StewartJ Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 Whilst holiday suprised at the number of MH's and caravans (even a tent at one site) with these systems which begs the question, are they any good? Appreciate if touring say Spain dish diameter is important but what about North Scotland? Visited Maplins today and browsed their satellite systems, nice looking suitcase kits one on offer for 149 (original price £199) compactness and light weight an attraction plus dish mounting via suction plate on roof very convenient. Anyone have any experience or views?? Many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 My nextdoor neighbour has had one for years, tours all over France every year and sez it is the best TV AE yet, but no good through trees, so got to pick a pitch out in the open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 My nextdoor neighbour has had one for years, tours all over France every year and sez it is the best TV AE yet, but no good through trees, so got to pick a pitch out in the open.................Oops sorry, too many clicks.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 My nextdoor neighbour has had one for years, tours all over France every year and sez it is the best TV AE yet, but no good through trees, so got to pick a pitch out in the open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peter Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 My next door neighbour has had one for years........................ No not really. But I use one regularly on my boat and it is very easy to sef up, I usually clamp it to a pole on the moorings. I got mine from Liddl and it was about £70 for the same one as in Maplins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Grumpy Posted September 29, 2010 Share Posted September 29, 2010 We are using our Lidl system in the Vendee, the only downside is that we cannot receive our local news otherwise we get all the programs we want. For £70 it's great value but a bit tricky to set up until you et used to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil malcolmson Posted September 29, 2010 Share Posted September 29, 2010 Yes they work well but can be a bit of a fiddle to set up. Don't pay £149. You can get them much cheaper. Plenty on ebay. As I said They can be a bit of a faff to set up,so lots of people return them or sell them on,I would not shy away from second hand or Maplins b grade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted September 29, 2010 Share Posted September 29, 2010 Got one and it did my head in trying to set it up. Getting camos crank up now but using the free to air receiver that came with my aldi pack so it has come to some use. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordThornber Posted September 29, 2010 Share Posted September 29, 2010 We have the Aldi (£60) set up. It has been half price on at least one occasion since we bought it but you need to keep your eyes open for the offers. It's a doddle to set up in my opinion, once you've learned how to do it. I can have a pin sharp picture, from getting the set up out of its box in less than 5 mins. It has it's limits though, like one person has said, high trees, grrrr, sometimes it just won't happen for you, you'll soon learn when it's going to do the business for you. And when it won't.. Don't forget though, even you have a state of the art set up in the same place as high trees land, you won't get a pic with that either. Martyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wellsgofar Posted September 29, 2010 Share Posted September 29, 2010 For those who are having difficulty setting-up or about to purchase a portable satalite system, may I suggest, that an initial set-up of the free sat box, be from an existing dish which is set to your desired satellite i.e. astra 28.2, at home if possible then when your away, all you need to do is connect up, switch on your TV to full volume and switch the receiver to, info and No1 also on full volume and search in the approx direction, when high pitch tone from TV, is heard, you should be there. Regards Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted September 29, 2010 Share Posted September 29, 2010 We've been toying with getting a sat system, we had a good look round the Lincoln show and were considering the Camos oblong type roof dish with a manual crank. But we also like the Multimo as it's very compact and portable so if there were problems with trees etc, it would have the edge over a roof mounted dish, and the Multimo is a lot cheaper too for basically the same level of reception so we are weighing up the options at present. Whilst pondering we visited a certain Mr N's stand and he produced a new 'product' to turn a Multimo into a roof mounted dish, with internal adjustment ... how you may ask? Well he's designed a bracket that attaches to the back of an existing Status 530 (directional) aerial, into which you then place the Multimo (without it's stand) and use the Status aerial's internal adjusting handle etc to tilt or turn the now attached Multimo aerial. The only proviso is that you need to be able to access the bracket on the Status aerial to be able to