satellite systems for caravan, advice needed

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

do you have a satellite for your caravan?.

what make is it etc etc?.

how do you find it?.

do you take your card from home to use in it?.

jo-anne

 

[Robert_374242026]

Hi jo-anne, in short to your question, yes,Lidl Silvercrest & Sky+box,no problem,yes when we take Sky+ box.

 

[JeremyClarksson]

There is loads on this if you look back.

Personally I recommend the satellite suitcase sold by Maplin, Lidl and Aldi.

It comes with all the kit although it is worth getting an electronic sat finder as well, runs on 12V and easy to lug about and store.

This is a freesat box so will not pick up Sky or take a card.

For the moment you do not get CH4 and CH5 although this will change, you do get loads of other channels including all the UK local stations Film4 etc.

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

robert, thanks, so i gather you take your sky plus box and card from home rather than using your sky box that goes with the dish?.

do me a favour check out www.aldi.co.uk and look at sunday offers and tell me if thats okay you will know what to look for.

thanks

jo-anne

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

Hi jo-anne, in short to your question, yes,Lidl Silvercrest & Sky+box,no problem,yes when we take Sky+ box.

see below

 

[JeremyClarksson]

Jo-Anne,

That Aldi kit is fine exactly the same as the other kit I mentioned.

The receiver identical to mine - Bargain at

 

[Robert_374242026]

robert, thanks, so i gather you take your sky plus box and card from home rather than using your sky box that goes with the dish?.

do me a favour check out www.aldi.co.uk and look at sunday offers and tell me if thats okay you will know what to look for.

thanks

jo-anne

Hi jo-anne,looked at Aldi and it seems simular to a point.When we take the Sky+ i change the LNB for a double one as this is what it requires to view + and as you proberly know it requires two co-axial cables , it is no big deal to change them over

 

[Robert_374242026]

Hi jo-anne,looked at Aldi and it seems simular to a point.When we take the Sky+ i change the LNB for a double one as this is what it requires to view + and as you proberly know it requires two co-axial cables , it is no big deal to change them over

I should have also said that the Aldi one seems v.good value.the Lidle one was about

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

I should have also said that the Aldi one seems v.good value.the Lidle one was about

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

Jo-Anne,

That Aldi kit is fine exactly the same as the other kit I mentioned.

The receiver identical to mine - Bargain at

 

[MikeAce]

I take my digi box from home and keep a dish and tripod in the van, the cable is rolled up in the electric cupboard , I pull the cable through a hole in the floor and run it to the dish.

I keep a sat meter in the van too to get the perfect signal, being an ex satellite fitter myself I cant stand a less than perfect signal.

I use a proper sky (Triax) dish and universal LNB, its perfect every time and once its ligned up it doesnt need to be touched for the rest of the holiday, the legs of the tripod are pegged down to avoid movement.

 

[scorpius]

hi jo anne like mikeace we also leave a tripod and sat finder in the caravan. as i remember the dish tripod and sat finder cost about

 

[GeorgeB]

Jo-anne,

As per Mikeace & Marky boy, but I have a dedicated digibox + freesat card just for the van.

I don't know why, but nearly all UK sites have a very poor terestial tv signal (& so does it where I live on the south coast in Sussex), thats why I have satelite at home & in the van, just 1 word of caution, for a realy good signal use a dish thats at least 60cm, even in the south the picture breaks up with the "standard" 45cm digital dish.

Also, if you have a freesat card, remember to "use" it at least once a month otherwise it "looses" channels 4 & 5, I just plug it into the digibox at home every couple of weeks or so, otherwise when you get on site you have to phone Sky customer services to get your card re-activated.

 

[JeremyClarksson]

GeorgeB

With a proper lock onto the satellite(s) you should not get breaking up of the picture in the South of UK unless the dish is moving with the wind.

I use a 39cm dish and get all the channels perfectly once set up - try doing an extra bit of tweaking until you get a really good lock.

 

[GeorgeB]

Garry,

The problem of picture break up is with my home system!!! engineers have visited numerous times & all have said I need a bigger dish on the side of the house, but as the problem is very sporadic, I just can't be ar**d going up a ladder to change it.

Van dish is 80cm (transparent type, so as not to be so "intrusive") & I always get a good lock & superb picture with it.

But thanks anyway.

 

[JeremyClarksson]

GeorgeB

If the problem is "very sporadic" I would suggest it is not a problem with the dish but more with the fixing - does it happen in particularly windy conditions.

Other possible causes

Is there an obstruction (tree)

If the dish was just a little off I believe lightning and sunspot activity can also cause sporadic interference.

Extremely heavy rainfall can also wipe out the satellite signal.

There is little you can do in these circumstances if your dish is spot on.

If you are seeing 75-80% on the signal meter, I do not think there is much wrong with the dish size, if you could not get above 60% even with tweaking I might try a bigger dish.

I always get 75-80% in the SW and W of England using a 39cm dish but have yet to try it further afield.

I have a 60cm dish at home with a motor drive - they are notoriously difficult to set up on more than one satellite, but I have Astra19E, Astra28E, Hotbird13E and Atlantic5W and only get significant degradation on Atlantic (not a great loss)but that is because I have concentrated for best set up on Astra28 and that has only ever degraded in very heavy rain.

It appears to me that you might be better off setting it up yourself or getting a different (recommended) satellite engineer in.

 

[MikeAce]

Technically both of you Garry and GeorgeB are correct.

I too use a standard 39cm dish and even on my hols to the south coast last year recieved a perfect signal, although it was a little trickier to line up, i always achieve a perfect signal when ever i put the tripod down, the pegs through the feet ensure it stays solidly fixed even in high winds.

The signal does get weaker down towards the south coast and if you cross over into europe you will certainly need a bigger dish.

I would agree that sporadic signal is usually down to natural causes, such as trees or weather, or even an electrical interference of some sort from somewhere, maybe an electrical pylon?

I dont think that a dish can be blamed entirely for bad signal, there are other factors to consider, such as the quality of cable, sky recommend a cable called ct100, its a good copper shielded co ax that is very resiliant to weather conditions. perhaps georgerb has a slight break in cable or a standard tv coax, i have even seen boxes being the fault for low signal, a badly soldered joint inside the box for example could cause all manner of faults. if you believe the dish and cable is ok and nothing is blocking the signal i would be looking for a replacement box.

your average sky engineer is an idiot so dont think that you are calling the experts when you call them, you are most likely getting a guy that before his 2 weeks of training was skinning rabbits for a pie manufacturer.

As garry stated, a different engineer may be a good idea.

in summary, a 39cm dish should do most of mid uk and down to the south coast comfortably but greater care needs to be taken to get that perfect signal.

 

[GaryWrench]

I like me you missed the

 

[Peter_374225034]

The Silvercrest/Comag Porty setup from maplin/lidl/aldi is pretty good with a few pointers.

get an electric satfinder

 

[Scott_374302539]

Hi. I have researched this topic a lot. I deceided in the end to go for a CAMOS SVR-300CI F.T.A. SATELLITE RECEIVER from Roadpro.co.uk @