Ninian Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Having purchased a new van, I now wish to fit an Auto Satellite Dish 85cm. Would you kind people advise me which one is the best. Mecatronic, Oyster, Maxview etc. It was mentioned to me that the new "Wireless" seeker by Maxview was good but I'm open to your replies. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Automatic skew adjustment used to be unheard of but to get the best reception when touring afar, that would be an essential feature these days. The skew added by the time you get to the South of France is 10 degrees, so without that being accomodated, the reception is bound to suffer. Probably twin LNBs too. I went or an enclosed dome, thinking that a protected environment would be important for such delicate-looking equipment. This reduces the dish size. I no longer think having a dome is important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek500 Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Very impressed with my Mecatronic 85cm which has auto skew and gps so the dish knows where it is for quicker searching. For UK channels afar a Sky HD subscription is helpful. We're now in Camping Le Soline south of Siena and although we've lost the UK beam, we're still receiving C5 HD, More4 HD, E4 HD, ITV2-4 HD and all the Sky pay channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverback Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 ditto for the mecatronic 85cm auto scew gps, turn it on and within a minute watching tv, in the wind it will start pixelating so we just shut down just in case. it would withstand more but just being causious, had it ayear with no probs, once it took 2 mins of spinning around trying to locate satelites but we were in the lakes surrounded by hills but it locked on, can't be arsed with tripods an compasses and trailing wires i'm on me hols :-D can't advise about domes never had one, but this folds flat to 17cm thats just over 6 inch! in old money cant even tell its on the roof 8-) jon ps never been out of UK yet so cannot comment on coverage but has worked well in the UK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Had Enough Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 I've been researching nearly-new high-end Hymers from Germany, just in case a 'van we're looking at this weekend doesn't tick all our boxes. Almost every one with a satellite system has an Oyster 85 cm dish with auto-skew. I have no expert knowledge of various dishes but that tells me something. My advice for anyone who only motorhomes in the UK would be to get a dome. I've had two and they are brilliant, protected from the weather and, unlike a dish, can be used in high winds, and they'll get all the usual channels in Britain without a problem. My next choice though will definitely be an 85 cm dish, as the new Astra footprint meant that with the small dish in our dome we ran out of most channels halfway down France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankkia Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 When considering a dish it is a good idea to 1st decide where you want to use it and what you want to receive. If it is to be used solely in the UK or northern France then any old dustbin lid will do the job. If you want to travel further then an 85cm dish with auto skew is a must as the "UK Beam" runs out fairly quickly once you get into Germany going East or half way down France if going south. Having said that it should be noted that the drop off in signal is very steep and although an 85 cm dish will get you a signal a lot further away than a 40 (the biggest dish in a dome) you will still have problems south of the Pyrenees. The problem will only get worse once the much delayed Astra 2G satellite is launched - It was supposed to go up earlier this year and has been put back several times with the latest prediction being December 2014. Once it is in position the remaining channels from Astra 2A will be moved on to it and I would expect that the ITV HD variants will go on to a UK beam (these have been available to Sky HD subscribers even since the Astra 2E start in February. I agree that if you want to get something to watch, Other than the news or shopping channels, it would still be a good idea to have a Sky subscription on an HD box if travelling outside the UK "Spot beam". My preference is still for the Oyster twin auto skew. Most of the other offerings don't let you get in to tinker whereas the Oyster can be "flown" manually. What is the advantage of that with a supposedly automatic system I hear you cry. Well the Astra satellites are situated between 28.2 and 28.5 degrees and when you are on the edge of the footprint and you are getting, say, Sky News but not the BBC it is often possible to nudge the dish a bit with the remote control and get a better signal on the missing programmes. The Oyster also gives a better selection of satellites (many others are only programmed to receive about half a dozen) so if you do lose the Astra 2 signal you can get something from other systems - e.g. in Spain / Portugal the BADR 4,5 and 6 birds (Arabsat) at 26 degrees carries a lot of channels in English. Astra 1 at 19 degrees carries Sky News and BBC World. Eutelsat at 7 degrees carries some of the MBC channels in English. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Had an Oyster on the last van it was good, but as with all large dishes you have to put them down in high winds. Put a Snipe on the current van limited range of satellites, but there are 3 used programmable channels you can program via a computer to any additional satellites you may want. It's small, cheap, light and can be left up in all weathers. Received Astra 2 as far south as northern Provance on our last trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 As the owner of a dome system to whom it's never been as issue I hadn't realised that you 85 cm guys have to down sail in a brisk wind. All I have to do is keep an eye out for low tree branches and wash the flies off the front of the dome occassionally. I suppose if reception a long way South and East into Europe is the objective, than a big auto-skew dish is the way, but only if you want to go far South or East and can't manage without a full range of UK channels. We got excellent reception of all freesat channels in the Loire Valley this September and a guy who came on site told us that his 85cm dish lost signals for UK channels (abruptly) when South of Toulouse, so how much extra touring range would an 85cm dish, even with autoskew, give you? Even before this new smaller footprint development, we lost most UK channels before we got to Munich, so we settled for Sky News, read books and enjoyed the sunshine. Mind you Bake Off wasn;t on at the time, otherwise I might have been ordered to drive back into the footprint! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archiesgrandad Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 We have just spent 6 weeks in the Lott Valley, living in the van whilst we work on the house. (I find it strange that the French language appears to have no ability to understand the concepts of "on time" or "within budget"). I have adapted our "Easyfind" system to work with an 80cm dish on a tripod(Ebay £35), and was able to set it all up in few minutes, and having given the lnb a bit of a twist clockwise we have been able to watch all the channels that we normally get at home in the UK on our Sky box. We have had an auto system in the past, but the "Easyfind" system is so easy and quick to use, the total cost, excluding the tv set, was less than £80 on Ebay, I would find it difficult to justify the cost of an auto system AGD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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