What TV setup is best for caravan?

[Gixergupster]

Hi,

I’m new to caravanning… can someone please advise the best tv/satellite (dish/aerial) setup to get digital channels via a smart tv please?

Thanks,
Ollie

 

[Woodentop]

You don't need satellite in the UK, Freeview works in most places. If you want to be certain of getting a signal then consider Freesat. Freeview relay stations only give 14 stations where main stations get 80 odd. Freesat will get you the same as a main station. If you want to do it cheaply get a Sky+HD box (or better still the multi-room version which is smaller and lighter) and a Freesat-from-Sky viewing card - once off £25. Freeview comes in through your caravan TV aerial but you need a dish for satellite - see below.

If you go to Cash Converters you will pay less than £20 if not less than £10 to get a used Sky box with mains lead, remote, and a guarantee. If you are lucky it will still have a viewing card in it which will allow you to get almost everything you want of FTA (free-to-air) and FTV (free-to-view) channels (then you won't need the £25 card!)

You will have difficulty using the smart facilities of a TV as your chance of getting a fast enough broadband connection through the site wi-fi is next to zero. You can use a mobile wi-fi unit (a.k.a. a mi-fi) which will get you broadband through a cellular phone network but such data does not come cheap.

If you want a TV for the van and haven't bought one get then forget about smart. You can get a 32in (if you have the room) LG TV (which is actually smart) that has both Freeview and Freesat tuners built in for about £180 from Currys or Richer Sounds. Otherwise get a reasonably sized TV to suit your van layout - 24-28in for example - that has a HD tuner (Samsung and LG do both) and you are on your way.

If you decide to go down the Freesat route you will need a 'Sky' dish with a standard LNB* (the bit on the end of the arm) and a tripod of some kind. The dish does not need to be high up - so long as it has a clear view roughly SE it will work on the ground! You will also need some aerial cable (which you can also use with the pillar feed on sites that have such) and a bag of F-type plugs - Screwfix is your best bet, a bag of 10 plugs from there will cost you less than a pack of two from a DIY shed or a caravan shop.
*Make sure it is a standard LNB, not one for Sky-Q which will not work.

There is shed-loads of info on line on how to make up the cables and how to align your dish on site - an optical compass and a signal finder (a fiver or so at Aldi/Lidl when on offer), and some pegs to make sure you tripod doesn't fall over will help enormously.

 

[Gixergupster]

You don't need satellite in the UK, Freeview works in most places. If you want to be certain of getting a signal then consider Freesat. Freeview relay stations only give 14 stations where main stations get 80 odd. Freesat will get you the same as a main station. If you want to do it cheaply get a Sky+HD box (or better still the multi-room version which is smaller and lighter) and a Freesat-from-Sky viewing card - once off £25. Freeview comes in through your caravan TV aerial but you need a dish for satellite - see below.

If you go to Cash Converters you will pay less than £20 if not less than £10 to get a used Sky box with mains lead, remote, and a guarantee. If you are lucky it will still have a viewing card in it which will allow you to get almost everything you want of FTA (free-to-air) and FTV (free-to-view) channels (then you won't need the £25 card!)

You will have difficulty using the smart facilities of a TV as your chance of getting a fast enough broadband connection through the site wi-fi is next to zero. You can use a mobile wi-fi unit (a.k.a. a mi-fi) which will get you broadband through a cellular phone network but such data does not come cheap.

If you want a TV for the van and haven't bought one get then forget about smart. You can get a 32in (if you have the room) LG TV (which is actually smart) that has both Freeview and Freesat tuners built in for about £180 from Currys or Richer Sounds. Otherwise get a reasonably sized TV to suit your van layout - 24-28in for example - that has a HD tuner (Samsung and LG do both) and you are on your way.

If you decide to go down the Freesat route you will need a 'Sky' dish with a standard LNB* (the bit on the end of the arm) and a tripod of some kind. The dish does not need to be high up - so long as it has a clear view roughly SE it will work on the ground! You will also need some aerial cable (which you can also use with the pillar feed on sites that have such) and a bag of F-type plugs - Screwfix is your best bet, a bag of 10 plugs from there will cost you less than a pack of two from a DIY shed or a caravan shop.
*Make sure it is a standard LNB, not one for Sky-Q which will not work.

There is shed-loads of info on line on how to make up the cables and how to align your dish on site - an optical compass and a signal finder (a fiver or so at Aldi/Lidl when on offer), and some pegs to make sure you tripod doesn't fall over will help enormously.

