Status 530 Aerial

[crob]

I have the above aerial on my campervan, and it seems to have stopped working. I say this because a fellow camper lent me his stand-alone 12 foot high aerial that I plugged into my booster box, and it worked a treat. I received well over 100 stations with perfect reception in this digital part of the country. I re-plugged my Status aerial back into the booster box, and got “No stations found”. It is clear that my connections etc from the booster box into the TV are sound, so the only options seem to be either the aerial itself, or its connection to the booster box.

 

I have had the coaxial connector on the lead from my aerial into the booster box checked and there is no problem here. I have gently eased the aerial from the vertical sliding bar on the roof, and the coax cable seems to be attached to the aerial OK.

 

It seems therefore that I may need a new aerial – cost about £130 + fitting. Can I fit this myself? Do I simply pull the sliding bar out from the wardrobe cupboard (having disconnected the coax cable) out through the roof, and fit another one in? Should I take the aerial to our local domestic TV aerial shop for them to check and repair, if possible? Some campers say that an aerial can never go wrong, but yet mine isn't working!

 

I would welcome any views on my predicament, please. (?)

[thebishbus]

Hi Crob. I think that there may nothing wrong with your aerial. The problem with the status 530 aerial is its inital gain is only 7db. The stand alone aerial probably had a forward gain of 14 db, your gain was was below the digital signal cut off point, hence no signal. You may need a higher gain aerial, or try what I did and find works in most cases. See page 2 motorhome matters under " Motorhome aerial".

Brian B.

[colin]

I vaguely recall some one else having problem with a 530 where co-ax was not making complete contact with ariel, worth looking in to.

[hymer1942]

I have had 3 Status 530s and if I were to mark out of 10 the most any of them would get would be 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Barrie

[crinklystarfish]

The aerial itself can't really fail but connections / co-ax can. If you do buy a new 530 I can confirm that it should just slide into the existing mount. Just undo your co-ax and the whole thing lifts out through the roof. I've swapped them around before and, unless the design has changed in the last 12 months, the mast diameter is universal, or at least it has been when I've messed with them.

All that said, it should be an easy repair if indeed it's the aerial connections or co-ax that's faulty. I'd probably try to borrow a booster box and try that with your own aerial first. The 12 footer might well have had enough gain to provide a digital signal without the need for your booster to be working.

[747]

I had the Status 530 on my last van and found it worked better with the booster I had from a free standing Maplins aerial.

 

I would check out the coax and plugs on it first. A poor connection will make all the difference. It will be a soldered connection inside the top of the aerial so check the others first.

 

If you open up the aerial, you will be surprised how little is inside them.

 

Another thing to check is if you have the correct matching booster to go with the aerial. They can be mismatched on the Status 315 as there are three different colour coded models.