Hello all, I have a new Caravan fitted with Status 530 Aerial, I have a decent digital TV, but wherever I go I cant get a decent picture. I dont really nead sat dishes etc just a decent aerial that picks up analogue / digital or both, please please help Kim..
Poor Signal advice please.
- Thread starter hollypop1
- Start date
First i would try your own coax cable straight from the aerial booster box to your tv,this would tell you if its the coax in the van is the problem,if not then could be the aerial or the booster box.
I would check the coax plug from the aerial as well,all it needs is one stray copper strand to touch the core to cause issues.
If the aerial and booster are ok i would remake all the aerial connections in your van as from experience these are poorly done.
I would check the coax plug from the aerial as well,all it needs is one stray copper strand to touch the core to cause issues.
If the aerial and booster are ok i would remake all the aerial connections in your van as from experience these are poorly done.
Kim
If you take a look at this and save the link it will help you find the direction you need to point your Ariel, put the post code of the site you are going to visit, this Transmitter finder will tell you where it is, you will need a compass, but it is very easy,to use this method,if you use one of these Signal strength finder ,it helps when you are locating the direction of the transmitter,& then RE-TUNE the TV
If you take a look at this and save the link it will help you find the direction you need to point your Ariel, put the post code of the site you are going to visit, this Transmitter finder will tell you where it is, you will need a compass, but it is very easy,to use this method,if you use one of these Signal strength finder ,it helps when you are locating the direction of the transmitter,& then RE-TUNE the TV
Thanks, yes I have done all the obvious things (inc turning power on). Used many different coax's, including recently at Sandy Balls where I was not the only one with poor picture. When on site there are an array of different aerials does could anyone tell me if they have one that works, thanks Kim.
The Status 530 Aerial is far from a bad aerial; there are better but they have to be bigger and longer to be better.
The more general problem is that the digital signal is still weak in many areas. At Sandy Balls you are in an area with a weak digital signal from Rowridge IOW, not due to be up graded till 2012.
You need to ascertain if your Status 530 Aerial is working correctly before jumping as many will not be as good as it should be.
The more general problem is that the digital signal is still weak in many areas. At Sandy Balls you are in an area with a weak digital signal from Rowridge IOW, not due to be up graded till 2012.
You need to ascertain if your Status 530 Aerial is working correctly before jumping as many will not be as good as it should be.
If you are using a TV with built-in Freeview you will probably need to a factory/software reset (you will find it in the menu) when you get to a site, else it will only add channels to those already installed and not search for a new set.
thanks, Jtq it is poor on analogue as well, Woody I manually and auto scan all the time. I think I will have to wait until my next outing and asked some of the many people who have aftermarket aerials. kim.
if you go onto the the site that sproket said ,transmitter finder , type in the post code you are visiting , and if you look along the readout you will come to pol which is short for polarisation ,underneath it will V for vertical or H for horizontal make sure your aerials polarity is right before you aim towards the Transmitter ,but that is no guarantee if you are in a bad area ,might be better to go down the satellite route
some aerials only pick up from the front even the dish type [status] they are not 360 i use a directional aerial on side of van on a pole and have had good results
We had that problem when we where in the Cotswold's,in the end i was getting a beautiful signal from over 40miles away, the local one's even the booster station was not very good reason being we where pitched right up to a big bank of trees, but the direction of the mast at 40miles away no trees for a good half mile. that was with a status 530 which i fitted on my van. i just log on the wife's laptop, find the directions....done
I have a satellite but for the same reason the trees stopped the signal, satellites are fixed,
Transmitters can be anywhere especially the booster ones, some times the best picture can be got by just tilting from horizontal to vertical.
I have a satellite but for the same reason the trees stopped the signal, satellites are fixed,
Transmitters can be anywhere especially the booster ones, some times the best picture can be got by just tilting from horizontal to vertical.
Over the past 20+ years i have had 4 brand new caravans and not one had the interconnections from Status to booster to set made off correctly. First thing I suggest is to check each and every one very carefully. The (newer) small connections are often quite difficult to see and rely on a single strand mating with the recepticle correctly.
Not being a fan of TV this has not been a major problem for me but appreciate it may be for others. I think it may be worth forgetting about status and the like and going to satellite directly, getting the supplier to make up any necessary leads if you don't feel confident to DIY
Not being a fan of TV this has not been a major problem for me but appreciate it may be for others. I think it may be worth forgetting about status and the like and going to satellite directly, getting the supplier to make up any necessary leads if you don't feel confident to DIY
First, the 530 is a normal directional aerial with a fancy cover over it, albeit shorter, underneath it has the same rod and cross fingers arrangement as all the rest.
You say 'new' if the writing is purple then the 'booster box' is indeed where the booster is, however, if only a new van to you and the writing is orange? then the booster is in the aerial and this may have failed.
In either case, it's important to remember a booster will boost interference just as readily as the TV signal, switching power off to it should prove if it's actually boosting or not.
You say 'new' if the writing is purple then the 'booster box' is indeed where the booster is, however, if only a new van to you and the writing is orange? then the booster is in the aerial and this may have failed.
In either case, it's important to remember a booster will boost interference just as readily as the TV signal, switching power off to it should prove if it's actually boosting or not.
Snady balls is awful for trying to get a picture from the caravan aerial,that why they hire out the coax's in the shop so you can use the aerial connection on the electric post
Hi, I had exactly the same problem, and could get almost nothing, either freeview or terestial, and checked connections, frequencies etc etc.
I then by passed the booster using an simple connector to join the coax cable, using the existing connectors, and now we have a perfect picture, seems the booster, although working, did more harm than good.
Hope this helps.
anthony (northern ireland)
I then by passed the booster using an simple connector to join the coax cable, using the existing connectors, and now we have a perfect picture, seems the booster, although working, did more harm than good.
Hope this helps.
anthony (northern ireland)
Kim are you on feeview at home?? if you are have you got a good signal?? if you have set you caravan tv with the 530 up at home to see if you can get good reception. if you can its all down to trial and eror using Sprokets website sugestions will help, if not its your aerial, get it seen too by your dealer.
Dont go paying for other aeirials the 530 shold be ok, we use ours sometimes, and satalite sometimes, depending where we are in the country depends what signal we get.
Kevin
Dont go paying for other aeirials the 530 shold be ok, we use ours sometimes, and satalite sometimes, depending where we are in the country depends what signal we get.
Kevin
Be wary of the effects of a booster on digital TV. Where it might just add a bit of noise to the signal and/or cause a slight ghost on analogue, that noise or ghost can completely destroy a digital signal.
The worst case is that autotuning may not find the signal. We stayed at a CL north of Cambridge last year and I assumed we would get signal from Sandy about 25 miles away (over the flat-lands!) Analogue was perfectly OK, but we only got four of the six digital muxes available. After several attempts I tuned the whole thing manually and had to fit an attenuator to get the two missing muxes (the attenuator in the amp box was too much.) I suspect the cause was that the analogue signals were overloading the amp and distorting the digital signals too much for the TV to be able to decode them.
Incidently Kim, you can manually and automatically tune as much as you like but your set may still not find stations. Doing a full factory software reset will ensure it does - if the signals are available that is, per my tale above!
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