Satellite dishes - do I need one?

Satellite dishes only work when they can see the Satellite, so tree filled sites can present a bit of a challenge. Some pitches that would be OK in winter, will have no reception in high summer. If you mainly use CC sites, those that don't have reasonable terrestrial reception usually have a loop system, so you should always be able to get access to reasonable reception. As to programmes, a freesat box will give you a similar selection to freeview and cost from £50 upwards, depending on if you want any pause / record functions. Some TV's have a built in decoder.The main advantage over terrestrial is in more remote locations, where even if good reception, the local transmitter will not cover the normal range of freesat channels, just the main ones. It does of course add yet another dimension to pitch selection.😀

Hi Wilko,

I'ved used various sat setups over the years and find it more useful than the terrestrial aerial.

My present set up is SatGear off EBay. Comes complete with dish/Lnb/cable/connections/freeview box/tripod and sat finder.

This can be sited and pegged down anywhere on pitch ( unlike a fixed unit ) Thankfully the fitted TV / DVD / RADIO on my Hymer is already plumbed in for sat/terrestrial and does not require a box.

Happy caravanning.

BTW: Do not try to set up the TV in those T shirts, you'll never get a signal !!! LoL.

When you cannot get a signal from the caravan aerial then a dish is ideal, use ours most of the time, if there are lots of trees on site which block the line of sight then extra sat cable is needed (25m). I have a Avtex DRS TV with a  freeview (terrestrial) and a free to air sat receiver built in which will get all the channels on Astra 28, not encrypted (Sky). You can also change to other satellites i.e. Astra19, Hotbird, etc. you just have to point the dish to the correct location in the sky! 

the other point not mentioned so far is....do you travel in Europe and wish to receive uk to while away?

if so, a normal terrestrial system won't do...so it's satellite (or Internet..) and a 85cm dish should receive. BBC/ITV etc as far south as the French med coast....

again, I'm talking about free channels...

If you’re only interested in reception in the UK, Wilko, I’d say you don’t need a satellite system but a good terrestrial aerial and a signal booster will do the job.

Unfortunately, many vans either have poor aerials, or they’re not wired properly.

Satellite dishes - do I need one?   --- Answer,---- Only if you are touring on the continent and want to receive UK TV.

K 

"Satellite dishes - do I need one?"

Well no - you could always go for a walk or read a good book if you can't get any TV reception! 

A feature that may or may not be of value to users is that one can tune into your "home" regions channels when off your local patch.

I carry a dish and cable as our Avtex has the appropriate free to air satellite decoder already built in; we also have a Status terrestrial aerial, that is tried first and if poor then the small dish is quickly deployed. As said you need to be aware of trees. A rule of thumb with these is if you can place the dish twice as far from them, or other high object, then you can "see" the satellite over it.

Far from essential but so is a TV, just the dish means it is very rarely a waste of time taking the TV.

Note a small dish is all we now need in the UK, 50 CM is quite adequate it does not need to be a gross one here unless you have a "mine is bigger than yours" complex.

"Note a small dish is all we now need in the UK, 50 CM is quite adequate it does not need to be a gross one here unless you have a "mine is bigger than yours" complex."

Ocsid, this is correct. as is the fact that one can receive Sky Premium channels (Sports, Movies, etc) well into Spain with a small dish, as these channels reside on the Pan Euro beam which has a large footprint.

however, it's the UK channels 'away from the U.K.' which are difficult to receive as one moves south. and in this case, bigger is better.

No,don't bother get to the pub😎