Status 315 not working

[wilson419]

We have an Adria Adora 532UK with a Status 315 aerial which has been working fine but then on a trip away we couldn't get any signal at all so we put it down to being in a poor area but then on the 2 next trips at places we have previously got a good signal we still have had no signal. We have tried another TV but still nothing. There is a status power pack in the closet that is powered on and lit up.All the wiring looks ok so I'm not sure what could be the issue ? any advice would be great.

Thanks

 

[Gagakev]

Have you checked the TV's indoors at home?
i would check them first.
Do you when you install go to "First time installation" ?
This on some Tv menus are quite hard to find but it is there, you may find that travelling to different area's you have to do this to get a signal.
I do it every time now unless I get a signal straight away, as it save's time in the long run.
Hop this helps and might save you a few bob

 

[Craigyoung]

Same here , each time we arrive on a site I always re tune our tv like Kev says , only takes a few minutes , after that , it works fine , don't just arrive and assume it'll work as we used to when we first started !!

 

[wilson419]

Yes, the TV's are fine at home and yes we ALWAYS re-tune when we get to site.We have re-tuned several times in the caravan

 

[Gagakev]

Yes, the TV's are fine at home and yes we ALWAYS re-tune when we get to site.We have re-tuned several times in the caravan

Sorry if this sounds patronising and am sure you know that a Re-Tune is totally differant from a " first time installation."
Have you used the same coaxial cable at home as you have in the van to connect to TV and wall socket in the van?

 

[JTQ]

A "long shot" but have you checked the little switch underneath the amplifier has not been knocked; is it set fully switched to "Hi" gain. rather than part way or even to "low"?

 

[Sproket]

One of the first things to check is the aerial connection that you plug into the rear of the tv, with one of these, there are other makes about, it will tell you if your original amplifier is working and getting a strong enough signal for your tv.

To get the most up to date service from Freeview it is important to retune from time to time

I fitted one of these years ago for the status aerial much better IMO due to being able to fine tweek it rather than just HI or LOW power.

 

[Royston]

Hi Wilson,
I experienced a similar problem when I purchased my Bailey Senator van, no signal at the TV , Have you tried removing the aerial input lead to your white box and connecting directly into your TV , to see if you receive a signal,reason for asking the question , the internal TV connection fitted inside my van upon removing the outer cover discovered that the internal wire of the aerial lead was broken Re-Connected aerial, lead problem solved.
Trust this has been of help Royston

 

[RobKnapp2]

This might sound very bizarre, and might not be of any help, but in our van, we have these useful little shelves that look to be made ideal for mobile phones - they are close to the booster (in the cupboard adjacent) and the 315 is directly above. If we put phones there the signal will be lost on the TV - it will start pixxelating then then go to the standard no-service screen. It took us a few trips to work this out, and I have literally given up trying to tune the TV before and put up the satellite, however on one trip the wife was watching TV and I came in and put my phone there - the cause was almost immediately identified. If we put the phones into Air plane mode, the signal returns.
I was very ready to purchase a replacement status 530 until we identified this.
Again not sure if this helps.
Cheers
Rob

 

[Woodentop]

A couple of points.

Older 'vans use conventional co-ax cable - the sort with the thin whispy braid - rather than the more modern type with a foil screen under the braid that is better suited to digital TV. It is worth taking the plug off one of the outlets of the amp and having a look, and as someone else said check the rear of the outlet socket for cable breaks or poor/incorrect installation. (Unconnected outer is a very common problem.)

As others have said a full retune is always a good idea. Look through the menus for either System Reset or Factory Defaults or some similar combination and run it. The TV will then power up telling you it needs to tune as it has nothing in memory.

Whilst digging around the menus have a look see if there is a manual tune option. If so set the initial tune going and then stop it immediately.

Before leaving home go to www.wolfbane.com and input the postcode of where you are going. Write down the details of the first two or three stations that it presents together with the channel numbers. Particularly write down the bearing of each site and the signal polarity.

