mounting U-bolts. You will likely need a couple of combination (ring + open ended) 10mm spanners to adjust the dish inclination.You will also need some good ground pegs to hold the feet down as a dish at even 1m high represents a significant wind loading. As already suggested an in-line signal finder (about a fiver from Aldi or Lidl when on offer) is very useful. If you have an Android phone download a copy (free) of Satellite Director which not only helps with the azimuth (rotational direction) but also shows where the bird is in the sky so that you can avoid trees.
A Sky+HD box with either an expired viewing card or a Freesat-from-Sky viewing card (once of £25) is a good option as it gives many more channels than a Freesat box. However don't try to align the dish using the Sky box signal/quality indication as the are notoriously deaf and slow to respond to adjustments. If you need to buy a Sky box try your local branch of Cash Converters where you will get same for about £10 with remote, mains cable, and a good guarantee. As you will not be able to record on your newly acquired box see if they have a 'multi-room' box which is much smaller and very much lighter but is otherwise identical in operation.
Finally if using abroad note that the footprint covered by UK public service broadcasts (BBC, ITV etc) sits roughly NW-SE across France with the southerly limit on the west being around the Vendee and in the SE roughly around Lyon. Anything outside that area will require VERY careful dish alignment to ensure a reliable signal, and going down the west and for most of the south will be unusable. Coverage in the UK/Eire is saturation everywhere.
Good luck.
That feature, I suggest, is very important in our caravanning context as its portability and stowage are significant issues not faced in typical applications, so bear it in mind when buying.
Triax, make in their range folding arm dishes. These also feature the more universal 40 mm diameter LNB mounting system.
I‘v3 had. 65cm ovoid Maxview dish, tripod and twin LNB for years. The LNB has been changed but otherwise perfect.
I use a Primesat 500 for finding the satellite. Don’t waste your time or money on the cheap buzzer things.
As said earlier trying to find the correct satellite using the sky box is arduous and time consuming. It takes a good 20 /30 seconds for the signal to reach the box and register. You cannot move the dish around the way you would with an aerial. Using the Primesat kit you can move the dish swiftly.
I use a Primesat 500 for finding the satellite. Don’t waste your time or money on the cheap buzzer things.
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As said earlier trying to find the correct satellite using the sky box is arduous and time consuming. It takes a good 20 /30 seconds for the signal to reach the box and register. You cannot move the dish around the way you would with an aerial. Using the Primesat kit you can move the dish swiftly.
I've got a Freesat receiver and find it real easy to tune into the freesat satellite using the following method - first the receiver has to have been previously tuned into the Freesat satellite.
1. Select a channel on the receiver that you know - say 101 BBC1
2.Manouvre the dish until you get a BBC1 picture. - You have now tuned into the satellite (the correct one). - Don't know whether this method works with the Sky receiver or not.
3 Contrary to what has been said on this subject I also sometimes use a satellite finder - a real cheapy buzzer it's very accurate and speeds up detection.
Lastly most important - practise,the more you practise the easier it becomes,I pracised in the back garden until I got down to seconds for detection.
1. Select a channel on the receiver that you know - say 101 BBC1
2.Manouvre the dish until you get a BBC1 picture. - You have now tuned into the satellite (the correct one). - Don't know whether this method works with the Sky receiver or not.
3 Contrary to what has been said on this subject I also sometimes use a satellite finder - a real cheapy buzzer it's very accurate and speeds up detection.
Lastly most important - practise,the more you practise the easier it becomes,I pracised in the back garden until I got down to seconds for detection.
The first time I set my system up I just could not get it up and running across from me was a chap with a sat dish so and I just asked what the problem could be, well always remember to switch the TV over to HDMI,
Got my dish & tripod from Satgear, I have a Avtex DRS TV which has a built in free to air sat receiver, have 25mtr of WF100 sat cable so the dish can be set up with a good line of sight, if buildings etc. are in the way. Use a digital signal strength meter and takes around 10mins to set up with a good picture. Pegs go through the holes in the tripod legs to keep it steady in strong winds.
"Don’t waste your time or money on the cheap buzzer things."
Given a little aptitude, awareness and patience the audio satellite finders are anything but "a waste of money", they indeed save 90% of the investment in the more sophisticated units like the Primesat 500 and its clones.
The latter identifies the correct satellite has been found, rather than the audio units that typically respond to any signal.
However, this is where “awareness” comes into play, the satellite cluster we need for our UK TV is fortuitously located at the most Easterly side of the band of satellites likely to be found. Thus, if we set the dish at the correct elevation and move from a bearing of 140 degrees to the south, the first scream will be from the "right satellite". It just needs the said “aptitude” and “patience” to do this in a disciplined manner.
For those with the popular Avtex TV there is a further helping hand for setting the dish up. That TV range features an “Easy Find” licensed decoder. If used with a matched Easy Find configured LNB you have a “red amber green” LED on the LNB that displays green if targetting onto the “right satellite”. Therefore you can benefit from a cheap satellite finder sounding as you approach the satellite and the comfort of the flashing amber then green LED confirming you are on the correct target. No need to be told what is showing on the TV, all done where you stand setting the dish.
https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/MX27860R.html
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Micro-Single-EasyFind-Universal-Guarantee-White/dp/B002OZ7PGG
That said, you need the aptitude to do things systematically, then setting up is very straight forward, lack that gift and as we see so often people make a real tasks of doing it.
Edit: The inclusion of a signal attenuator into the aerial feed of the satellite finder, desensitises it, making it an even more precise unit. I use a 6db unit but up to a 10db should work as least as well. Remove it along with the finder after the job is done.
Whilst ordering from cpc including some of these "push on" "F" connectors make for less hassle than fiddling with the screw on type, in our portable application and particularly putting in and taking out the finder.
Given a little aptitude, awareness and patience the audio satellite finders are anything but "a waste of money", they indeed save 90% of the investment in the more sophisticated units like the Primesat 500 and its clones.
The latter identifies the correct satellite has been found, rather than the audio units that typically respond to any signal.
However, this is where “awareness” comes into play, the satellite cluster we need for our UK TV is fortuitously located at the most Easterly side of the band of satellites likely to be found. Thus, if we set the dish at the correct elevation and move from a bearing of 140 degrees to the south, the first scream will be from the "right satellite". It just needs the said “aptitude” and “patience” to do this in a disciplined manner.
For those with the popular Avtex TV there is a further helping hand for setting the dish up. That TV range features an “Easy Find” licensed decoder. If used with a matched Easy Find configured LNB you have a “red amber green” LED on the LNB that displays green if targetting onto the “right satellite”. Therefore you can benefit from a cheap satellite finder sounding as you approach the satellite and the comfort of the flashing amber then green LED confirming you are on the correct target. No need to be told what is showing on the TV, all done where you stand setting the dish.
https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/MX27860R.html
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Micro-Single-EasyFind-Universal-Guarantee-White/dp/B002OZ7PGG
That said, you need the aptitude to do things systematically, then setting up is very straight forward, lack that gift and as we see so often people make a real tasks of doing it.
Edit: The inclusion of a signal attenuator into the aerial feed of the satellite finder, desensitises it, making it an even more precise unit. I use a 6db unit but up to a 10db should work as least as well. Remove it along with the finder after the job is done.
Whilst ordering from cpc including some of these "push on" "F" connectors make for less hassle than fiddling with the screw on type, in our portable application and particularly putting in and taking out the finder.
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