TV Tuning

[mustard1972]

Now there is no such thing as a stupid question - however......

We are going on our first trip in easter, the van has a TV antenna (the van is 4 yr old so i presume digital), however when i plug the TV in do i need to tune the aerial in first (if so how?)....rotate it around until i get a strong signal? ....or do i need a meter of some description?

See i told you it was a stupid question

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Look at other caravans, or better nearby houses, to see which way their aerials are pointing and whether vertical or horizontal. If there is a reception block check their aerial.

PS - there is no such thing as a digital aerial.

PPS - the above assumes you have a directional aerial. If you have a circular aerial then you can't do anything. hmy:

 

[bertieboy1]

If you have one of these round saucerlike aerials then it will be omnidirectional (supposed to pickup signals from all directions),there is no adjustment for direction of these aerials.If you have a directional type aerial (kind of pointed) then you should be able to rotate it to pickup a signal.
However,back to your questions -
First (as previously advised) and if the aerial is the directional type rotate it to the same direction as other aerials.
Second, retune your TV and if no signals are detected rotate aerial until a picture is obtained.
If you have an omnidirectional aerial there is no directional adjustment and there nothing you can do except move to a strong signal area.

 

[mustard1972]

Many thanks, i have the round dish, i suppose its more a case of setup and see (all the fun of our first trip), i'm also looking up purifying the tap water system.....

 

[sgtangel]

Many thanks, i have the round dish, i suppose its more a case of setup and see (all the fun of our first trip), i'm also looking up purifying the tap water system.....

Mustard, I`m relatively new to this, but have just purified our system today after getting the van out of storage
Its simple.

If you have a truma water filter, remove the filter. If you have an entire new one to fit for the new season, you can remove the clear head from the old filter cartridge and refit the head only, allowing you to clean the system without the filter in.
Buy some Puriclean (crystals or tabs) from your local caravan shop and add it to your aquaroll at the correct doseage, and then run your taps to fill the system with the cleaner.
Leave it overnight, and then drain and flush before fitting your new filter.
Hey presto - all done.
Any spare water in your aqua roll with the puriclean in it can be used to clean out your waste container.

 

[GrahamE]

Hi there mustard1972, We have only had our van for 2 seasons but you may find some sites have a very bad signal but may offer a TV hook up on a serviced pitch. So it goes without saying said site we found this sold a 15 metre cable with terminals fitted in the shop I think it was about £15. Once you have got it you've got it.

 

[Woodentop]

To the OP - you would be better doing some homework before you leave.

Go to www.wolfbane.com, enter the postcode for the site, and put the setting to distant and the antenna height to 3m. The prog will give you the stations that serve the area - note the nearest two, the channels being used, and the bearing.

When you get to site look at fixed aerials in the area - on houses or the wardens accommodation - to see which stations that Wolfbane found is serving the area.

Set up your TV, go through the menus and find if it has manual tuning and if so use the channel numbers that you have for the serving transmitter in the manual tuning process. This way you will be certain to get the best/correct signal and not something that is on the edge. You do not need to use any channel marked as PSB3/BBC B or Com7/8 unless your TV has a HD tuner as it will not find those signals.

 

[AlanW]

You can download a app onto your phone, its called antenna aligner, it tells you which direction and horizontal or vertical, it works every time and its free
Alan

 

[mustard1972]

Thats excellent everyone, some great methods but i have downloaded the app and will give it a go

 

[mustard1972]

Back from my first easter trip, the App worked a treat and i had the TV up and running within around 10 minutes

 

[AlanW]

I find that app a big help, saves a lot of messing about,
Alan