pop the Multimu in and take it out of the bracket as it is not meant to stay there permanently ... if you try to drive off with it there you'll probably hear a clunk as it hits the road! This is where we found that the bracket wouldn't work for us, as we can't reach the Status aerial through the large roof light as it's about a metre or so away and we haven't got arms like a orangutan! As we don't have a ladder or roof rack that sort of stuffs the idea for us ... so hence the weighing up of options still. Just thought others might want to know about Mr N's new bracket! I think it costs £25. :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted September 29, 2010 Share Posted September 29, 2010 StewartJ - 2010-09-28 10:48 PM Appreciate if touring say Spain dish diameter is important but what about North Scotland? I've not been up to Scotland since using portable sat, but what I can tell you is sat reception is heavly influenced by weather i.e. rain, so what might work perfectly ok in sunny climes will not in the rain in scotland, in fact even the normal sky dish may stuggle in england during very heavy rain if everything is not spot on, so those small dishes used by portable systems may also struggle, sky make a zone II dish for use in northern scotland this is listed as 80cm, but I think compared to a round dish is nearer 70cm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Brown Posted September 29, 2010 Share Posted September 29, 2010 hI The portable systems such as Lidl and Aldi are fine and work very well where a dish that size is suitable for receiving a signal. The set up problems are not only applicable to those systems, they are applicable to all systems. The further south in France and Spain the larger the dish requirement. I find the easiest way to set up is to find East with a compass and travel south. The first found sat is normally the one you want. The advantage of Free Sat is that you can choose which ITV or BBC region you want and move them to the 1,2,3 positions. I have an odbal at the moment which is that Chan. five is shown as BBC News but fortunately Ch. 5 shows a motive in the top left corner so whatever the title you know it is Ch. 5. The info-1 on a free sat is good, it is very helpful when you cannot see the TV. I have found the small plastic Lidl dish very good in the UK but need something more substantial in the EU. In Spain earlier this year I used my 80cm dish and could not get BBC or ITV just north of Valancia. Others have got a signal further south with a smaller dish. The crux is that it depends where you are when on the fringe. You might or might not. I favour the free sat as it is available on 12v. I tried a 12v sky box from a UK supplier and it failed quite quickly. I have to say the provider reimbursed me for the box. I will not name the supplier but will stick up for him should the need arise on this forum. The reason being that Sky do not like people converting their boxes to 12v. In short, within their skope the portable kits are good you have to decide what you expect from them. The box is good to use with a larger dish but my last box cost £70 quid so if you can get a kit for less then it is a good deal. In common with other replies, do not pay £149.00. You can do it much cheaper. Art Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StewartJ Posted September 30, 2010 Author Share Posted September 30, 2010 Thanks you everyone for your comments and information, It's taught me a lot and I'm keeping an eye on the systems on Ebay. Again thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enodreven Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 Hi, Local Aldi's this afternoon had one discounted to £49.99, not sure if its the end of a run or not, but at that price its got to be worth looking at your local Aldi's if you have one. this link should help you find the nearest store, best of luck http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/store_locator.htm?WT.z_src=main Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 If you have Sky at home, just buy a second hand Sky digibox (very cheap), pick upa Sky dish and attach it to a camera tripod and you have a cheap and effective freestanding system. That is all I use and it works fine. I fasten it down with a bungee when it is windy. I run the digibox through a 150 watt invertor but they use very little power. The box in my house is only 30 watts. Any cheap compass will help you align the dish. I normally set my TV to the 'Signal strength' screen and watch it through the window while I adjust the dish. It only takes a minute. There is a small delay with the Sky boxes before the signal strength and quality bars move when you are adjusting. If you take your viewing card with you, you can watch all your normal Sky channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigal Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 Arthur Brown - 2010-09-29 9:24 PM hI The portable systems such as Lidl and Aldi are fine and work very well where a dish that size is suitable for receiving a signal. The set up problems are not only applicable to those systems, they are applicable to all systems. The