Satelite dish

Debs

I have use something very similar in the past. We used to take an 80cms dish with us when we went abroad, initially so we could watch F1 where ever we were. In the UK it was relatively easy to set up. You need line of sight to the sky, so not pitching under trees. Most Club site plans have a compass point to the north so you can get a rough idea of where you need to pitch. You need clear sight to the south/east. The initial setting up of the receiver will take a little time but on subsequent trips it should just be a case of connecting everything up and just aligning the dish and you will have a picture. We gave up on portable dishes when we changed to a motorhome and treated ourselves to an automatic roof mounted dish which was lovely but very expensive. Our new motorhome has an aerial so we have not bother to go back to a satellite dish. The Club have a technical page of watching TV whilst in your caravan or motorhome here https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/advice-and-training/technical-advice/televisions/ It might be worth a read.

David

We gave up on terrestrial TV reception in the caravan long ago. 15 years ago give or take, I bought a Maplins 'suitcase sat system, which included everything except the TV, in a plastic carry box. I was one of the earliest adopters of sat for touring caravans.

The dish is lightweight plastic and came with several methods of mounting, all of which I threw away in favour of one I developed myself - a short bit of awning pole, flattened at one end, with a clamp for the dish at the other end. I simply knock the pole into the ground a few inches and mount the dish on it, before adjusting it to align to the sat.

The kit came with a 'sat finder' which I have never seen before. Basically a combined compass and inclinometer. You just clip the finder onto the dish, dial into it the satellite you want to receive, then move the dish to line the compass/inclinometer up to get it roughly to the right area of sky.

Receiver and TV will already be on and the receiver has a tone option - Low tone = no signal and the tone goes higher the stronger the signal. So I just sweep the dish about in the general direction and tweak for highest tone, job done a picture appears and I then just tighten the clamp up.

I have used it all over the UK, including the north of Scotland, it has never failed to get a picture and it takes just a minute to set up and align.  The dish isn't quite big enough to ensure reception in really thick storm cloud conditions, but such is rare.

Dish, clips on to LNB arm, these plus pole, plus coax and finder, all fit in a small plastic carrier bag. The bag can then be slotted into the cupboard behind the blown air heater, which is otherwise just dead space. Receiver stays put in a high cupboard, with a coax from it, to a F-socket in the battery compartment to connect the dish.

The receiver only has a Scart output. So for now we have to borrow the old flat screen TV from the kitchen, the only one which supports Scart. Planned is a new TV just for the caravan, with HDMI and new HD sat receiver to match, but keeping the old dish. The original caravan TV was a tiny 12v flat screen, which I gave away a couple of years ago.  

Debs, understanding satellite TV can be quite complex...but seems simple once you know how...

I am a user....however, IMHO you (one) only really needs satellite TV in (generally) one of two cases....

EITHER you have pay satellite TV at home and you're bringing your 'package' with you in the van

OR you are touring Europe and will get a range of 'home' channels well into France...

a third reason might be that you visit many areas where normal TV reception is poor.

another different option is 'internet' based TV where smart TVs or sticks like the Amazon Fire unit allow streamed TV programs...I have a Fire Stick and it works really well with Amazon and Netflix...

we are away in the van and Ive just watched a show on Netflix...

BTW I'm just watching the Ryder Cup on Sky satellite...but I have a roof mounted auto dish which is a big investment if you don't 'do' my either/or above.

  Hi Debs. 

I bless the day that I purchased a Tracvision - R4SL system for my caravan.

As others have mentioned ensure that the view towards East and South is clear of trees and the automatic satellite search will find the satellite.

Not cheap but, from my point of view, (pardon the pun) well worth it. over the past 10 yrs. or so.

The system comprises a fixed dome on the roof, cables down into the point where your TV will be, a satellite receiver and your TV. To set it up merely ask the receiver to find - say - BBC1 then switch on the automatic tracking. When channel found switch off and enjoy watching whatever channel you then chose.

Good luck

OK, time to gloat now. It's 2019 and we are at a wonderful site, Port de Limueil in the Dordogne, east of Bergerac.

An English camper with huge caravan, huge car, huge dish and huge ego is trying to get a lock on Astra 2 with manual set-up dish.

I pass by on way to pool and back again 1/2 hour later when by now he is getting "annoyed" and threatening to put it away as it's impossible to get a signal. I tried to correct him as I'm 40m away with a self seek Snipe 2. He insists t's impossible to get a signal. He is not happy when I say I've been watching TV for the last week. His face goes a strange shade of red and I walk away.

Auto seek dishes are brilliant, especially on the limits of where a signal is available or where you are juggling a position where you have trees obscuring your signal reception. If you can afford one then buy it.

Colin

I use a Satfinder app on my mobile phone with which I can not only log on to Astra 28.2 but any media satellite in the sky including some pretty obscure ones which only transmit a very limited number of equally obscure channels, but it’s really quite fascinating to see what you can pick up on the TV if you search around a bit. I think that by now I’ve got about 1,400 channels stored on my TV and that’s only the ones in languages that I can understand.

The app works a treat for any satellite.

Please can i ask which app you are using

Debs, just google satfinder and you will get some results...but these only give you an idea (using your phone) as to where the satellite is...

as mentioned earlier, if you go for a Freesat (brand name) tuner it must be pointed at Astra 2 and the channels will populate a TV guide in a particular way. These are known as 'free to view' (non subscription) channels.

Lutz must have a 'free to air' tuner which can accommodate channels from other satellites as well as Astra 2 and these populate a non std TV guide.

assuming you start with a Freesat box (UK free to view channels from Astra 2) you can get a rough idea of the sat position from an app...or, as I do, use the sun...Astra 2 is pretty much directly into the sun at midday...this immediately gives me an idea of any line of sight issues as I find a pitch. If I can see the sun clearly at a midday arrival, I'll be able to see Astra 2.....roughly 28 deg east of south, hence its name.

with a floor standing manual dish, you'll need some indication as to when you are tuned to the satellite...many folk connect a satfinder bleeper in line with the cable connected to the dish...

set up the dish inclination...google will help get this right....and then point the dish to the east and then slowly and gently ease the dish to the right (towards south, like following the sun) and the bleeper should start to make a noise as the satellite is approached, wailing like a banshee when found...

however, it takes a bit of practice to get this right and may lead to hours of frustration....

watch a few internet instructional videos to get the idea....ideally, get someone on site who has a dish to show you the way.....

good luck.