Camos- tracvision domes or sat dish ??

[Den]

We have at present a oyster dish and it works excellent right down in the south of france. But i've sold the mh incl the dish. So the question is how good are the domes accross france. I've looked at the footprint and it looks close. Reason i would change are wind (not from me) and easier to keep clean. Prices seem similar, so its down to connectivity. Any recommendations welcome.

[Randonneur]

Patricia is the one to ask regarding the Camos Dome, she had one fitted a couple of months ago and says its great. She may be on holiday as I haven't seen her posting recently but if you do a search for her it will give you her email address I think. Her Son also had the 'On the Move Camos' also.

[vicwo]

Hi Den I bought the Camos 40cm a couple of months ago. I bought it because the Rhone in France gets very windy and that was one reason. The other point is the Dome can be moved to another M/Home. I was quoted £280 to fit the Dome. I did it myself inside a couple of hours, it was very very easy. One wire for signal and power is all you have. I fed my wire across the roof to the overcab bed window and found a way through rather than drilling the roof.

Off to France end of month so we will see. I will still carrry my old dish and tripod in case of trees and buildings. I bought the Camos mounting feet that are glued on the roof and then the dome is bolted to them.

Tried it out last week and it was so quick to get tuned.

Vicwo

[Mike Hol]

Den - 2008-08-09 8:07 PM

 

We have at present a oyster dish and it works excellent right down in the south of france. But i've sold the mh incl the dish. So the question is how good are the domes accross france. I've looked at the footprint and it looks close. Reason i would change are wind (not from me) and easier to keep clean. Prices seem similar, so its down to connectivity. Any recommendations welcome.

 

The only downside, as far as I can see, is the asthetics and the extra height. I've no personal knowledge of domes, but all reports that I have read say the the performance is excellent.

 

Because of the wind factor, I'm considering changing our Oyster for a dome, in the future. I might also carry a chain saw to deal with any problem trees ( only joking ).

 

Mike Hol.

[rowley]

I also pondered over the options and the pro's and cons of each. I eventually decided on the Camos dome. I have the 30 as I only travel in the UK. As someone else pointed out it is remarkably easy to fit as Camos supply the adhesive. If you have any questions then an email to RoadPro will get a quick response, I found them to be very helpful. (Just a satisfied customer)

[Den]

Thanks for the replies, I'm swaying towards the dome, but still need information on the south of france. Having a low profile i@m not so worried obout the height. I have been looking at road pro's web site, but would prefer it fitted.

[potjoe]

We have the 40cm dome and had it from road pro at a Good Price as well fitted it my self and it was ok down at the bottom of Gremany,one tip buy the pads as well cost about £40 and IF you sell your truck all you do is take off the dome and the pads stay there and then just buy some new pads from road pro.john :-> :-> :->

[ron.]

For what its worth we had a Kathrein satellite system on our last van which was excellent and pulled in everything we wanted down in Southern Spain and Portugal. Looking to our present van, and attracted by the obvious advantages of the Camos systems, we asked Road Pro for their opinion, performance wise, on the two systems. The reply was that the Camos is good but not in the same league as the Kathrein.

[Guest JudgeMental]

 

the Kathrein always seems to get good reviews but is not cheap. I was considering the trackvision dome, have just returned from Italy where I could not get anything because of trees on site with portable set up.

 

while traveling down we stayed at the Obernai site and a MHF chap there was having difficulty getting anything on his new maxiview crank up, I had a picture for him in less then 5 minutes, this maybe beginners luck lol, not too sure. Have been reading a lot of good reports regards this comparatively cheap alternative on forums, from others who currently have £2000 systems. and in future won't bother with all singing all dancing systems as the crank up works perfectly well......

 

 

[RupertGS]

Unfortunately the crank-up doesn't work perfectly well! In high winds the dish is just one big sail that will snap off or at least lose the picture as it wobbles about.

I found that the main disadvantage of my crank-up was that I was spending ages trying to find a signal and changing the elevation and angle when the real problem was that there wasn't a signal because of trees etc.

With my Camos dome, which I had fitted this year, if it won't lock on then there's no signal and that's it, no time wasted. I then usually select another satellite on my Maxi digi box and can pick up BBC or Sky News on Hotbird for example. I select the new satellite on the Camos box and it locks on in seconds.

I used it as far south as Biarritz and personally, would never go back to a normal dish.

Domes have only one disadvantage in my experience and that's the price.

[cookie]

We have had a 40cm dome for 3 years. Road pro provided it, and provided someone to fit it for us. We travel regularly between Yorkshire and South West France, the only time we have had a problem is when we were stuck at the Tunnel for 24hrs due to a hold up. We could not get a signal and put that down to all the elctrical equipment at the tunnel. My personal problem is it looks like a boil on the top of the motorhome. We are going to have it painted when we come home. I understand that as long as we do not use a metallic paint it will be ok. I quite fancy a pair of floppy ears like they have on motorcycle helmets but him indoors sulks at the thought.

[Wildge]

Hi Den

Had our tracvision dome fitted in June by... Phly In Derby...see advice@phly.co.uk. Very simple to operate and they did an excellent job. Although we didn't get to the south of France we did have excellent reception (under trees) in Bergerac and the website is full of good information .

Hope this is of help.

Wildge

[Den]

Hi wildge

When away i need to be able to receive channel 3. (F1 and the wife likes cory ect ) So need someone to have used them in the south ideally on the coast. I know our oyster has no problems, but i just fancy the change and for it to not suffer with the wind. Not sure where bergerac is to know how far down it is. I'll have to look at the map later. But thankyou for your info and that your happy with your purchase.