Hi, ok that’s brilliant. I think I might go down the Freesat and old sky box route then 👍🏼 How do I then get signal for the sky box… do I pug it into the built-in satellite dish on top on the caravan??

Thanks,

 

[Jcloughie]

I have to disagree with Woodentop. A decent Smart TV can be bought for around £140. I bought this one from John Lewis for £110 as a second.

Television

I just linked it to my smart phone. We had two phones on different networks. Both with dirt cheap data. Just look at Smarties rates.

Simple, honest mobile

SMARTY is a new SIM-only mobile network that’s built to be fair, transparent and smart.

smarty.co.uk

We never had a problem getting WiFi or, failing that, just used the aerial or pre recorded stuff on a hard disk.

Also, nice and easy with minimum setup.


John

 

[otherclive]

I have to disagree with Woodentop. A decent Smart TV can be bought for around £140. I bought this one from John Lewis for £110 as a second.

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9499052?istCompanyId=a74d8886-5df9-4baa-b776-166b3bf9111c&istFeedId=c290d9a9-b5d6-423c-841d-2a559621874c&istItemId=pirlqrall&istBid=t&&cmpid=GS001&_$ja=tsid:59157%7Cacid:416-707-6621%7Ccid:16379645032%7Cagid:134573857595%7Ctid:pla-883247227666%7Ccrid:583922368209%7Cnw:u%7Crnd:17107455433577055907%7Cdvc:c%7Cadp:%7Cmt:%7Cloc:1006741&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=16379645032&utm_term=9499052&utm_content=shopping&utm_custom1=134573857595&utm_custom2=416-707-6621&GPDP=true&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2cWgBhDYARIsALggUhoLTaLHhvjgY4cRM6bTnYQPnacEBXQDxyozs1Lanh4ev2wBfVCe_FEaAn-REALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I just linked it to my smart phone. We had two phones on different networks. Both with dirt cheap data. Just look at Smarties rates.

Simple, honest mobile

SMARTY is a new SIM-only mobile network that’s built to be fair, transparent and smart.

smarty.co.uk

We never had a problem getting WiFi or, failing that, just used the aerial l or pre recorded stuff on a hard disk.

Also, nice and easy with minimum setup.


John

The Smarty tariffs look very good. I did consider changing once but I’ve been with EE since they were 121, T mobile then Orange but I’ve not been in contract now for a long time. So I get the phones for £6.50 pm and 18gb of data, of which I use barely a smidgeon. The data has built up over time as whenever I phone to see what contract deals may be offered I indicate that I might be thinking of trying a competitor. Up goes the data allowance. But Smarty is certainly one I’d try if I felt it necessary to leave EE.

 

[Woodentop]

Hi, ok that’s brilliant. I think I might go down the Freesat and old sky box route then 👍🏼 How do I then get signal for the sky box… do I pug it into the built-in satellite dish on top on the caravan??

Thanks,

The aerial on the top of the caravan can be one of two types depending on the vehicles age.
If it looks like a small flying saucer on a stalk with a spike on the top it is a Vision Plus 300 series omni directional: if it is shaped like a long triangle and is on a stick that allows it to be pushed up above the roof from inside it is a Vision Plus 500 series directional aerial but NEITHER is anything to do with satellite. They are both Freeview aerials with an amplifier inside the caravan for receiving terrestrial television.

For satellite you will need a dish and tripod as I stated in my original text. You terminate your cable between the dish and the van with an F-type plug at each end. You screw one onto the LNB on the dish, and the other end screws onto the aerial socket on the back of your Freesat/Sky box. The box is connected to the TV using a HDMI cable - you can get a decent one for not much money (branded ProCeption) from Toolstation.
It would take too long on here to explain how to line up the dish to get a signal but there is plenty of help and instruction on line. You will most likely find people on site who have a dish who will happily help you to set it up.

 

[JTQ]

Some "Smart" TV have a satellite decoder, the better ones even a "Freesat" ™ decoder, thus not requiring a standalone top box, Sky or otherwise, plus the big benefit of less clutter, interconnecting wires etc.

So, the first point to establish, is the TV in question one with a satellite connection and second if so, is it Freesat™ or a generic decoder?

