Len Salisbury Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I have a Vision Plus Status 315 fitted to my roof M/H and suspect that it has developed a fault and the picture/voice keeps breaking up. I have the power switched on (red light) and attenuator in correct position. I have tried the co-axial as a fly from the box to TV but still same result. Has anyone stripped the 315 down? If there is a poor signal a signal finder would not help other than to tell me it is poor. If so how do I overcome problem. The M/H is at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Len, It is quite likely interference from 4G phone masts, have a look at this website Link and then possibly try a filter. We are having great trouble at home with this at the moment. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Salisbury Posted June 12, 2015 Author Share Posted June 12, 2015 Thanks for your reply. We have satellite TV at home in e bedroom and lounge and I have a spare dish and LNB and a I am thinking of possibly going down this road for the M/H. If I do decide to do this I shall have to purchase a tripod for the dish and I could use one of the digi boxes to run the system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I would go with the idea of a freestanding dish. I did this with my last van as I had exactly the same problem with the 315 Status aerial. They are just not up to the job. I bought a good quality photographers tripod for the dish. It only took seconds to align as I set up the 'signal strength' screen of my Sky box and I checked through a window as I adjusted the dish. All I ever used for initial alignment was a basic compass (£4 from Go Outdoors). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike88 Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 747 - 2015-06-12 10:12 AM I would go with the idea of a freestanding dish. I did this with my last van as I had exactly the same problem with the 315 Status aerial. They are just not up to the job. I bought a good quality photographers tripod for the dish. It only took seconds to align as I set up the 'signal strength' screen of my Sky box and I checked through a window as I adjusted the dish. All I ever used for initial alignment was a basic compass (£4 from Go Outdoors). A free standing dish is a good idea but aligning the dish with a sky box is difficult due to the inbuilt delay between adjustment and the box itself. However, with a free to air box there is no inbuilt delay meaning adjustment is so much easier. For an investment of around £50 I would opt for a free to air box everytime unless of course you have a sky subscription with premium channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 That's true Mike, there is a delay when you use a Sky box. After a few setups, I hardly noticed the few seconds delay. At the time, it was possible to get a Sky box for nothing because HD was the new 'big thing' and everyone was changing to HD. I actually carried 2 tripods in the last van. One for the Sky dish and the other for a large high gain TV aerial. The Status 315 (flying saucer) on the roof was just an ornament. I have the directional Status 530 on the present van, so haven't bothered with satellite TV as it works very well. After saying all that, I could manage fine without TV but my other half likes her Soaps. :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Salisbury Posted June 12, 2015 Author Share Posted June 12, 2015 I managed to get hold of a tall step ladder and gained access to the Status 315 and undid the screws holding the aerial to the base. I tried to prise open the two halves but decided to contact makers. Just as well it is a sealed unit and there is a small circuit board in there. You cannot even get co-axial cable renewed. The 315 has been discontinued and was told that you cannot even get spares for it either. The end result is that a new aerial is required and the 550 was mentioned £140 or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Salisbury Posted June 13, 2015 Author Share Posted June 13, 2015 Has anyone ever replaced this type of aerial like for like? If I were to replace it I think that I would leave the base on the roof undisturbed and feed the co-axial cable down through the base. Routing the cable and being able to get hold of the cable to pull it through to make the connection may be a bit of a hard job. Any advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 ....certain spares for the omnidirectional range are still available according to GradeUK's (Visionplus) web pages. http://www.visionplus.co.uk/shop/antenna-accessories/ You will note on the entry for the replacement 315/330 dome the advice that the text colour needs to be the same as that on the booster. (which implies that both colours might be available). The earlier versions of these aerials, and the directional ones, had purple text, the later orange. My understanding is that the purple ones had an amp (or pre-amp) mounted in the aerial head, and the purple booster supplied power to it up the coax (much like a domestic masthead amplifier), whereas the orange ones do not have this facility, nor do the associated boosters. Though these omnidirectional aerials are not the best at picking up signals, there isn't a lot to go wrong with them. Patently, electronics can fail in the head or booster, but a more common problem lies in the signal path, as installation can often be a bit slapdash, and it is easy to "pull" connections. I would carefully check the coax connections in the signal path as follows: 1. The coax plug where the lead from the aerial is attached to the booster. 2. The coax plug where the output from the booster is led to the TV connection point. 3. The connection to the rear of the TV connection point (Note that, if you have a spare, known-quality TV flylead, you can largely eliminate the possibility of issues at 2 and 3 by using this directly from the booster to the TV - if the signal improves, 2 or 3 have a problem, if not, they probably don't). Both the coax centre and the braiding should be properly connected at each point, AND, there should be no short between these two parts (even a single strand of braiding). Any discontinuity or short will severely degrade the signal, and in the case of the lead to the aerial head on a purple unit, may lead to power not being supplied to the masthead electronics through the coax. Many years ago, I had similar problem with such a unit, and ended up taking it to GradeUK, who were fairly close to me. With a signal meter, they tested the installation, found a badly installed coax plug, refitted it, and bingo, significant improvement. It may not be your problem, but it is certainly worth a check. If you decide to replace like-for-like, it may well be worth talking GradeUK about spares availability, BUT, you won't be sure whether your problem is in the booster or the head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Salisbury Posted June 13, 2015 Author Share Posted June 13, 2015 I spoke to Vision Plus (Grade) yesterday and it was them that informed me that there were no spares available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 Yes I had one replaced under warrenty and fitted it myself as you suggest. No problem to do in my case but if you need to you can use the old cable to pull the new one through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 We had various status aerials on previous motorhomes and caravans. They were OK ish but not brilliant. When we changed to an AutoSleeper Warwick XL it came with a very small insignificant non directional arial. I had my doubts but I must say it's been working very well with no need to fiddle about trying to find the best signal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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