AnnPaul Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 New van arriving in few months. At present have 80cm Oyster Auto but would like to change to a Dome (Not really worried what make would like suggestions ) I can have my Oyster taken off and replaced on the new van at a cost of £400. Is a dome as good as a 80cm Oyster when travelling France/Spain/Portugal? Regards Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo3090 Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 The further South you go the more size matters! :-D There is also the extra height to consider with a dome if your new van will go under height barriers etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GypsyTom Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 Like so many things, domes or dishes have advantages or disadvantages. It is true that a larger dish, say 85cm, will enable you to get a signal the farther south you go, in Spain for instance. Dishes however, whilst large, have a large disadvantage in that they cannot be used in strong wind. In fact my very first trip in my first motorhome was spoiled because we had to put the dish down as it was in danger of being torn off the roof. A dome can be used in a hurricane! I'm just about to have my second dome fitted after giving this much thought. This new one, a Tracvision, is also quite a bit lower than my last Camos, although I have to say that I think the height barrier argument is a bit of a red herring. I have never come across a height barrier where the dome was the difference between going under it or not. Perhaps if you have one of those low van conversions with a raising roof, a dome may add unacceptable height, but not with most motorhomes. I'm not a TV addict and I mainly want the news. Using my dome in southern Spain for instance I can switch to a different satellite and get SKY and BBC news programmes, so it's not as though it's completely useless. In southern Spain it's also true that you won't always get a signal on an 85cm dish and, even if you do, the slightest movement from a breeze may disrupt it. A dome for me every time then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 We have a Maxview Semitronic which was fitted on our motorhome when we bought it, it is very easy to use. We were in the Algarve in January and got all the FTA channels except BBC, ITV etc. We took the Sky Digibox as well as we have a Sports package and had no problems at all with the subscription channels. The couple parked next to us had a 1.2m dish on a bracket on the ground and were able to get all BBC and ITV channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 In your position I would just get it moved and get some more value out of it.....sure yiu could get it done cheaper then £400 though with domes some draw current when just locked on and some don't so you need to check this. I will probably get a dome on new van as like Tom, as long as I can get some news down south that will do me. will be interested to hear from Tom how the KVH compares with the Camos. did you get the KVH with the additional tuning box that one particular company supplies? whose name escapes me now :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GypsyTom Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 JudgeMental - 2010-03-21 10:38 AMIn your position I would just get it moved and get some more value out of it.....sure yiu could get it done cheaper then £400 thoughwith domes some draw current when just locked on and some don't so you need to check this. I will probably get a dome on new van as like Tom, as long as I can get some news down south that will do me.will be interested to hear from Tom how the KVH compares with the Camos. did you get the KVH with the additional tuning box that one particular company supplies? whose name escapes me now :-S I shall be going to Leisurepower in Warrington as I've had excellent service from them in the past. I'm having the new lower model which is about £1400 plus fitting. They will also be fitting a solar panel, air suspension and LED lighting. A 'one stop shop' which is very convenient! I'm picking up my new Hobby this afternoon and tomorrow Leisurepower is going to survey the 'van for the maximum solar panel size and other technical stuff. The job will be done a few days later. The Tracvision only has three satellites, which are programmed in at time of purchase, but that's enough for me, Astra and Hotbird are the important ones. My existing Camos has a choice of six or seven satellites but I've never actually used most of them. I use my dome with a Maxview digibox and an Avtex TV. The whole lot runs off 12v and if on-site and on EHU I still run everything on 12v even though I have mains' leads for the TV and digibox. It just saves a lot of messing about and I get the full service when camping off site. I'm not sure what you mean by an extra tuning box. Perhaps it gives you more satellites? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 Yes is is an add on box supplied free if you buy the KVH from these people...their site seems to be down at the moment :-S http://www.phly.co.uk my reference to current being drawn while stationary came up in a thread recently on satellites. so if you are away frow a supply and have no solar it could become a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Ord Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 AnnPaul - 2010-03-20 8:12 PM New van arriving in few months. At present have 80cm Oyster Auto but would like to change to a Dome (Not really worried what make would like suggestions ) I can have my Oyster taken off and replaced on the new van at a cost of £400. Is a dome as good as a 80cm Oyster when travelling France/Spain/Portugal? Regards Paul Ina few words: a dome is great if it is windy but severely lacking if in south of France or heading east to Italy for instance. Bill Ord Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 Gypsy Tom - if you don't mind me asking, how high is the new Tracvision including fitting plate? I do have a height restriction beneath the car port. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike88 Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 I looked into one of these and found it took me well over the 2.6 metre height limit on Brittany Ferries (Panel Van Conversion) meaning each return trip cost around £100 more. I've just bought a 65cms Teleco Flat Sat which when closed is 17cms above the roof taking me just over 2.6 metres (but whose measuring). The Tracvision R4SL is I think 12" high and the R4 14.5". The UK importer with details of the dishes is here: http://www.caclase.co.uk/tracvisionR4SL.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GypsyTom Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 david lloyd - 2010-03-21 4:36 PMGypsy Tom - if you don't mind me asking, how high is the new Tracvision including fitting plate? I do have a height restriction beneath the car port.David It's 30 cm high as against 40 cm for the Camos. Not a lot but it also looks nicer for being lower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GypsyTom Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 JudgeMental - 2010-03-21 12:33 PMYes is is an add on box supplied free if you buy the KVH from these people...their site seems to be down at the moment :-S http://www.phly.co.ukmy reference to current being drawn while stationary came up in a thread recently on satellites. so if you are away frow a supply and have no solar it could become a problem. Now this is interesting. The Camos dome can be switched off when it's locked on to the satellite and obviously, consumes no power whatsoever. Are you saying that the Tracvision cannot be switched off and will consume power as long as you are watching TV? Obviously the digibox will consume power as will the TV but with the Camos you can turn off the box of tricks on which you select the satellite and the satellite dish itself will no longer keep searching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 Unless you specifically need to have satellite tv working while mobile then get a traditional dish. All consume miniscule amounts of current once locked onto the satellite. c. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 GypsyTom - 2010-03-21 8:11 PMJudgeMental - 2010-03-21 12:33 PMYes is is an add on box supplied free if you buy the KVH from these people...their site seems to be down at the moment :-S http://www.phly.co.ukmy reference to current being drawn while stationary came up in a thread recently on satellites. so if you are away frow a supply and have no solar it could become a problem.Now this is interesting. The Camos dome can be switched off when it's locked on to the satellite and obviously, consumes no power whatsoever.Are you saying that the Tracvision cannot be switched off and will consume power as long as you are watching TV?Obviously the digibox will consume power as will the TV but with the Camos you can turn off the box of tricks on which you select the satellite and the satellite dish itself will no longer keep searching.Maybe...but as "search" function no working as per usual *-) So I cant find the discussion where this came up....but some domes draw current when watching TV and some don't - not sure which though:-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GypsyTom Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 Clive - 2010-03-21 8:19 PMUnless you specifically need to have satellite tv working while mobile then get a traditional dish. All consume miniscule amounts of current once locked onto the satellite.c. As far as I can see the Camos doesn't. I have an isolator switch which completely cuts the feed to the Camos box and dome and once it's locked on I turn it off. I'm not sure why a dome should be any different from a dish. A dome is, after all, a smaller satellite dish within a protective dome. Why would its operation be any different? Edited to say - I've just realised that you may be saying that, although the dome is switched off, it may still draw some power from the digibox, is this the case? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davenewellhome Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 All Camos domes can be switched off once the satellite is acquired with the exception of the "in motion" units when used in motion (if you are stationary then they too can be switched off. Once switched off the dome controller draws no current whatsoever. GT the Camos dome also comes in 30CM tall variant. The LNB of any satellite dish, whether it be a small suitcase job, a dome or an Oyster will take some power when in use because the polarisation is determined by feeding a voltage to it, voltage switches to select vertical or horizontel polarisation, but the power consumed for this is truly miniscule and is supplied by the receiver. Camos 40CM dome should get all UK TV channels down as far as Barcelona and all over France, about half way across Germany and into North Western Italy. Further afield than that you will lose BBC, ITV, Channel four but still get BBC News 24, CNN, Sky news and many of the SKY subscription channels if you have a SKY receiver and subscription. Alternatively using a FTA receiver you will be able to get all the above plus when outside of the footprint for the UK channels broadcast from ASTRA2 you can switch to an alternative satellite, ASTRA1 or HOTBIRD for example where you can get lots of foreign channels plus SKY news and