Satellite TV for Motorhome.

HI, there are lots of threads on here which extol the virtues of both free standing and fixed dishes, automatic and manual ones etc. It really does depend on your need and that of your vans. Me, I'm a manual freestanding advocate.

I totally agree with mickysf, it's horses for courses. Personally I'm a fixed, automatic fan, in other words lazy, but thay all work, it's just how much you want to spend in the end.

notwithstanding the various merits of free standing or roof monted automatic, there are a couple of other things to consider.....

in the main, the traditional 'home' channels of bbc/itv etc are broadcast on a UK spot beam which is quite tightly focussed on the UK.

with an 85 cm dish, these channels can be picked up over pretty much all of France, right down to the med.

with a smaller dish, this range will decrease.

if you are a Sky subscriber, you can take your box/card with you, and if your package has the Sports and Movies, you will be able to watch these much further away than the home channels as they are broadcast on a separate 'pan Euro' beam that covers most of spain to the south west, and germany and some of italy to the sout east.

so, theres the cost of the dish (auto, manual) the cost of the services (sky or not) and if you go for sky with a recording box, you should go for a twin LNB set up to allow for the separate program streams...one to watch, one to record.

good luck

I would have thought that if you are going to the bother of having a roof mounted dish the minimum requirement should be that it is automatic as it saves so much time. Domes are apparently good in windy conditions but they have a small sized dish in them and you will be unlikely to pick up much in the way of UK programmes much south of the Loire. THis really leaves you the clam style folding dish and as BB suggests 85cms is really the size you should go for. Even these come in so many different varieties, Standard LNB, Autoshew LNB and Twin LNB. We went for the standard which works for us in most circumstances. If you are going to be at the edge of the footprint a lot then autoshew might be worth the extra money. If we are out of range we just accept that and can often pick up a few news programmes on other satellites. We always have the DVD player in the TV if we get stuck.

David

Have a look at the Oyster Cytrac, great piece of kit and although pricey is very simple to install and use.

Just a quick point on the satellite front and that's trees are your biggest enemy. I've been on many sites where I've been next to a motor home with an expensive fixed motorised dish and no picture due to trees and I'm watching my Sky on the pitch next door having found a gap in the trees with my 30 quid multimo that I bought off eBay. 

yes, thats true to a degree...

but its not beyond the wit of man to look at the sun when you arrive as it will be approx south at midday...

pick a pitch that faces the sun and all will be well....

i cant say that weve been stymied in this way very often, but we also have terrestrial tv of stuck for a day or two.

when visiting commercials, i generally ring and ask them to reserve me a south facing pitch.

if the site is wide open, then i dont bother....

not really found it too much of an issue....can be more so abroad with more trees on site for shade...again, be more choosy...

Now you see that is our dilema, we currently have an 85cm freestanding dish and tripod. we have used it very successfully all over France/Gemany/Belgium/Luxembourg and even a bit into Spain (no BBC or ITV though)

OH is now having a fully automatic 85cm Oyster dish fitted as he is fed up setting it up (think pouring rain or 1 night stopover) also having to cart around a big dish and tripod, i think he's getting old and grumpy.

My concern is the trees, we've been on lots of sites and like 'paragon' have received a signal while others with roof mounted haven't. So on his head be it if he can't get a signal because of trees, when I want to watch my soaps    BB does it really make that much differance being on a South facing pitch, the dish rotates 

Hi TG, i probably should have said 'open to the south' rather than south facing...

but, as you come onto site, youll see the sun and, if the sun can shine on your pitch (at roughtly 10:30 through to around 4:00) this will be the open area that the satellite sits in.

in actual fact, at 12:00 midday, the Astra 2 satellite is pretty much directly into the sun....

so, if the sun is on your pitch, you should be able to get a signal.

if the pitch is enclosed to the south (really enclosed by overhanging trees) then it will be tricky....so i would look for something else.

youll soon get a 'nose' for this as you enter the site and drive the first few yards.....or by a quick look at google maps 

if theres not much sun, get a compass app on the phone for a quick check where south is....

Thanks BB, sorry was being a bit pedantic there wasn't I apologies.

OH has a compass app, there is also one on the satnav and we have a hand held one from his Army days, talk about belt and braces

Guess we are going to have to be a bit more selective, that should please him, I'm bad enough now