 

[Dustydog]

We use a 66cm semi elliptic dish, quad LNB and Sky HD Plus box from home. In the most remotest parts of U.K. we are guaranteed the full Sky Package. Been using this system for 20+ years. Relying on WiFi and phones isn’t bullet proof

 

[Gixergupster]

The aerial on the top of the caravan can be one of two types depending on the vehicles age.
If it looks like a small flying saucer on a stalk with a spike on the top it is a Vision Plus 300 series omni directional: if it is shaped like a long triangle and is on a stick that allows it to be pushed up above the roof from inside it is a Vision Plus 500 series directional aerial but NEITHER is anything to do with satellite. They are both Freeview aerials with an amplifier inside the caravan for receiving terrestrial television.

For satellite you will need a dish and tripod as I stated in my original text. You terminate your cable between the dish and the van with an F-type plug at each end. You screw one onto the LNB on the dish, and the other end screws onto the aerial socket on the back of your Freesat/Sky box. The box is connected to the TV using a HDMI cable - you can get a decent one for not much money (branded ProCeption) from Toolstation.
It would take too long on here to explain how to line up the dish to get a signal but there is plenty of help and instruction on line. You will most likely find people on site who have a dish who will happily help you to set it up.

Ahh ok I see, a separate dish on tripod needed then 👍🏼

Thanks,
Ollie

 

[JTQ]

Ahh ok I see, a separate dish on tripod needed then 👍🏼

Thanks,
Ollie

These are way easier to move around to find a location where it has an uninterrupted "view" of the satellite it needs to "see", rather than that view blocked by tree leaves etc, than it is to have to move the caravan!

On more formal sites, moving pitches is not always an option and even with the flexibility to move a free-standing dish occasionally has its limits; these have to have all but an uninterrupted sight line to our particular satellite cluster.

As has been said these days with digital TV the conventional terrestrial TV Freeview getting a viable signal is less challenging than it was, some sites in challenging locations even provide an on pitch boosted "aerial" connection point.

I carry a small ground hogging satellite dish on occasions where we "need" TV and I am not confident from previous knowledge or online checking that a viable signal exists there.

My recommendation though if starting from new in this hobby is to do everything you can to minimise "clutter", so if the van has an aerial try using that rather than start adding extras with their storage and setting up ramifications; like few others this hobby seems to attract the irresistible urge to keep acquiring more and more kit to the point the whole purpose of it achieving a simple get away break. becomes questionable.

 

[otherclive]

I would go with both options freesat and Freeview. A possible source of a tv could be a good charity shop. We were in our local Salvation Army one yesterday looking for a rollator and the tv section resembled Currys. There may even have been a suitable sized one with inbuilt freesat and Freeview. Worth a punt.

 

[Woodentop]

I spotted a Samsung 24" full HD TV in a charity shop recently. I told a friend who up until then had been using his Avtex in the bedroom. He went and bought it - not a mark on it, electrically tested, for £49 and it works a treat.

 

[otherclive]

I spotted a Samsung 24" full HD TV in a charity shop recently. I told a friend who up until then had been using his Avtex in the bedroom. He went and bought it - not a mark on it, electrically tested, for £49 and it works a treat.

A good source of tv for charity shops are from care homes where a resident has passed away and the screen size is too small fir main domestic usage. My BIL has a very nice quite new Panasonic in his room, but unfortunately hasn’t got a rollator yet 👍

 

[Buckman]

We have a satellite dish mounted on our caravan and use a Sky+HD box for signal. We have never had an issue with a signal. We have a 28" LG Smart TV and 0ver 95% of the time no issue with a signal when downloading films.

We have only had a hassle on one site with satellite signal as it was in a dip where the signal was intermittent even for using a phone. To us the dish was one of the better items we purchased as no fiddling with a dish in the pouring rain.

For many people a free standing dish (£25) is ample unless you travel to the continent.

 

[JTQ]

For practical purposes here the satellite "beam" is coming down at approximately an angle of one in two, so if your dish is positioned away from a potential obstruction by more than twice the height of that obstruction, then the view will be clear. Therefore, it is trees etc that can be the issue here in the UK, not many hills here anything approaching that steep, you would need to be tightly positioned in a quarry like site to have issues.

On the Continent the beam becomes even steeper, so for us a diminishing issue; though the mountains there can be an issue.
Over there the UK targeted beam we typical need becomes obviously less targeted, leading to a weaker edge of beam signal and with that the need tending towards requiring a larger dish.

The terrestrial digital TV signal is however readily troubled by the terrain, so valley sites can have issues.

