Pete-B Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Hi, Not knowing the first thing about this subject I thought I would ask you guys. We went to the Peterborough show today and listened to the seminar on satellite reception which was interesting. However what I would like to know is what basic equipment I would need to receive in this area as we don't intend to travel further in fact most of time we're in the UK. We did call into Road Pro before we left and the guy there suggested the Snipe system at, I think, about £700 or there roof dome which fitted would be about twice the price which, at this time I don't think we could afford. Anyhow I thought I would ask the experienced among you guys and see what you think. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 I bought a portable camping satellite system from Maplins http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/camping-and-caravanning-satellite-suitcase-system-a60gy. At the time three years ago it was £70. You can get similar cheaper at Lidl every now again but the Maplins one has been great for us, when in the UK I use it if the aerial reception is not good and use it all the time when in Europe it, has worked as far away as Austria and the south of France but the satelite transmission has been changed this year it probably wont work much after the south of Paris now. It comes in a brief case and only takes ten minutes max to set up. The only extra I got was a satelite finder which was about 10 quid, you can do it using the on screen signal strength metre but it takes two people and a lot of shouting. The dish has a number of ways to mount it using the supplied clamps etc, I found the best way is to hammer a short piece of pipe in to the ground and clamp it to that, it is ideal if there a tree or other obstruction blocking the line of sight to the satelite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bolly1965 Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 I agree, a cheap portable system is probably all you need. I bought the Maplin one and it was great. Our current van has an Oyster roof mounted dish and only used it once or twice. Most sites are ok with terrestrial and caravan club sites mostly have TV points. Unless you just can't live without sky... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 The question is 'what do you want of it'? Personally I'm not in to setting up gear around the pitch, so have an i-sat dish (the Snipe should be at least the equal of this) couple of buttons to push and it's set up. Good not only for UK but northern half of France so keeps us happy most of time, but get the wrong side of trees and no signal. As a back up in UK we have an aerial that clips onto bike rack but I don't think we've used it since fitting the i-sat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archiesgrandad Posted April 26, 2014 Share Posted April 26, 2014 We have had an automatic dish on the roof, and it was brilliant, except for the trees and buildings etc., that got in the way. This meant that we used to carry a small portable dish for those occasions, and it was so easy to set up that when we changed vans we decided to save the £1600 and just carry the portable. I would recommend that you look for the type that has the Easyfind LNB rather than the type which uses a signal finder. The Easyfind is so much quicker and easier to use. The Easyfind has led indicators on the LNB, and having set up the box for the satellite that you want, you just point the dish in the general direction of the satellite you want , you just waggle the dish about until the flashing red led turns orange and then green. Once the dish is set up you can then swap the box for a Sky box if you wish Having left our previous one on the old Hymer when we sold it in a hurry, no it wasn't like that, we bought one with a signal finder and had no success whatever, so I bought an Easyfinder by Microelectronics on Ebay recently for about£80 and it works a treat. AGD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazy Baby Posted April 26, 2014 Share Posted April 26, 2014 We had a Snipe roof mounted by Roadpro last August. Can highly recommend. Just select which satellite you require, press a button and voila! So far been as far eastwards as Annecy and down to Millau with it and no problems. As already said only problem is if tall trees or buildings block the signal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted April 26, 2014 Share Posted April 26, 2014 How about a nice compact Multimo and 240v sat receiver .... https://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-post.asp?action=reply&replyto=420052 :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallynnette Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 Hi, we had a couple of suitcase satellite set ups and found both to be ok if everything is perfect but a pain in the butt setting up, most times i gave up. Last year we bought a Snipe system and not looked back, brilliant bit of kit we cant fault it. Paid £650 for it last year (ya gotta knock 'em down). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hughmer Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 HI, We have an 85 cm oyster auto skew. Great, and very easy to re-align if you want programmes in Arabic or Norwegian in addition to UK channels, and er.. um. some of the exotic offerings on Hotbird ;-)) When I bought the Oyster, I had no experience of satellite, I still don't even have sky. I chose the auto because I didn't want the hassle of tripods and finding the signal. But I've found that the oyster can confuse itself sometimes, - and I end up with my mobile phone satellite finder app and the remote controller telling the dish where to go. (And I can "See" the where the dish is, - not sure how you know where the guts of the dome will be focused) Sometimes I WISH i had a small static dish because under trees in the UK the Oyster is nbg. Watching some of the more practiced hands setting up their static kit, it doesn't look that tricky. Since the 6 Feb 14 changes Astra its also nbg in Spain (though it got bbc/itv once we were north of the Pyrenees) The thought occurs, - If you're only watching TV in UK....AND you only want BBC/ITV etc why bother? Stick with a terrestrial aerial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barryd999 Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 I think we paid about £1400 for our Camos Dome about six years ago and its been a great bit of kit. I dont think however that I would bother now. The digital signal in the UK has improved and you can probably get away with a Status Aerial and amplifier in most places but as we spend most of our time abroad I doubt that the dome will now be effective much further south than the top of the Dordogne or as far east as Jura or maybe the edge of the French Alps if you lucky. It used to work into Northern Spain, everywhere in France and as far east as Garda in Italy or Innsbruck in Austria. Ok you can pick up different satellites but if you want BBC1, ITV etc and your planning a long trip it isnt going to work for long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hughmer Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 Forgot to mention how the Swedish do it in Spain. 2.4m dish in 6 sections. The base doubles as an elephant dais in a circus. http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://www.satpro.se/default.asp%3Fid%3D96001%26art_nr%3D3318%26cat_nr%3D103%26ucat_nr%3D118&usg=ALkJrhjfoKqK8oCpxlG-vqqmRwYJBVQxqQ sorry I haven't sorted tinyurl yet. Only £630 from Malmo, and there was one for sale on our site for just £150 Tch. missed a bargain! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete-B Posted April 27, 2014 Author Share Posted April 27, 2014 Hi, One more question, if I decided to go for the auto Snipe I guess I would need some sort of a receiver to go with it. My vans in storage about ten miles away at the moment so I can't check the TV or book. I know it's a small Avtex which was fitted by the dealer when I bought the van new in 2012 would this TV be likely to have a sat receiver fitted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 Avtex tv's are available with or without built in sat receiver, I would guess yours might be without, but only you can tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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