How to connect satellite dish via external coax point on bailey caravan

[jontygee]

Hi.

I have a Bailey unicorn deluxe vigo which has an external electrical and tv input socket.

This is a standard coax socket but i am wanting to use my satellite dish. So i am using f male connector to attach it externally.

Inside the caravan where the tv goes is another female coax socket. Do i was hoping i could attach another male f connector here and then run a satellite cable from that into my receiver.

However this doesn't seem to work??

I have attached pictures of the sockets and also of my vision plus tv amplifier if that helps??

Thanks

John

 

[jontygee]

Apologies my attachment doesn't seem to have worked. I will try again

 

[otherclive]

Apologies my attachment doesn't seem to have worked. I will try again

Did you press the small picture icon at the top of your post? Much above 1 mb and it may not load but will tell you if there’s an issue.

 

[Woodentop]

Check the wiring of the TV aerial amp and you will probably find that the external socket is connected to one of the aerial amp outputs to feed a TV in the awning. You should have a back-to-back female adapter supplied if the van is new. Disconnect both cables from the amp outputs and link them together with the adapter. This will mean that the outside connector is a direct connection to the inside - which is what you need for satellite.
Satellite needs supply volts up the cable of which there are two levels, and a 22KHz audio tone (or not) for a second function. One functions is for the two different frequency bands and the other is for vertical or horizontal polarity but I can never remember which is which! If you feed the signal through the amp the volts and the audio can't get through.
Note also that you can get a socket plate for the inside that has both a Belling-Lee (conventional TV socket) and a F-type socket, the back of both being a F-type socket as well. If that outlet plate is near the external box (where the feed is presented) you could probably run a separate cable direct from socket plate to power box and be able to used sat and DTTV at the same time.
Note: ALWAYS use F-type connections for satellite as not only do they present a better and more stable/solid connection, but B-L is only rated to about 850MHz whereas F-type will happily run to well over 2000MHz which satellite needs..

 

[Buckman]

Remove the coaxial only connection and replace with coaxial and F connectors. The F connector is for the sat connection. On the inside we took the sat cable under the bunks and directly into the box which was a Sky+HD box. Looked neat.

 

[jontygee]

Did you press the small picture icon at the top of your post? Much above 1 mb and it may not load but will tell you if there’s an issue.

Thanks all my photos are too big so struggling to attach anything useful

 

[otherclive]

Thanks all my photos are too big so struggling to attach anything useful

What type of phone. I can help if iPhone or iPad.

Upload pictures to thread

Hi is it possible to upload pictures to our site, if yo can, could you let me know how please?

forums.practicalcaravan.com

 

[Mr Plodd]

You can get just about every possible option to join push fit co-ax to F type connectors, F type will work just fine with satelitte or Freesat signals so replace all of the "old" type with tge F type where possible.
Ebay/Amazon/Temu all have them in abundance

 

[Woodentop]

You can get just about every possible option to join push fit co-ax to F type connectors, F type will work just fine with satelitte or Freesat signals so replace all of the "old" type with tge F type where possible.
Ebay/Amazon/Temu all have them in abundance

So do Screwfix (and Toolstation) and well cheap! Buy a pack of 10 at a time.

 

[jontygee]

I have a really week signal and struggling for wifi and to attach pictures. I am wondering whether the exterior coax is actually just a way of putting my tv in my awning if i so desire i.e. it is not an input socket but an export(?) socket if there is such a thing. Looks just like a female coax to me!

To test it I attached a coax cable from the caravan site bollard tv point and then another coax from the interior female coax pointvto the back of the tele. And no picture at all, tv scan couldn't pick up any channels.

Think i will contact Bailey to see if I am doing something wrong which i probably am.

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions

John

 

[Buckman]

No such thing has an "import" or "export" socket for coaxial as it can be used both ways.

