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Hello all and sorry for the long post! I'm trying to make my mind up on which satellite system is best. We have looked at the Camos Dome and Alden 85cm (both from RoadPro) and the Oyster (from Cowboy Bill in Yorkshire). A friend and work colleague has the Camos Dome and tells me it is great at finding the satellite quickly and it does have the in-motion facility (which will be handy for us having two young children). He has just come back from Southern Spain and has reported that it finds the Astra 2 south beam as quickly as it does the north beam. Though he couldn't get the BBC TV stations in Southern Spain he could still get BBC radio 2 & 4 plus SKY News, CNN etc. which I think would be fine for us as when we're away we not exactly tied to TV and just would like to catch up with things in the evening (and maybe the Archers!) and for the children we would stick a DVD on (as a treat for being good, hint hint children if you're looking!!). So all in all I'm swaying towards the Camos Dome. That brings us to the Alden & Oyster both look to be of similar quality, size etc. but I don't know anyone personally who has either, though I've seen both being used on sites I haven't plucked up courage to ask them questions. I have read the various posts on here on the Oyster but there seems to be conflicting stories on it's performance, reliability etc. Anyone have a Alden on here? As I've said before I am swaying towards the dome for it's in-motion, wind resistance and looks etc. but I am open to ideas!
P.S. This chaps dome was fitted by Carphone Warehouse who he said were fine with no problems and cheap too (or should that be inexpensive?!)
You most probably would be happy with the Camos. Most of them are similar in performance. You would only pick up BBC in the south of France, and with luck some parts of northern Spain. You pays your money and you takes your choice.
I was going to get an 85cm Oyster but plumped for the CAMOS 40cm high dome. I wouldn't say reliability is a discriminator. Oyster has been around a while and in wide use but in contrast CAMOS is the new boy on the block and too early to judge.
If you have any specific questions on the CAMOS fire away. I don't have any need of the in-motion functionality, but it is handy on a pitch with marginal visibility of the satellite - as you drive on to the pitch it is obvious where there is a clear view and where there isn't!
i have the camos 40cm dish ,installed it myself dead easy ,used the fitting kit that costs extra which is only 2 strips of plastic that you stick to the roof then fix the dome to them, the strips have holes that fix to the feet of the dome,pity that the holes are 2mm out off alinement so dont quite match up with the dome holes
when it is motion the dome makes a revving noise quite loud really & this continues for some minutes after a signal has been found & a picture on screen
,this noise is very annoying it can be stoped by pressing & holding the sat button for 2 secs after a picture is on screen
roadpro told me that it depends on the construction of the roof?// so if yours is made of reinforced concrete it will run as quiet as the one on display by roadpro at the peterbrough show
it finds both astra's & hotbird ok but can /will not find the sirius sat in the uk as the dish is only 40cm but you need a 80cm for sirius pity the dish cannot be reprogramed to find a satellite that can be found in the uk but i surpose it has sirius on board for the campers up there at the north pole
one other thing is that if i turn the camos off without moving the van it goes into search mode looking for the satellite that it already .on this can take over five minutes what is needed is a cut off to stop the dish moving when it don't need to
these comments may seem that i don't like the camos but overall it is quite good at finding the sats & if the points i have mentioned can be addressed this dish is the one to go for
but if i had read the above comments i have just made the oyster may have been on my van instead of the camos
Pat
I've only used it once in motion when driving along, as opposed to manoeuvring on a pitch, and like you I expected it to be noisy. However, though I think my van is admirably quiet on the move with no rattles to speak of, I was pleasantly surprised that the steering noise was not an issue. The wife was able to spin around the copilot's chair and watch her beloved programme while I carried on to our destination.
I keep on meaning to check with Roadpro about getting the software updated so that it first looks where it last was in relation to the van. That does irritate, as you say, because it should be an easy thing to do in firmware.
I also don't know why it continues to peak the signal for a few minutes after getting a picture; I always punch the button to make it sleep.
my post refers to using the camos with the van stoped & no engine running i find the noise loud like a motor bike revving up .mind you it was TT race week here on the ISLE OF MAN what is the noise like when parked up in your van in search mode & how long does it take to find the required sat?
here is what Roadpro mailed me
Turning off the power to the controller will mean that it will go into search, tracking and then sleep mode when switched back on. This is part of the design and cannot be overridden. The dish will and does track for some time (approx. 2 mins)after receiving a good signal from the chosen satellite but this can be overridden by momentarily pressing the satellite select button. Manually putting the dish into sleep mode from tracking causes no damage to the dish system
The noise is, as I said before, dependent on roof material, thickness etc. I have been in a number of vehicles in which I could not hear whether dish was rotating or not, when it was in fact rotating. This was purely down to the construction of the roof.
Yes, it is obtrusive when searching when parked up, but it is not for long, not that I've timed it. Sometimes it finds Hotbird first, then moves onto Astra.
Personally I am very comfortable with the lack of windloading on motors and gearing and a precision lightweight dish/ LNB which performs well and yet has a decent beamwidth, so jumping in and out of the van & gusts don't affect it whatsoever.
hi all
i have a CAMOS CSA 336 AVH Portable Automatic Satellite Dish paid £350 have used this cornwall,bala,lakes,inverness, albetera(southern spain) and never had a problem,easy to set up point south and then it self seeks great picture only uses power to lock on sat ( of witch u can select which sat u want)
very happy
pete
______________________________________________________________ smile always give a wave and some how things don,t seam so bad
I've had a 40cm dome on the roof of the Laika for a year now and I think it's great! Of course, I would as I am the M.D. of RoadPro. But, seriously, the advantages of the dome - specifically the ease of use, reliability and the fact that it's completely unaffected by wind - have all proved very worthwhile over the past 12 months.
The noise can be off-putting at first (although it varies according to the roof construction) but, once the satellite's found, pressing the white button stops the searching within 5 seconds. On the move, the noise isn't really noticeable.
Although I'm obviously biased, I can assure anyone who wants information on the dome that I wll give them an honest answer. Just ask!
hi Andy
why does the dome need to search for the satellite that is already locked on just because the power is turned off to save the battery
also can the camos be reprogramed to be able to locate another diferent satellite receivable in the uk as the astra south beam & sirius is plainly of no use in the uk or not at least where i have tried to locate them .it should be quite easy to reprogram the camos to locate for example 16deg east or 1deg west
one further thing it is the tracking that makes the loud noise not the search mode could this tracking be disabled as unless tv on the move is what you require the tracking is redundant
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