TV reception

[pensioner]

I hope I'm the right section.

I have an Avtex tv for the van model L187drs and my antenna is a vision plus status 550.

I retune at each location and generally get about 130 channels plus radio.

When viewing at random occasions the picture breaks up and once or twice I've had to totally retune. It happens more often on the upper channels.

I thought it might be mobile phone interference but dismissed that as the frequencies are so different,,maybe my microwave but tried that with no adverse effect.

I've tuned the set in at home on a standard antenna and there is no problem.

I've had the tuning box with the red, amber, and green lights changed but still have the problem

Can anyone suggest a solution, or do I need to go to satellite system to overcome this.

 

[PHOENIXFLIER]

I had a similar set up with similar problems.
Cured it by trial and error.
Have found that the green light sometimes tells lies.......and with a bit of searching (watching the screen signal strength), a rock solid picture / signal can be found easily.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Not all sites will have good digital reception so occasional picture breakup may occur.

 

[pensioner]

Phoenixflier,,,my little box has NEVER gone off red even after changing it,,and with antenna horizontal or vertical,,,and twiddling the gain control, but after tuning there's a good picture.

 

[bertieboy1]

Pensioner,
We've encountered similar symptoms and haven't come to a conclusion as to what's causing this to happen.We also use satellite which doesn't have this problem.
Having thought about it,it seems to happen for us during peak electrical periods eg dinner time and breakfast time,it doesn't seem to happen during the day.
Based on this we've come to the conclusion it's down to a weak electrical site electrical supply not strong enough to sustain short peaks caused by switching on electrical devices.

 

[KeefySher]

Pensioner,
We've encountered similar symptoms and haven't come to a conclusion as to what's causing this to happen.We also use satellite which doesn't have this problem.
Having thought about it,it seems to happen for us during peak electrical periods eg dinner time and breakfast time,it doesn't seem to happen during the day.
Based on this we've come to the conclusion it's down to a weak electrical site electrical supply not strong enough to sustain short peaks caused by switching on electrical devices.

We run our TV on 12v, even when on hook up. Does the OP?

 

[Raywood]

I have to say the green light on our aerial does lie sometimes and the best bet is to check where others point theirs although you can get aps for tablets to show you where the aerial should be pointed.
Many sites in rural areas though have poor reception and a connection on the hook up may be available.

 

[glenno]

I had this and it was caused by leaving mobile phones close to the tv.

 

[Craigyoung]

hi all,
when we had our other caravan we had a tv dish that you were able to rotate up and down and turn to find the best signal, I downloaded an app called aerial alignment UK , there's a few apps to say the least and all you did was put the app on your phone and the picture would spin to the direction that you needed for best reception signal . it worked to but since getting our new one we have a fixed dish and haven't had any bother with that one , touch wood , yet !!! hmy:

 

[Dustydog]

hi all,
when we had our other caravan we had a tv dish that you were able to rotate up and down and turn to find the best signal, I downloaded an app called aerial alignment UK , there's a few apps to say the least and all you did was put the app on your phone and the picture would spin to the direction that you needed for best reception signal . it worked to but since getting our new one we have a fixed dish and haven't had any bother with that one , touch wood , yet !!! hmy:

Craig, sorry to be thick. How is the new dish fixed? Are you on sky?

 

[Craigyoung]

Well this one is a status arial fixed to the top of the van and not on the pole that i had to unscrew inside , push up and turn till i got a good signal like the bailys was and we have digi tv ?! :dry: does that make sense DD ?

 

[otherclive]

I have to say the green light on our aerial does lie sometimes and the best bet is to check where others point theirs although you can get aps for tablets to show you where the aerial should be pointed.
Many sites in rural areas though have poor reception and a connection on the hook up may be available.

We've recently been to a site that had no digital TV reception not any phone signal despite a mast being only .75 miles away but that was targeted to the main road. The site had good wifi which was free. There were coaxial sockets in the EHU but our coax lead lives in the loft now. So I nipped into the local town and bought some cable and connectors. Tried every socket but no joy with the TV. So I asked the site manager why the sockets weren't working. He asked had I put the TVs tuner to analogue which of course I hadn't since UK is now digital. It transpired that the site convert digital free view into analogue as it makes for better signal distribution across the whole site. I changed the tv tuner to analogue and "bingo" a good signal and picture. Never in a thousand years would I have attempted to tune into analogue.

 

[Dustydog]

Thanks Craig
When you said dish I thought you were using Sky? Aerial. I get it

 

[bertieboy1]

Keefysher,
Not sure what your getting at with your reply.
I'm not sure where the problem lies -
1.With the mains powered TV
or
2.With the aerial amplifier
Suspect it's the aerial amplifier because the TV is mains powered as is the satellite box and the problem doesn't happen when on satellite only when on terrestial TV through the aerial amplifier.

 

[KeefySher]

Keefysher,
Not sure what your getting at with your reply.
I'm not sure where the problem lies -
1.With the mains powered TV
or
2.With the aerial amplifier
Suspect it's the aerial amplifier because the TV is mains powered as is the satellite box and the problem doesn't happen when on satellite only when on terrestial TV through the aerial amplifier.

Your TV can be powered from a direct 12V DC supply, as in the caravan 12V supply with a plug/socket/lead that came with the TV and plugs into the cigarette lighter type socket.

Or it is via the adapter that again came with the TV that has a 3 pin 13amp plug/lead/plug that fits into an adapter to give 230V in, 12V out, the adaptor has an output lead that plugs into the TV.

Have you tried replicating the fault by using the 12v DC cigarette lighter type supply? This may indicate there is a fault in the caravan/lead/adapter if the TV works consistently. That the TV works at home probably means the adapter/lead is ok, so could be the caravan 230v circuit. Often plugs and sockets are thrown together at the caravan assembly point and you may have a poor connection in the caravan.

Similarly there may be poor connections in the aerial/caravan/12v circuit.

Hope that assists your fault finding. Avtex TVs have a good reputation, so my inclination would be toward poor connections in the caravan. Get them out the door, let the poor mug who buys it find and fix faults seems to be the norm in the caravan industry.

 

[Satgear]

Hi, I just thought I'd jump in as 'Pensioner' mentioned that he had an Avtex DRS TV. I can only speak from personal experience with our Satgear kits but we have a specific kit for the Avtex TV so that you can make use of the Easyfind function in the TV. It takes the headache out of the whole experience of trying to find a signal.
The web link is here:
Satelite option for Avtex TV's
All the kits in that category have an Avtex TV option which means that you can use the built in Avtex satellite receiver in the TV and als ouse the Avtex easyfind function which is activated with the AQT button on the TV remote. Its a fantastic process and is significantly cheaper that than having a kit with a receiver included with it.
Hope this helps. Oh and also worth mentioning is that there is an end of season sale currently running to the end of the month (links to the discount code from the front page).
Thanks,
Darren.