 

[Woodentop]

I have a really week signal and struggling for wifi and to attach pictures. I am wondering whether the exterior coax is actually just a way of putting my tv in my awning if i so desire i.e. it is not an input socket but an export(?) socket if there is such a thing. Looks just like a female coax to me!

To test it I attached a coax cable from the caravan site bollard tv point and then another coax from the interior female coax pointvto the back of the tele. And no picture at all, tv scan couldn't pick up any channels.

Think i will contact Bailey to see if I am doing something wrong which i probably am.

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions

John

What is the relevance of wifi and attaching pictures in this thread? As I read it the thread is all about how to connect a satellite dish/LNB outside the caravan to the Freesat receiver inside the van. Wifi doesn't come into the matter.

 

[jontygee]

Sorry to muddle things, i was only trying to attach some pictures of my antenna set up.

So in the caravan i have a vision plus digital tv amplifier and radio vp3.

It has a white cable from the antenna on the caravan roof to the ant in socket on the amplifier.

It then has 3 black cables running to various places within the caravan and the 3 sickets on the amplifier are labelled tv1 tv2 and tv3.

The caravan has a tv female coax point in the lounge and a 2nd one in the bedroom.

As i cant get me exterior tv point to work yet i am using the roof antenna and am running a coax from the lounge tv poit to the back of my tele.

Once i switch on the amplifier and scan i can get the Tv channels. So all is fine and dandy with the caravan roof antenna and the tv point in the lounge.

So i am presuming that if i want to use the external tv point i then need to do something to the amplifier so it is not using the roof aerial.

Is it as simple as removing the white ant in?? I presume not as how will the external in point then link up with the tv lounge point??


Thanks again

 

[Dustydog]

I think you may be better to start with a clean sheet.
Do you use a single or double or quad output LNB?
I have a Sky HD + box so use a quad LNB but only use two of the outputs.
I bought one of these, cut/ drilled through the side panel and using the sealant Soudal RV61 and fixed it in place
Basically wired in a whole new circuit. At the exit inside near the sat box I fitted a new port all F type fixings. Plenty of examples for caravans on line. Cables were all sat quality.

 

[Woodentop]

Sorry to muddle things, i was only trying to attach some pictures of my antenna set up.

So in the caravan i have a vision plus digital tv amplifier and radio vp3.

It has a white cable from the antenna on the caravan roof to the ant in socket on the amplifier.

It then has 3 black cables running to various places within the caravan and the 3 sickets on the amplifier are labelled tv1 tv2 and tv3.

The caravan has a tv female coax point in the lounge and a 2nd one in the bedroom.

As i cant get me exterior tv point to work yet i am using the roof antenna and am running a coax from the lounge tv poit to the back of my tele.

Once i switch on the amplifier and scan i can get the Tv channels. So all is fine and dandy with the caravan roof antenna and the tv point in the lounge.

So i am presuming that if i want to use the external tv point i then need to do something to the amplifier so it is not using the roof aerial.

Is it as simple as removing the white ant in?? I presume not as how will the external in point then link up with the tv lounge point??


Thanks again

No, much easier than that. As I said earlier the aerial amp cannot handle the frequencies used by satellite so you need to identify which of the three black cables on the amp is the one that goes outside - it should be labelled. Disconnect this from the amp, connect your dish to the external aerial connector, and (probably by use of an extension cable) connect the internal end of that cable to the input of your Freesat box. Line the dish up and all should work.

If you have an Android phone download Satellite Director as this can be used firstly to get the direction and then the height in the sky. If you set the prog to Astra 2 your phone will 'know' the direction for the dish to be pointed, and then when you switch to height (or whatever it says) it will put a circle on you (vertical screen) and show where the sat is in the sky - very useful to miss trees!
Do remember that if you are using a conventional dish because of the LNB (the electronics) is offset, when the dish is vertical the LNB is actually 'looking' about 25deg upwards. The dish can be on the ground so long as it has line of sight to the sat location in the sky.