Poor tv reception

[rooster63]

The van came with a TV and one of those flying saucer aerials. We have probably been to about 20 different sites in the last year in a variety of locations but not all isolated. I think we were only able to watch the TV on about 3 occasions (no big deal as we like to read, play games etc) but is that a fair reflection of the standard of the reception or have we a duff connection somewhere?

[BnJ]

Good point and I’d be interested to hear other peoples experiences.

 

In our last coach-built we had a Status TV aerial, one that you could manually rotate and tune in with a signal indicator. We now have a PVC but this has one of your “flying saucers” that you cannot rotate (Status omni-directional aerial). We have noticed that this omi-directional aerial cannot pick up TV signals where the previous one could. We did at first wonder if was just in a bad reception area but we have re-visted 3 sites so far this year where the last vehicle picked up TV and our new PVC cannot. Naturally I checked al the connections but couldn’t find any obvious problems.

 

If we can physically see the TV transmitting mast and its less than 15km away we have been able to get a TV reception on the omin aerial

 

 

So are these omni-directional flying saucers as poor as we seem to think they are?

 

[Keithl]

BnJ - 2016-11-22 8:47 PM

 

So are these omni-directional flying saucers as poor as we seem to think they are?

 

YES!!!

 

Omni-directional aerials are not ideally suited to Digital TV and IMO you are best ditching them and getting a proper digital directional aerial.

 

I use a Status Image 420 Caravan aerial mounted off the cycle carrier and by tuning it's direction with a Vision Plus TV Signal finder have never yet failed to get a good picture in the UK.

I must add, I do occasionally use an orienteering style compass and the 'UK Free TV' website to get a compass bearing to the nearest transmitter by entering a campsites postcode.

 

http://www.visionplus.co.uk/shop/image-420-uhf-antenna-digital-and-analogue-reception.html

 

http://www.visionplus.co.uk/shop/vision-plus-tv-signal-finder.html

 

https://ukfree.tv/prediction

 

Keith.

 

Edit to add: I do take the aerial down when travelling! But once set it only takes seconds to put up again.

[Arthur Brown]

Unfortunately many sites are in poor reception areas therefore the flying saucer will struggle. The flying saucer is a general purpose fixed antenna which does the best it can. In most open spaces, whether or not it can see the transmitter, it will pull in a signal. In other situations a directional antenna will be necessary. I got p..ed off so went to sat. This reduced the places I could not get TV to very few. Trees are the main problem but a slight move can resolve the problem. When I go abroad I take a tripod dish so that I can move it around and it is amazing what a small move makes. At the end of the day it is horses for courses. You get what you get. If you want better then you need to look at enhanced antenna. All are reasonably expensive so do some research and decide what you want as an end result. We decided upon sat with a fixed dish on the roof of the van. This provides exactly what we want. I got a decent sat finder to make the task of setting up easier. Hope you get to where you want to be.

Regards,

Arthur

[Cliffy]

We had the same trouble with the saucer style Omni directional aerial, even with an amplifier.

 

Got one of these'

 

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/used-hd-camping-and-caravanning-satellite-system-b44qu?cmpid=ppc&gclid=CjwKEAiA9s_BBRCL3ZKWsfblgS8SJACbST7DwRNQKFIt4FnbtN8ob5OchqAyC3zOymvI2MlQJSvphxoCJ07w_wcB

 

I have had one for 6 years now, the only time I have had problems is when there are trees in the line of site to the satellite. It takes 10mins max to set up. We get English TV as far away as the Loire. After that we can still get English News all the way to South of Spain.