iphuddy Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 Hi all Hope someone can help! Iam looking to have an aerial fitted to my camper in time for the world cup.It seems a choice between the status 350(looks like a flying saucer) or the status 530/5 has anyone any experience of either of these 2 and any recommendations would be appreciated many thanks ip huddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 The Status 530 would give the better reception, but you would need to point it in the correct direction to obtain this. Magazine reports have been complimentary about the 530 (and my dealer pal fits lots of them and says his customers think they are great). See www.gradeuk.co.uk for more information on both types. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iphuddy Posted May 30, 2006 Author Share Posted May 30, 2006 Many thanks derek i will look on the link you provided think the main advantage of the 530 is it enables you to find the signal from inside the van This would be my best option as i have no ladder cheers iphuddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 Just fitted a 530/10 to my van - very pleased with it. The 530/5 has the shorter mast and is normally fitted in an overhead locker while the 530/10 has a longer mast and has to fitted in the wardrobe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 Have you thought about an alternative manufacturer? I have just fitted a Glomex omnidirectional TV antenna on our motorhome. Its designed for Marine use and also designed to work alongside other high power antenna - like the boats VHF and HF radio transmitters. The One I bought from a ships chandlers in Lymington was less cash than the comporable Status unit. It came with a variable pre-amplifier and 18 metres of high quality coax cable and solder less gold plated connectors. Glomex are No2 in the marine antenna / satellite / navigation field and will be targetting the RV market later this year. Competition at last! They also do a directional one which has a small motor incorporated into the base to turn it by remote control. No big holes required in the roof of the van for this one. Also they do a variant for Satellite TV as well, competition for Camos as well. Have a look at www.glomex.it for more info. Ship ayoy ye land lubbers!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Newell Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 Hi, I can only say I've fitted a few of the Status 530 aeriels and while they are undoubtedly better than the 350 "spaceship on the roof" type they're still not as good as a decent quality external aeriel of, say 10 elements. I've also seen two 530s DOA (dead on arrival)! When my 'van is ready I shall be investing in the "camping aeriel" kit from Argos, for around £30 you get a ten element wideband (vitally important) aeriel, a decent length of coax and a pole to mount it on. The one downside of using an amplifier is that they also amplify the noisy part of the signal so in poor signal conditions they can be as bad as not having one. I prefer to use a decent aeriel with plenty of "gain" rather than a poorer aeriel and amplifier combo. D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 Just to nit-pick. I notice from Grade's website that the omni-directional Status model is in fact the S315, not S350. As Clive says, there are alternative makes. CAK (www.caktanks.co.uk) offers several omni-directional or directional models of TV aerial branded "Wing" or "Teleplus" that are also widely marketed abroad, but I've no idea how effective they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnP Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 The manufacturer of the 530 say that it suitable for freeview reception. A number of members in our group have tried with the freeview box but with little or no success. I suspect that the 530 arial is just not sensitive enough to pick up the freeview signal and that van roofs are not high enough anyway. If anyone has succeeded other than by sitting under the transmitter please let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Newell Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 Hi John, your last sentence says it all really, the 530 will pick up Freeview signals ok in a good reception area. In my experience amplifiers aren't very effective with digital freeview as the low signal strength causes a low data rate and amplifying it just gives you a bigger signal but still with the low data rate. I have tried a freeview digital receiver (Avermedia hybrid cardbus) on my laptop in both Peterborough and Newbury. Both times on a Status 315 (spaceship thingy), In P'borough it was not good with the picture freezing regularly. In Newbury it was slightly better and just watchable. Switching to analogue in both venues gave a slightly noisy picture but at least it didn't freeze. If you want Freeview reception then you really do need a good aeriel, as I said earlier a ten element wideband job should do the trick in most places. D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docted Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 Freeview at presenmt is not transmitted at full power as it would interfere with analogue signals. I suppose that like digital mobile phones when they first weree introduced the signal was not any better than a good analogue one the same will happen with frreview as the old analogue signals get switched off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 We were at the Sutton on Sea CC campsite this weekend and a chap had a 530 short mast aerial fitted to his caravan, he showed us the picture with his freeview box on and without, it was good without but even better with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Newell Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 hi mel, If you can receive Freeview you will always get better pictures than on analogue. With analogue any reduction of signal strength results in grainy, snowy, noisy pictures. With digital if you can get a good enough signal to support the data rate required you will always get a perfect picture. If the signal is low for digital then the bitrate falls off because of errors creeping in. Picture quality doesn't suffer but it will freeze up, momentarily and occasionally if the signal is just over 50% or so and more frequently and for longer periods as the signal strength gets lower. D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iphuddy Posted June 1, 2006 Author Share Posted June 1, 2006 Thank you to you all for your very detailed and informative replies. I have taken the plunge and tomorrow evening I am having the Status 530/5 fitted in my van. I will keep you posted on the result of this purchase. Thanks Again IP Huddy (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.