further south in France and Spain the larger the dish requirement. I find the easiest way to set up is to find East with a compass and travel south. The first found sat is normally the one you want. The advantage of Free Sat is that you can choose which ITV or BBC region you want and move them to the 1,2,3 positions. I have an odbal at the moment which is that Chan. five is shown as BBC News but fortunately Ch. 5 shows a motive in the top left corner so whatever the title you know it is Ch. 5. The info-1 on a free sat is good, it is very helpful when you cannot see the TV. I have found the small plastic Lidl dish very good in the UK but need something more substantial in the EU. In Spain earlier this year I used my 80cm dish and could not get BBC or ITV just north of Valancia. Others have got a signal further south with a smaller dish. The crux is that it depends where you are when on the fringe. You might or might not. I favour the free sat as it is available on 12v. I tried a 12v sky box from a UK supplier and it failed quite quickly. I have to say the provider reimbursed me for the box. I will not name the supplier but will stick up for him should the need arise on this forum. The reason being that Sky do not like people converting their boxes to 12v. In short, within their skope the portable kits are good you have to decide what you expect from them. The box is good to use with a larger dish but my last box cost £70 quid so if you can get a kit for less then it is a good deal. In common with other replies, do not pay £149.00. You can do it much cheaper. Art I totally agree with the above. We got ours from Lidl at a cost around £50 about three years ago and mount it on the kind of tripod used by DJs for their speakers. It was difficult to set up at first but practice makes perfect and we get lots of radio and television programmes. Follow the instructions and you will soon get used to it, no problem. Or alternatively splash out lots of cash on a Camos or some similar system and leave it on the van when you sell it! :-) B-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peter Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 We've got the Camos plus rectangular crank up and it's great. As has Dave Newell if I'm not mistaken. As for the Liddl one being sensitive to being amongst trees, they all are as they have to have line of sight to the satelite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StewartJ Posted October 3, 2010 Author Share Posted October 3, 2010 Lidels have this receiver on offer from tomorrow, looks good. http://www.lidl.com.mt/mal/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20101004.p.Digital_Satellite_Receiver__with_HDMI_Connector ATB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 B&Q have a sat system for £79.99, it looks bigger than the Lidl dish PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enodreven Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 StewartJ - 2010-10-03 12:27 PM Lidels have this receiver on offer from tomorrow, looks good. http://www.lidl.com.mt/mal/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20101004.p.Digital_Satellite_Receiver__with_HDMI_Connector ATB Hi,The link you have given is to Lidl's Malta, ? not sure if the same offers are on in the UK, also it looks like its a mains voltage unit, and the portable (suitcase) type are 12 volt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerhound Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 I am also looking for system and have learned a lot by reading the posts etc, I dont fancy messing around though to set it up as I have arthritis and brittle bone, I think I will opt for the Camos dome type although if changing the motrohome would need to leave the dish. Still looking for dealer to supply and fit fairly near to me here in Central Scotland? :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dshague Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 roadpro camos dealer/installers for scotland herehttp://www.roadpro.co.uk/retail/dealers.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StewartJ Posted October 3, 2010 Author Share Posted October 3, 2010 braunston - 2010-10-03 3:45 PM Hi,The link you have given is to Lidl's Malta, ? not sure if the same offers are on in the UK, also it looks like its a mains voltage unit, and the portable (suitcase) type are 12 volt. Oh bu***r hadn't noticed that, saves me a journey though. Cheers all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Newell Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Thanks for the plug Mel :D , when you didn't return to buy one at Lincoln I guessed you'd found no access, never mind we'll still do you a good deal on a multimo if you decide you want one :-D . Peter, sorry but I don't have a crankup system anymore, I had the standard Camos crankup on my last motorhome and was nothing but impressed with its performance and ease of use. Deerhound, if you're interested in a Dome system give us a call as we have a very special offer on them for Nov and Dec, taking bookings now :D . D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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