Which TV aerial???

[JimP]

Am after advice on a new aerial for my Van, currently got the Status T300 Omni directional one, but am fed up of not getting any reception, this weekend was away with the in-law's, they have a Status 530 on their Van and were picking up 91 channels on his digital TV, where as I in the van next door was getting 1 channel which was very snowy and had no sound!

When I go away for the weekend I dont want to be spending hours setting up a satelitte dish and alingning it, I just want a watchable picture on my TV, quickly.

So I've thought about upgrading to a Status 530 but dont fancy cutting a hole in the roof of my Van!

So are there any other options??

What is the best aerial to get??

Thanks

Jim

 

[stevieg330]

Hi Jim,

I was in the same position as you a while back. My caravan has the status 315 aerial which was fine as long as the signal strength was good but hopeless when not.

I too didn't want to cut a hole in the roof so the Status 530 was out.

so it came down to a choice of either a domestic Aerial on a pole or a Satellite dish. I went for the latter.

To me I didn't like the idea of having to align an aerial although I guess most times this is easy enough if you can see other ones and where they are pointing. Also you get freeview and I thought the programs were a bit limited (I have freeview at home as it was built into the set but don't really use it)

So I bought a satellite dish. The hardest part is putting it on the tripod, which isn't really difficult, once done I have never taken more than a minute or two to align it and then have access to 100's of channels.

You will obviously need a decoder if you go the satellite route but these can be picked up quite cheaply, I bought mine from Maplins for around

 

[John_miller]

At the risk of stating the obvious, there's already a hole in your roof through which the cable of the existing Status aerial enters the caravan. If you can fit the Status 530 in the same place, then it may be simply a case of enlarging the existing hole. The fitting instructions for the 530 are available here: www.gradeuk.co.uk/assets/pdfs/530_ENG/530_ENG.pdf The aerial works very well and is easy to adjust to the correct position and polarity. There are other aerials that you can clip to the side of your caravan (eg Vision Plus) but the 530 is well worth the time and trouble if you can fit it.

 

[haydn_374343028]

go for the status 535

,I took out the old omni and used the same hole.

it depends where your current aerial is mounted.

mine was above the wardrobe and there was enough room for the short mast to enter and clear the shelf.

the original hole is enlarged and the mounting plate covers to make a good structural seal and support.

if you are a handy man/woman it is an easy diy job.

just choose which mast length you need, there are two lengths available.

my pics and channel choice are brilliant,well worth the spend of money and time.

 

[Chris_374413356]

Hi Jim, I also hve a rubbish Status Omni.

My solution was to go to Asda and buy a 'high gain wide band' TV aerial for about

 

[GrahamDerby]

if you dont mind an aerial on the side of your van , try Screwfix

I bought one for

 

[gary]

Fitting the 530 in itself is about a 20 minute job, as you guess though, drilling that 45mm hole in the right place is the daunting bit.

Depends though where your existing aerial lead comes through, if it's at least 50mm from the sides of the cabinet it comes into and the cabinet is at least 10inches (250mm)deep then you can use the same hole as a guide.

If the aboves the case then it really is a doddle to fit. If not, Status sell a blanking plate, (

 

[gary]

Forgot to mention, although the 530 is better, it's not that much better than a 315?!

If as you say your barely getting a signal, then check all the aerial connections carefully and that the boosters actually working.

Remember all the joints are made in a hurry on the caravan production line, 10 minutes spent tidying them up can work wonders!

My 315 received all Freeview channels with the possible exception of Five and Film4 perfectly