TV for Caravan

[K_374359252]

Hi All,

OK, this question may have been covered by someone, so sorry if I am asking the same.

We have just got our first caravan, and tonight I was able to test our 15" LCD TV with Freeview on the van.....well, simply put it did not work! No channels were found.....

I am led to understand that the Status Airel on the roof of the van are not the best in the world for TV reception, so as I am running out of time before we start our holiday I wondered if anyone knew of a complete system that we can just plug into the TV and get BBC1, ITV etc.

I have seen some Digital Dishes on Ebay, and Towsure but am really confused as to what I can buy that will work "Out of the Box"

If anyone can point me to a system that works for them that would be great! (Company that sells them would be useful also!)

Oh, and at the moment we are only holidaying in UK, I have not got the confidence to actually Tow abroad or even drive abroad with the van yet!

Thanks in Advance

Kal

 

[RichardJ]

Hi Mate

Quick one, did you switch it on? the aerial I mean, ours has a switch in the cupboard.

 

[SirRogerFFS]

K. there are a number of options open to you firstly for your status aerial to be any good you have to be reasonbly close to a transmitter.

WE carry a small maxiview aerial and light weight poles for fair areas and also when we get to what we know as a bad reception area we have the portable sat in a case similar to the ones coming up in Aldi on Thursday be warned they work extremely well and the last time they had them in store the lot went in 15 mins of shop opening .

Hope this helps Regards Stewart

 

[K_374359252]

Hi,

Rich:

Yes I did switch it on, but still nothing, we had a fuzzy picture on the non-freeview channel so I guess it shows the status thing does work, albeit not very well.

Stewart:

Sounds good to me, although we dont have one of those stores near to me (Cambridge Area) so I may loose out there! If you can point me in the right direction of where and what to purchase, my debit card is at the ready!

-Kal

 

[SirRogerFFS]

Hi,

Rich:

Yes I did switch it on, but still nothing, we had a fuzzy picture on the non-freeview channel so I guess it shows the status thing does work, albeit not very well.

Stewart:

Sounds good to me, although we dont have one of those stores near to me (Cambridge Area) so I may loose out there! If you can point me in the right direction of where and what to purchase, my debit card is at the ready!

-Kal

K for a few quid more Maplins do the same bit of kit in the case in some stores they are at a knock down price due to returns and I think this was because the are a bit fiddly to say the least to set up but once you done the initial set up it does get easier .

Hope this helps . Stewart( BRILLIANT PICTURE )Compass in the case to locate satellite

 

[SirRogerFFS]

Hi,

Rich:

Yes I did switch it on, but still nothing, we had a fuzzy picture on the non-freeview channel so I guess it shows the status thing does work, albeit not very well.

Stewart:

Sounds good to me, although we dont have one of those stores near to me (Cambridge Area) so I may loose out there! If you can point me in the right direction of where and what to purchase, my debit card is at the ready!

-Kal

K Jusat checkede you do have a Maplins in Cambridge , I did get mine from Maplins in Northampton cos Aldi sold out

Good luck Stewart

 

[SirRogerFFS]

Hi,

Rich:

Yes I did switch it on, but still nothing, we had a fuzzy picture on the non-freeview channel so I guess it shows the status thing does work, albeit not very well.

Stewart:

Sounds good to me, although we dont have one of those stores near to me (Cambridge Area) so I may loose out there! If you can point me in the right direction of where and what to purchase, my debit card is at the ready!

-Kal

K just had agood look around Maplins site aaand there are several systems in there the one w use is satelltite suit case but there are some more in there .... does Cambridge BeeHive mean anything to you ..thats where Maplins are . Good Luck Stewart

 

[Delndi]

K just posted this but it's not showing so if I am duplicating Sorry

Aldi in Cambridge is on the Histon Road just a bit further on than the Vauxhall Dealer going out of town. I must admit that I had one of these dishes from Maplin and found it to be very fiddly to set up and consistency is not up to much. We kept losing the signal when it rained. I have just sold it on Ebay and bought a high gain aerial and mounting pole which works fine

 

[SirRogerFFS]

K just posted this but it's not showing so if I am duplicating Sorry

Aldi in Cambridge is on the Histon Road just a bit further on than the Vauxhall Dealer going out of town. I must admit that I had one of these dishes from Maplin and found it to be very fiddly to set up and consistency is not up to much. We kept losing the signal when it rained. I have just sold it on Ebay and bought a high gain aerial and mounting pole which works fine

Hi Derrick you really surprise with your comments I have to say I have never had that problem with mine ,only the setting up .side but have got use to that now .

