Satellite Box

[HomerS1]

Happy new year to all. Just had our van back after having floor strengthened (Lunar) by the Caravan Hospital here in South Wales who, I have to say, have done a fantastic job. Just putting usual stuff back in and tested the old Fortec Star Sat box and found it was shorting so looking to change to a new Freesat box. Not interested in 12v so was wondering if I should go for cheap and basic or if there are ones which are easier to help find satellite signals.
All experiences are welcome. Thanks.

 

[Woodentop]

Go to your local Cash Converters and get a used Sky+HD box - or better still if they have one a multi-room box which is half the size and much lighter as it doesn't contain a hard disc. With power lead, remote and a guarantee it will cost you less than £20. If it still has an expired subscription viewing card in it you are home and dry as such a card will put the right channels in 101 (BBC1) and 103 (ITV) and you will be able to watch all FTA channels but none of the subscription channels. Card is behind the flap on the lower right of the front panel of either type of box.
If it does not have a viewing card go to Freesat-from-Sky but NOT if you have a multi-room box as they won't activate it for you. Once activated a Freesat card will work in any Sky box.
Without a viewing card you will get BBC1 London and ITV Central West on 101 and 103.
All you will then need is an HDMI lead if you don't have one - decent quality cable cheap from Toolstation for very little money.
One advantage of a Sky box is that there are a couple of FTA channels that you cannot get on a Freesat box - for example Euronews. Conversely there are also a couple of channels that are on Freesat but behind the paywall on Sky.

 

[GeorgiePorgie]

Hi HomerS1

My set up is as follows: Humax HDR-1100S 1TB Freesat with Freetime HD TV Recorder with Built In Wi-Fi coupled to a QuickSAT QS65 "dish" (actually its flat & square with no visible LNB )

Humax can be bought from Currys/PC world, or from Humax themselves, they also sell guaranteed refurbished ones. My Humax is used at home & comes with us when we go caravanning.

The QuickSAT dish is an absolute doddle to set up & we can be watching TV within 2 minutes of setting up the system, & as it has twin LNB outlets it's great for our Humax as it has the record facility & if you've got access to WiFi you can even watch "catch up tv".
Link to Humax; https://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/freesat.html Link to QuickSAT http://www.falcontechnology.co.uk