Satellite dishes - do I need one?

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I suspect the answer is how important watching television is. Digital signals via an aerial are usually a lot better than the old analogue system. So providing you are in a reasonable signal area the aerial should work perfectly well. As said before Club sites with a poor signal usually have a booster on the EHU bollard. For years we messed around with a freestanding dish which used to take anywhere between a minute and half a day to set up, especially abroad. We got rid of that and went for an automatic dish on the motorhome roof and providing I have a clear view of the sky it's tuned in within the minute. Realistically many people won't want to go to that expense. In my view if you have a clear view of the sky a satellite dish will provide a more consistent picture than a roof mounted aerial in a poorer signal area. We have a small Avtex aerial which we use if we have overhead trees and can't use the dish. It works pretty well but you have to have a strong signal to get all channels in one position. You can buy a satellite system fairly cheaply, sometimes the value supermarkets have them on offer or perhaps B&Q so it might be worth a punt to try one and see how you get on. But don't forget you could always end up on a site with lots of tree cover, poor aerial reception and no boosters so nothing is guaranteed

David

Don't forget the internet as a TV source, especially if you are not 'heavy' TV users.  I know streaming over site WiFi is frowned upon on most UK sites because the incoming bandwidth is often so low, but 3G/4G mobile reception is usually adequate. (you can always download and view later if necessary to avoid annoying buffering).

In southern Spain you have no realistic hope of BBC on satellite. The WiFi bandwidth on the site we were on this winter was so high that we had no concerns accessing BBC iplayer or ITV Hub (via VPN).

We've not bothered about a satellite dish.  We've never taken the TV to Europe, and in the UK we've always used the normal caravan aerial, or we run an extension from the bollard if it has a TV point.

David

Why carry all the extra weight of tv and associated equipment.  Plenty to do and see when on holiday.  We never carry tv 📺 in van and never been bored yet, switch tv on and boredom set in.  Can’t help regarding satellite 📡

+1

We have a TV in our van but I can't remember the last time we used it 

Ours is used for an hour or so on Christmas eve, Christmas day and Boxing day

The OP has asked a question, not a debate on wether owning a TV is worth it , it could be said ,why the food when there are restaurants about ,why have a toilet in the van when there are toilet blocks ,why take the caravan when there are hotels . It's called choice , for myself I take and watch tv in the motorhome and I don't have to justify it to anyone 

Surely since the satellites are equatorial one will require a bigger and bigger dish the further north one goes?

Hi I use satilite when I can't receive terrestrial tv on some sites in uk . aldi did a sat kit quite recently may have some left over in your local store have a look.dish supplied is a bit too small and hard to find signal with so I use a sat dish taken of the house which has worked as far south as the dordogne . I use it on a tripod . but also I can break the dish down to three parts which is very easy to do by taking the lnb off plus the lnb holder into dish which i have drilled out the fixings that attach it to the dish then I use butterfly nut and bolts for quick reassembly,  so it can all be packed away flat .