Sky dish & wind, advice Please!

[Gareth111278]

Hi ,

We've got one of those little sky dishes, in the gray plastic case , £124 from towsure. Its great apart from its almost impossible to keep locked on in windy conditions. The dish seems to flex and the mounting just isn't man enough.

I was thinking of stiffening the dish & the LNB arm and using propper bolts and a spanner to tighten things up.

Alternatively , sheltering the dish, either with a wind break, with guy lines1, or in the awning.

Any advive would be welcome!

Gareth

 

[AlanJ]

Hi Gareth

I have a Lidl one of these and have found it best to position it whenever possible in the shelter of the caravan away from prevailing winds. If this not possible have found most time it will also work ok within the awning (also stops it being nicked!).

I purchased one of those halogen work lights on a yellow tripod (Lidl or Asda)took the light off and clamp the dish to this which is very stable.

I must say that I had also purchased a Maxview 60cm dish for use in Europe which I now use all the time because it is far superior in getting max strength signal and recently used in 50-60 mph winds (behind the caravan) and it was rock solid all week for the Olympics.

 

[Gareth111278]

Thanks alan,

i'll try it in the awning, at the minute i use the clamp suppied in the kit to put the dish on the jockey wheel, I think i'll also try a home made ground mounting .

i'd like a 60cm dish as i find the small one very fussy for signal, you have to get it 100% right or BBc News24 just won't work! The

 

[TheTurk]

Try Brymar Satellites website. Very efficient and fairly competitive. The aluminium tripod they supply which I think is a Maxview one is light and very solid. Have used it for five or six years and have never lost a signal apart from when up the side of a mountain near Carcassone, in a lightning storm with lashing winds and even then it was only intermittent loss. This was with a 60cm dish but I have used it with an 80cm dish as well with no problems.

Hope this helps.

Ian

 

[Gareth111278]

Thanks Ian, i'll check it out

 

[Gareth111278]

WOW, I can get a bigger dish [88cm] & a tripod for

 

[rob and jen]

Hi,

Don't know if this is of interest but a few years back I went to a site and the owner of the van next to us was a Sky engineer and he showed me his set up. Basically since then I have used the following very sucessfully:-

Bought and oval sat dish from ebay (

 

[Catsparkey]

Hi Gareth

I like Rob sourced an oval dish got a piece of ali pipe bought a tripod from the local caravan dealer assessory store (washing line type) two exhaust clamps one to bolt on to the pipe the other for the dish so it sits on the pipe. Coax cable from Maplins secondhand Skybox and my card from home. Three quid on a compas ex Ebay. Job done total cost

 

[Gareth111278]

Cheers guys, i'm thinking of getting Sky+ in the house so i might get the engineer to remove the old dish and use it for the caravan as you both sugest.

Can i leave the elivation set and just adjust the angle? assuming a flat place to stand the tripod, that is!

thanks gareth

 

[rob and jen]

Hi,

I'm told that elevation may need to be adjusted in different parts of UK - but I have never done so and have had trips from St Ives to Mid Scotland.

I basically keep the dish itself pretty verticle as the signal tends to bounce off dish onto LNB. Don't point the dish up to the sky at a 45degree angle etc as it wont work. I must add that I am no expert here but my experience of using this technique for the last couple of years has been good. Good Luck!

 

[TheTurk]

Gareth, You will need to alter the elevation if you take it abroad, especially as you go further south. I have also altered it in GB as well as you go further north. However this is lees critical in this country. It does make a difference even if only marginal. As many others have suggested in the past try www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk. This website is indispensible with a huge amount of info written for all to understand and it also has a map with elevation settings within its pages.

Incidentally the Maxview tripod has a hole in each leg to accept an awning peg, and I have picked up signals in N Spain and all over France with a 60cm dish.

Ian

 

[Gareth111278]

Thats it then, i'll get a good tripod and use a domestic dish, i think the maplin dish is so small it has to be perfectly locked on at all times.

I'm off to free-cycle , see if i can find me a dish!

Cheers , Gareth