quite a few English language channels. Its also useful for checking the weather local to where you are, after all you don't need to understand the language to read a weather map. D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeler Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 The only advantage of a Dome satellite system is that it can be used in high winds without any problems. Apart from that, a conventional dish wins every time. The Oyster in particular can receive far more satellites than a dome, because, in addition to the list of satellites already installed, it has a manual function, so any of the others can also be picked up. This allows you to receive "Arabsat"etc, with many films shown in English. There are many others, if you have the equipment to receive them. Also, an 85cm dish fitted with an even lower noise LNB will be able to tune in far better when you are in areas on the edge of the footprint. The main disadvantage of all satellite systems is that if there any obstructions, tree, buildings etc,you will not get a picture. Ground mounts can, on occasion, still be used by being resited, but ALL the automatic ones are limited, in this respect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyishuk Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 Slightly O/T A Roadpro catelogue is included with this months MMM (Fell on the mat this morning) Full of new bits, and big section on Sats, dome and otherwise Rgds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike 202 Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 We bought a LIDL set which works well in France, but for 100 miles south of Barcelona we have a 1 metre dish and can get all of the Soaps for the wife and the Grand Prix etc for me. A lot of my friends who overwinter in spain have either 1 or 1.2 metre dishes, even those with those super dishes fixed to the roof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quarryjmiller Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 We have a Camos dome and to be frank it is pretty well useless for receiving UK channels South of Lyon, we regularly travel to the South of France and often stay at Aquarius which is North of Barcelona it does occasionally work there. Yes, we can use it without fear of it blowing away but I have never been anywhere yet where I have seen anybody take a dish down because of the wind, though I have no doubt it happens occasionally. We get charged more for ferry crossings because of the increased height but I do like the thought that it is sealed in the dome away from the elements. If I knew then what I know now I am not sure that I would buy a dome again or even if I would bother with satellite at all, I was at Damage Barton at the weekend, pitched under a tall hedge - no signal, surprising how often that happens, previously we had a portable dish in a suitcase - spent more time setting it up and entertaining my fellow campers with my antics than actually watching TV. My father always told me - if at first you don't succeed - give up, nothing could be truer when talking of satellite dishes (or domes). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leisurepower1 Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 Thanks Gypsy Tom. As always, a valued clients word is our best recommendation The static Tracvision only needs to be powered when searching BTW, Once it has acquired, you can then switch it off completely! Hello Clive, nice to see you. How are your LED's working out for you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p0930 Posted June 24, 2010 Share Posted June 24, 2010 I have just bought a PAPSA Camos mobile automatic dish from Roadpro. Seems best of all worlds. Have a look and see for yourself on Roadpro website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smifee Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 It all depends on where you want to receive a signal and what you want to watch. With an Oyster 85cm dual LNB I can receive & record Premier League football as far south as you can go in Italy. Would I with a small dome? In 5 years use I have put the dish down about 6 times due to high winds & thunderstorms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 I use a Maxview 66cm dish attached to a tripod togeter with a Comag free-to-air receiver. I've had no problems picking up most UK stations throughout France. BBC 3 & 4 plus Dave are the only channels I can't pick up. I have been toying with the idea of a roof mounted dish but seeing the problems some people have had,I'll stick with what I've got. With a tripod, you can move it around and even in trees you can pick up a signal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 quarryjmiller - 2010-03-23 5:01 AM We have a Camos dome and to be frank it is pretty well useless for receiving UK channels South of Lyon, we regularly travel to the South of France and often stay at Aquarius which is North of Barcelona it does occasionally work there. Yes, we can use it without fear of it blowing away but I have never been anywhere yet where I have seen anybody take a dish down because of the wind, though I have no doubt it happens occasionally. Did you really expect to pick up UK channels when in Spain? I don't think this has ever been realistic with either a dome or conventional dish unless it is large... thinking of a dome on next van, will be happy to pick up news broadcasts such as al jazeera etc and the odd English speaking film/program from hotbird and other sats? should be possible I hope ? *-) Is this not possible? although it would be nice to get BBC news, I have no interest in soaps etc :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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