veletron Posted December 7, 2015 Share Posted December 7, 2015 Hi So, having given up on my Megasat/Snipe due to previously mentioned failures, I am after a replacement. I dont want anything too big or too high. The SatFi UK and the Oyater Cytrac DX have been identified as possible candidates. I plan to saw the studs off my Megasat mouting plate and afix either of threse on top. Anyone had any experience of the above? The SatFi UK can be made to do multisat via some custom firmware. See http://tinyurl.com/h8sju5q I holiday in the alps and none of the 'normal' size dishes are going to give me UK TV on the UK spot beam, and I dont have sky. Therefore, I am happy with the English news channels on hotbird or astra 19.2E while outside the UK (hence my wish for multisat) The oyster is neater on the roof, but 700quid more, better reception than the satfi though. Oyater offer their vision system which includes a rebranded avtex TV running custom firmware. This then also controls the dish. Anyone know whether its a direct dish to tv connection? I suspect there is still a box in the middle to provide power? Any opinions on either. After the megasat experience, I need it to be reliable! Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veletron Posted January 2, 2016 Author Share Posted January 2, 2016 Hi So after doing a lot of research in an attempt to avoid more sat-dish issues, I went with the Sat-Fi UK. Decided that I could do without TV in Europe - we go to sit in the sunshine, and enjoy outdoor pursuits! I mainly wanted Sat telle for winter UK touring. My Megasat Countryman/Snipe Pro is still in Germany being 'repaired'. I have started a section 75 claim through my credit card company to try and recover the £560 I wasted on it. The dealer for the SatFi was Aerotrac - and their man was incredibly helpful. At some stage, I am expecting a new firmware for this device which will let the user choose between several sat's. This should get me BBC news on Astra 19.2E or Hotbird while further south in France. The £999 cost, 26cm height and enclosed nature of the SatFi is what sold it in the end. Had the Oyster Cytrac been the same price, I would have opted for that, but it was another £700. In use, it locks on much much quicker than the Megasat/Snipe. The elevation angle stays as it was the prev time it was used, the dish spins through 360 degrees at 50deg/second. It then adjusts the elevation to get the best signal. The skew is manually adjustable, and set by the importer to 14 degrees for the UK. The front panel buttons on the control box don't do anything other than force another seek. They can basically be ignored. Simply turning on the box has it find the satellite, the control box is then turned off with the LNB being powered by the Sat Receiver box/TV. Where the Acquisition is 'cold' (eg moved moved a long way, first connected up). The dish simply spins around raising the elevation a few degrees until it sees the signal, it still takes less than a minute. I wont miss standing about in the wind/rain/snow messing with my old tripod dish/sat finder, but accept that the ability to re-locate that some distance from the van in order to the signal past some trees, was a handy feature of the manual dish that I have now lost. Here it is on the roof with the lid off: When it has some miles/usage/weather on it, I will report back. Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manxli Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Best of luck with your claim. I also had to wait and wait for my Snipe with no estimate of repair time. In the end the retailler gave me a refund. Luckily I bought lots of electronic stuff off them for my school before I retired, so I suppose they wanted to keep me happy. I've met other MHers with broken Snipe systems on my travels too! I've gone back to a manual stativ and satfinder app/compass for now. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandalwood Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 Awaiting your further comments promised, we are deciding between Cytrac or Safi Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veletron Posted January 9, 2019 Author Share Posted January 9, 2019 The SatFi is still going well (touch wood), and now been on the roof close to 3 years. It does not function south of about Paris, but I knew that. In the UK, its never had an issue locking on. Cytrac is definitely the higher quality option, but at 75% more dosh it should be! Note that my model of SatFi is no longer sold, there's a whole load more choice these days based mainly on how far into France you need it to work. Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polo Posted January 10, 2019 Share Posted January 10, 2019 I bow to your much greater knowledge on things technical but is the way forward recieving tv via the internet? A lot of data can be purchased for the price of sattelite equipment. I do not currently take the telly with us very often and only to play pre recorded programs. I am trying to get my head around this with longer trips planned after retirement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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