When on site have a look at surrounding properties (or the Warden's caravan) and see which way most aerials are pointing. From the details you already have you will easily be able to decide the preferred station and use the data that you have to do a manual tune on the TV. That way you will get ONLY the channels you want and need and not weaker signals from more distant sites with lower channel numbers (TV's always auto-tune from 21 upwards.) For a Status 315 the direction and polarity are of no consequence as it is omni-directional and dual polarity: if using a directional Status 500 series then direction and polarity does matter. The plane of the case is the polarity of the aerial inside it.

Finally, before anyone says it - there is no such thing as a digital aerial. Any aerial fitted to a caravan will work* with DTTV signals - the only difference is the preferred cable. If non-foil cable has been installed then in a strong signal area people moving around inside the caravan can cause signal reflections that will make the TV picture break up. Also if the TV signal is strong some TVs won't handle it well either. If the TV is showing a high signal level approaching 100% then try switching the normal/lo switch on the aerial amp box. As long as the signal is above about 40% and the quality about 60% or more you will have no problems - it is quality not strength that matters with DTTV.
*Comments suggest with the exception of the Avtex whip aerial being fitted by some manufacturers.

 

[bertieboy1]

woodentop,
What do you do with the foil screen at each connection.I just cut it off at each end as the foil and braid are making contact all along the cable,Not sure about cable with foil better for digital personally I haven't found it makes any difference.
You usually have to retune at each different site (sometimes you don't),I find your methods ever complicated - just go into the TV menu and select tune or auto tune the teelly does the rest.

 

[Woodentop]

woodentop,
What do you do with the foil screen at each connection.I just cut it off at each end as the foil and braid are making contact all along the cable,Not sure about cable with foil better for digital personally I haven't found it makes any difference.
You usually have to retune at each different site (sometimes you don't),I find your methods ever complicated - just go into the TV menu and select tune or auto tune the teelly does the rest.

Hmm, I suspect a bit of misunderstanding.

The physical location of the foil matter not as once it is inside the plug the plug will 'extend' the screen anyway, so cutting it off at the end of the outer is not a problem - so long as there is still braid present to make contact.

Firstly using co-ax with foil. If you got interference of any kind on an analogue TV at worst you might get a flicker, at best perhaps a few white dots across the screen. With DTTV interference will likely cause the TV to have problems - at best perhaps a little pixelation, at worst a picture freeze or even disappearance whilst the TV gets its brain back in order. Remember with DTTV it is a computer that thinks it is a TV, so anything that will upset a computer will play havoc with digital TV. Hence foil screening is better.

As an aside, the TV aerial cable under our landing floor has the old brown co-ax with the whispy braid. There is a CAT5 cable perhaps 6in away from it carrying our incoming broadband from modem to router. The TV in our bedroom consistently refuses to show the EPG - mainly 'no information' or gets the programmes muddled. If I disconnect the CAT5 at both ends, lo and behold the EPG works properly. (No, I cannot take the landing floor up to replace the cable as it has a fitted carpet and I have a wish to survive a few years longer......)

The reason for doing a full install retune is to do with the way these computers-that-think-they-are-TVs work. When you do an autotune it does not necessarily overwrite what is already there. If the TV finds a signal carrying the BBC mux and it already knows about BBC then it may well not replace what it knows and stick this second mux up in the 800's, and so for all other stations. It is also not uncommon for caravan sites to be in range of more than one transmitter (Tx) especially if the site is in an elevated location, and if an 'interfering' Tx has lower channel numbers than the one you should be using the TV may not decide to use the 'correct' Tx even if there is a significant difference in signal level or quality. With more modern TVs if the two Tx's received are in different TV regions then the TV will ask which region to use, but if they are the same region then it may not care.

For the record I differentiate here between channel and station. Each multiplex (mux) carries a number of TV and radio stations (e.g. BBC1, BBCRadio4 etc) but only occupies one transmitter channel or frequency, as distinct from analogue TV where one transmitter channel carried one TV station - BBC1, ITV, Ch4 or whatever. If you follow my suggestion then you will need the transmitter site numbers to enter into your TV for tuning purposes. If your TV only accepts frequencies (which some do) then take the channel number, multiply it by 8 and add 306 to get the frequency. At the time of writing in the UK we only use channels 21-33 and 39-60 which may be reduced even more (at the top end) if HMG decide to sell off the 700MHz band for mobile phones/data.

I hope that helps.