Freesat TV - advice needed please!

[Djhare]

Hi, we are thinking of upgrading to freesat for our van. This will be used primarily in the Charente Maritime region of France.
Would anyone have any recommendations? TV with built in Freesat, or Freesat box?
Also, we wont have internet access, not sure if this changes anything!

TIA.

Julie

 

[otherclive]

I’d go for the tv with built in box it’s something less to carry and a bit lighter too. Check out that you can watch UK tv in your chosen area and if so what size dish you will require. The satellite footprint was changed a while back to give better reception in Orkney and a reduced southern footprint into France.

 

[Craigyoung]

We've got it built into the tv , we also take box sets off dvd's to watch if all else fails .

 

[Woodentop]

I would take a Freesat box or a Sky multiroom box with a Freesat-from-Sky viewing card.

However if you are talking Western France you might have difficulty. Go to
www.lyngsat.com
and find the coverage maps for the UK footprint of Astra 2F and you will see that it can possibly get thin down there. Having said that Lyngsat is a bit pessimistic and I would guess that with careful alignment on a 60cm ovoid dish, and almost certainly on a 80cm dish you should be able to scratch a signal.

I would advise you to buy a dish in France as they are a tad cheaper - a 60cm dish + LNB (the bit on the end of the stalk) and 10m of ready terminated cable will cost you somewhere around €35-€40. You can get a worklight stand without the lights from BricoMan for less than €20. I would suggest you take with you qty 4 4mm and qty 4 5mm wingnuts to replace the hex nuts on the pole clamps - makes setting up much easier. [The French don't seem to know about wingnuts!] You will also need 2x 10mm ring or open spanners to adjust the elevation of the dish, and three good heavy tent pegs to make sure the tripod stays upright.

If you have an Android smartphone that has a compass in it you should download Satellite Director and go have a play with it in the garden. Select the satellite then go to the setup tab. Hold the phone horizontal and you will have a compass: when you have found the correct direction for the satellite hold the phone up (the camera will be on) and you will get horizontal and vertical lines and a circle in the middle of the screen. When the two lines cross in the circle you are looking where the satellite sits in the sky. Simples.

If you want more details PM me - I've been at satellite for well over a decade!

 

[philip_stevens]

What "satellite finder" would you recommend from the App Store? (a free one, of course )

 

[PaulT]

We frequently stay in Royan, Charente Maritime, and use a dish and an old Sky box. No trouble at all in receiving TV. Nowadays, I know which direction to point the dish and can set it up in about 2 minutes.

On another point, can you get tv's with built in Freesat - I thought it was only Freeview - or have I lost touch with the latest developments?

 

[philip_stevens]

Selection here at Curry's https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/search-keywords/xx_xx_xx_xx_xx/freeview%2Band%2Bfreesat%2Btv/1_20/price-asc/xx-criteria.html

Obviously other outlets to buy from.

 

[PaulT]

Obviously the latter!!! Thanks Philip.

 

[outdoors]

Hi Djhare,
Our Hymer 580 GL has a fixed tv with ( now I've found out ) Terrestrial, Satalite, Freeview, Satview and DVD player already plumbed in ( no need for a Freeview or Satview box ) marvelous !!
On this note ( as we found when living in France ) if one only has a small dish it may be worth going into one of the Brico / quincaillerie type shops and purchase a bigger one.( they are not expensive )
Happy caravanning.

 

[GeorgiePorgie]

In Charente or Charente Maritime you'll need a 65cm satellite dish, & the best 2 sat finder apps I've found are Satfinder or Easy Satellite Finder.

My Sister lives in Nanteuil En Valley in Charente & anything smaller than a 65cm dish won't work

 

[traficman]

Hi All
We were in Benidorm this time last year in our caravan and you need a 1.2 M dish to receive British T.V that far down,luckily our neighbours let us connect on to theres and used our own box.

 

[bertieboy1]

Phillip,
Use www.dishpointer.com gives you an aerial view of your desired location and pointing directions and elevation of the dish for the satellite you want to use.(it's also free !)
We've used it for years both in this country and abroad for tuning into Freesat.
Tip for tuning into satellite :- (we use a separate set top box)
1.Tune box into Freesat at home. (it'll be saved in the memory)
2.When on site select a channel - say 101 BBC.
3.Point the dish in the direction given by dishpointer and move slightly around this direction and elevation until a picture appears on the TV,
4.When a picture is received you know you are on the correct satellite.
Hope this helps.

 

[philip_stevens]

The web-site looks OK, but the "Pro" app is a bit pricey.

I can use the web-site though - as you say, for free.

many thanks.

 

[Woodentop]

Dishpointer is also an Android app which works even better as it uses the phone compass (assuming it has one) and the camera so that you can see exactly where the bird is in the sky and if there any trees in the way. Unfortunately not yet available for Apple IOS.