[Den]

Well i've come back from the south of france and did'nt see any domes to question the owners. Take delivery in a few days of the new mh. So if anyone has any info, i'd be gratefull. By the way called into the dusseldorf show on the way back. Very good and well organised with excellent camping.

[potjoe]

ours worked ok down in the south of Gremany (dome that is ) and you it is poss to fit ,try road pro and you May get % off the price but buy the feet for £40 then if you sell MH just take it of and fit to new MH. (lol)

[Guest JudgeMental]

some one on another unrelated thread mentioned that they have just had a "comag" dome fitted ...have asked for details as the only ones I knew about were the Camos & trackvision?

 

while in Italy this summer someone near us had a camos dome and had no luck getting anything the entire holiday.

[Den]

The two companies I've contacted both agree on the footprint. This incl south of france, north spain and excl italy, portugal and southern spain. My question originally asking if any one had actually used one and for a unbiased opinion. I must say i was surprised to be told even the large dishes do not work in these areas.

[Randonneur]

Den - 2008-09-07 11:12 AM

 

The two companies I've contacted both agree on the footprint. This incl south of france, north spain and excl italy, portugal and southern spain. My question originally asking if any one had actually used one and for a unbiased opinion. I must say i was surprised to be told even the large dishes do not work in these areas.

 

No, its not that they won't work, they will only pick up the stations within that footprint. You don't always have to be on Astra 2D to get English speaking programs you can pick up other satellites but you probably won't get ITV etc.

 

We have a sky minidish attached to the house and a Sky digibox and have no problems whatsoever. We also have a generic digibox that we keep in the motorhome and can get all the other satellites as well. The furthest south we have been in this van is Bordeaux at the moment but I have no doubt that when we go into Northern Spain we will be able to pick up most of the programs we have normally. We have a Maxview Omnisat semi-automatic, I think this is an eliptical dish, and on our previous van we had a Teleco crank-up 65 cm.

[PJay]

Hi

we have just had a 40cm dome fitted to our MH, it works great. we are off to sth France/Spain on Saturday can let you know how good it is. The Max view 65cm dish (Portable) we had was ok in S France but a lot of hassle to line uip, especialy if you move a lot like we do. usually one/ two noghts.

we bought and had it fitted close to you at www.adventure-motorhomes.co.uk they are in Bridgewater Somerset Tel 01278457557

Ring Nick Stevens. we did a lot of research and he was the best.We had a three hour journey to get there but was well worth it.

if you want to know how we get on , can give a verdict in three weeks time

Pauline

[Den]

A big part in the question is to receive the norm' channels. Ie itv 1 for formula 1 ect. I know you can receive various channels that you would'nt normaly, but thats not what i'm after. Only the same as say you would rec' in the UK. My dish the Oyster 85cm. Could not fault even down in the south of france, but i,d prefer a dome maybe the R5. The reasons being no wind probs' on site.

[Mel E]

RoadPro have an excellent publication specifically about satellite TV with far more details than their standard catalogue. It shows footprints for a range of dishes for the whole of Europe. These footprints were conformed by personal observation by Andrew Harris, the owner of RoadPro.

 

You'll find that there is no dish that can be fitted to a motorhome that will provide the BBC/ITV Channels right down in the south of Spain. This is because the transponders on the satellites that broadcast these signals are specifically focussed on the UK and, while they allow some 'leakage' as far as northern Spain, the signal is so weak in southern Spain that you need either unusual atmospheric conditions or a huge dish - preferably around 1.5 metres or more.

 

Mel E

====

[Den]

Hi mel

I did contact roadpro and they come over as a straight forward company to talk to. Your comments are as i understood from R>P. My only problem being to play it safe woith a dish that i know works, or fit the tracvision dome. THis is the question!!! I can see me playing it safe with the new mh arriving soon.

[Patricia]

Den, Randonneur is quite correct – I am on holiday at present in France again. Unfortunately I only have a very slow dial-up connection here so cannot do long searches but there were several different threads on here about April time regarding the two different domes. On one of those I gave my reasons for choosing the Camos over the Phly, not least of which was the availability of the that dome and the fact that the fitter (whose details I also gave and who was recommended by RoadPro) could come to the house the next day to do the work. As I was due to leave for France and time was short, I decided to go through that route.

 

I did manage to find the following link on the search, which gives the footprint for the Camos:

http://www.roadpro.co.uk/images/pdfs/Camos%2040cm%20sat-dome%20footprint%20map.pdf

 

I have used the Camos successfully as far down as Aigues-Mortes, Pont du Gard and Avignon. Also in the Jura and Haute-Savoie and on the journeys (when stationary) to all these places. My son-in-law had the “when-on-the-move” more expensive version fitted with equally good results. I find that the dome locks on to the satellite before I have turned off the ignition. Only once did I have to turn the motorhome round when thick trees prevented the signal.

 

Now in the Massif Centrale the appalling weather of the last few days has prevented any signal from my 40cm house dish. Therefore, if I especially want to watch a programme, I sit in the motorhome to do so – “pas de problème”.

 

PS Found the fitter’s details: Tim Wilson 07711420048. He will travel all over the country, is very pleasant and obliging and gives an excellent guarantee. I think you can find his website via a link on RoadPro (an equally helpful and obliging firm).

 

If you want any more details pm me.

 

Patricia

 

PPS While writing this reply off line I now notice your reply to Mel. RoadPro do not do TracVision, only Camos, which I have. I notice that you live quite near to me so you are welcome to look at my installation when I return to England.

 

Forgot to say that yes I received all the normal channels with my Sky card which I took out of the box at home.