Guest Simon B Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 Hello all... I'm putting together an MMM article on digital and satellite TV for motorhomes. If anyone would like to get in touch and tell me what systems they use, what they think of it and share any tips, I'd be delighted to hear from you. You can get hold of me on simonb@warnersgroup.co.uk All the best, Simon B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyishuk Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 Look forward to reading it! I'm in the market for that at the moment :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rees Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 I have experience of two different wind-up dishes fitted to my two motorhomes. These consist of a 65cm dish that folds down on the roof which is raised by turning a knob on the mast installed in the wardrobe of the motorhome. In both cases it was necessary to drill a hole through the roof but an excellent seal ensured no leakages. The Astra D2 satellite is found by using a small compass to find the direction, and then an installed meter (connected permanently to the digibox) which emits a high pitched sound with a visual indicator once the satellite signal has been located! There are other checks that can be made on the strength of signal by pressing the service button on the Sky remote control for the digibox, following by 4 (System setup) then button 6 (Signal test). The first was a German system fitted by C.A.S. Mobile Satellites, Sneyd Green, Stoke on Trent (01782 280071; casmobilesat@tinyonline.co.uk) and this worked excellently for the six years that I owned the van. I was very pleased with the installation. The second was installed very recently by Adventure Motorhomes, Bridgewater, Somerset (01278457557; www.adventure-motorhomes.co.uk). This is the Italian Teleco Voyager 6 Plus which works in a similar way to the German system installed by CAS Mobile Satellite. Cost is about the same - around £500 (depending on extras required). However, in the case of the Teleco dish, the setting scale for elevation of the dish to the correct degrees (obtained from a key map supplied) was incorrect and it has been necessary for me to adjust the wind-up scale on advice received after e-mailing Teleco in Italy (they put me in touch with their UK agents). The setting-up maps (showing elevation needed in degrees for the dish which varies with latitude) provided by Teleco are not specifically for Astra 2D at 28 degrees East of South (BBC and UK TV and radio stations) - so I am using one that I downloaded from the internet. In both cases I decided on the wind-up dish as there is much less to go wrong after installation and, of course, these dishes are much cheaper that the automated types. I have found the setting up of the dish to receive TV relatively easy - once I am sure that there are no trees, tall buildings etc likely to block the signal from the satellte. Hope these comments are of interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 Hi Simon B Over the years we have used a variety of TV aeriels. The most common Status 'flying saucer' type seemed only to work where there is a very good signal and was, more often than not, poor picture quality. We then used the directional type of Status aeriel which was a big improvement and also the latest Status 530. Even with these we often had difficulty getting a good quality picture and spent many hours (or so it seemed) 'tweaking' the aeriel direction. It was these experiences that prompted us to fit a satellite dish to our new motorhome. As roof height was a significant factor for us the Oyster Caro (square) self seeking system was the one we went for - which is only 13cm high when folded. The system was fitted by Transleisure at Newark. In use it has proved to be excellent. We have only used it as far south as the Loire in France but it has had no difficulty in finding and locking on to the satellite and gives great picture quality. Regards, David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 Hi Rees, We too have a Teleco Voyager 65cm crankup dish and the ne cessary maps stuck on the wardrobe door. This unit was on the motorhome when we bought it. We also are having problems locating the Astra 2D satellite. Could you please tell me where you downloaded your set-up maps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rees Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 'Satellite for caravans' by David Sullivan at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/de.sullivan/print.htm. But there are others also. Type Astra D2 in your search engine. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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