 

[Buckman]

With our satellite dish we had no issue picking up UK stations as far down as La Rochelle, but then we hardly ever watch BBC or ITV. We could not pick up any with our stand alone dish even down by Nantes.

No problem with Sky even down as far as Valencia. I am fairly sure that we would still be able to pick up a Sky signal in Malaga, but we have not been down that far.

Guess it is up to the individual to decide, but with a Smart TV generally no need for an aerial or Satellite dish especially in the UK as long as you have a phone with an unlimited data package.

 

[RogerL]

Guess it is up to the individual to decide, but with a Smart TV generally no need for an aerial or Satellite dish especially in the UK as long as you have a phone with an unlimited data package.

That is so dependent on where people like to go caravanning - there are plenty of rural areas in the UK where phone signals are marginal plus all the remote areas where it's non-existent.

 

[Buckman]

That is so dependent on where people like to go caravanning - there are plenty of rural areas in the UK where phone signals are marginal plus all the remote areas where it's non-existent.

Then they can use the built in aerial on the caravan?

 

[RogerL]

Then they can use the built in aerial on the caravan?

If the phone signal is marginal, the terrestrial TV signal may be as well - both are based on serving 90% of the population with no regard for the areas where the other 10% live, which is a lot more than 10% of the UK.

I use Freesat from a dish on a tripod - 100% available throughout the UK.

 

[Woodentop]

With our satellite dish we had no issue picking up UK stations as far down as La Rochelle, but then we hardly ever watch BBC or ITV. We could not pick up any with our stand alone dish even down by Nantes.

No problem with Sky even down as far as Valencia. I am fairly sure that we would still be able to pick up a Sky signal in Malaga, but we have not been down that far.

Guess it is up to the individual to decide, but with a Smart TV generally no need for an aerial or Satellite dish especially in the UK as long as you have a phone with an unlimited data package.

Hmm, well......
A few years ago we shifted to Astra 2F and later 2G both of which have a tight UK beam. As the bearing is about 144deg if you follow that line from SE UK to the Jura(ish) area in France you should get a good signal on a 60cm ovoid dish, but go to Frankfurt and you will get nothing, similarly for western France much south of the Cherbourg peninsula.
Have a look at this map and you will see what I mean. People using a Sky box may fare better as Sky use wider beam satellites to cover larger parts of Europe but the UK specific channels - i.e. BBC etc - may be missing - look here.

 

[SteveW]

I will take a contrarian view here. I dumped the Status rooftop tv antenna, I actually filled the hole by mounting a DAB radio antenna on a piece of aluminium. Anyway TV…. We have a portable satellite dish we rarely use. We also have good mobile broadband. I have fitted a decent rooftop 4G antenna feeding a Teltonika 4G router. These get resold for caravan/motorhome use rebadged and with an antenna at vastly inflated prices, beware packages sold to the unwary by dealers. I use a Virgin SIM, unlimited data Europe wide at about 22 a month. Mostly we use the 240V smart TV fine as we usually have good broadband with this setup. We use Amazon, Netflix etc etc as usual. Obviously service is never guaranteed but mostly no need to break out the satellite dish.

Steve

 

[Dustydog]

Roger beat me! The reason we use a dish and Sky + is that there are numerous black holes around the U.K. where the caravan aerial will not work as TV reception is poor!

 

[Buckman]

Hmm, well......
A few years ago we shifted to Astra 2F and later 2G both of which have a tight UK beam. As the bearing is about 144deg if you follow that line from SE UK to the Jura(ish) area in France you should get a good signal on a 60cm ovoid dish, but go to Frankfurt and you will get nothing, similarly for western France much south of the Cherbourg peninsula.
Have a look at this map and you will see what I mean. People using a Sky box may fare better as Sky use wider beam satellites to cover larger parts of Europe but the UK specific channels - i.e. BBC etc - may be missing - look here.

Never been that far inland on the continent as prefer coastal and southern areas as generally they are warmer however our 85cm dish with auto skew should probably pick up UK signal in Frankfurt?

 

[Echodale]

For checking if your tripod mounted satellite dish will have line of site to the satellite then a great app is "Satellite Dish Pointing" from Foxsmith Technology Limited. I think it costs £1.99 but well worth it. When aligning your dish start with it pointing slightly east then SLOWLY swing it south until you get a signal.

 

[Buckman]

We use an app called "Satfinder" and it is free to use. Now I only use it to check out a site prior to arrival just in case.