Please dont think Im trying to cause a row here , merely observing your comments

Regards Stewart. K I hope you get sorted .

 

[Clubman1]

K

Check that you can receive Freeview at your holiday destination. Google Freeview and put in the appropriate post code and see what comes out of the hat. Assuming that you can receive Freeview and that you have connected your TV and Freeview box correctly you then need to tune in your TV using the Freeview box handset. Whilst the Status "saucer" TV ariel isn't the best, and conventional domestic ariels are cheaply available to overcome this, I would have thought that you would get more than a fuzzy picture if the system is set up right and tuned in. Good luck

 

[ChrisUK]

Did you try normal TV, i.e. not freeview digital? As yet the digital signal is weak.

Last week in Chelmsford I got a poor normal picture with my status, no freeview at all, and with a lot of fiddling a poor satellite signal using a Lidl setup. This signal eventually failed after a few days and I could not get it back, but there were trees in line of site. At home in rugby I got a very good picture from the sattelite dish.

Chris

 

[GaryH]

Hi Kal,

I got a tv last night for out first van trip this weekend.

I got one that had a freeview tuner built in, so we could pick up the extra channels. When setting it up last night I noticed that there are 2 tuning channels, one for normal terrestrial tv 'TV' and one for freeview digital 'DVB'.

I scanned for channels on the DVB source and also got nothing. I think this could be due to not having a strong signal in our area and the aerial may not be strong enough to pick up the weak signal.

When scanning with the TV as source though, it picked up the 5 channels fine. This was at home though, with a plug in booster type aerial from Tesco. I can't see why that won't work in the van though, so I'll take it with me this weekend in case the van's aerial isn't good enough. It's an idea for you to at least ensure you get some channels.

LEt me know how you get on hey?

Cheers,

Gary

 

[cokey1970]

I used our Freeview TV connected to the Status directional aerial at Broadway CC site last weekend. Despite it being a poor signal area, I was able to receive most of the digital channels however the signal strength was unstable.

If you have the standard omnidirectional Status aerial, I would recommend getting a normal household TV aerial for your reception. Along with the poles, they can be picked up for little money.

 

[IonaCaravan]

Don't bother taking a TV and enjoy the finer things in caravanning.

 

[Lutz]

If I don't do without TV at home, why do without it in the caravan? After all, the caravan is home from home.

 

[dan1]

for me, one of the main attractions of caravaning is not having the inane babble of albert sq/corrie/c-beebies/whatever droning away to its self in the back ground.

we have 2 daughters (6&4) and never take a TV away with us.

its far too easy for us to plonk the kids in front of the TV so we can get on with stuff.

i dont want to cause offence here but, if you wanna watch telly, stay at home.

 

[Lutz]

If the programmes aren't worth watching in the caravan, they aren't worth watching at home either but we like to keep up with current affairs and world politics.

 

[Tram]

When we first got freeview our existing aerial did not work so we got a digital one erected. It didn't work so they fitted a bigger one with a 12v booster attached.(this is in our house not 'van). It then and now works fine.

It is no surprise to me that the status aerial isn't good enough to pick up digital. It will pick up terrestrial well though.

I'm off to Aldi tomorrow (On offer Thur 21 May 08) to buy a satellite kit to overcome this problem in the 'van.

 

[Hamer_5041128]

Kal,

If you have the Status Omnidirectional then you can forget digital.

If you have the Status 530 Directional you should be able to receive digital. If you have the directional 530 then make sure itis switched on and the boost is on maximum.

Also check all the co-axial cable connections. Take them apart and make sure all are fitted correctly. I and friends always do this with new caravans and you would be surprised at what we find.

This seems a long process but it is worthwhile.

Also if you have a Directional aerial make sure it is set correctly for the transmitter I.E. vertical or horizintal and pointing at the transmitter. It needs to be set correctly to receive digital.

The site wardens will put you on the right path.

Hamer

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Don't completely discount omnidirectional aerials for digital TV. We stayed on a CL on Monday night near J15 of the M6 and had great digital reception on the omnidirectional. Even better than the domestic setup at home. We were later to find out that there was a strong transmitter less than 5 miles away!!

 

[dan1]

thats what the car radio is there for.