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Location: In the badlands on the border of Staffordshire and Cheshire just out of earshot of the M6 and WCML
Status: Offline
I need to pick the brains of all the MHF TVnauts, of which there appear to be many.
I've attached a pic of the transverse rear bed area of an Adria Compact. If you click on it enough times you'll get a good big picture in order to show the detail.
Now the Heath Robinson device in the middle of the pic is the TV arm which can swing through an arc out of the bed area and over the kitchen so the TV can be viewed in the lounge. It looks vaguely H G Wellsish to me.
You'll note there's a strap to hold it in place whilst in transit and in the right hand corner there's an angled piece of wallboard with 12V, 240V and aerial sockets. At the bottom of that angled wallboard, under the bed there's about 2 or 3 ft of aerial lead coiled up and it obviously comes down from the aerial socket. Finally in the ceiling on the right, just above the strap is a little red dot where Adria recommend you fit the external aerial or whatever. Normally these things are hidden in a wardrobe but in our small van the half depth wardrobe has a small locker above and the junction of roof and overcab pod which makes aerial fitting impractical.
I've not gone into satellite operation so far as it appears v expensive and I don't like that Aussie nurk. Conventional wisdom suggests I should use a Status 530/5 (short) aerial as this will fit where the longer one will get in the way of Mrs SDA as she sleeps peacefully. However with all the internal gubbins that goes with a Status I'm worried the bedroom will end up looking like a rats nest.
If I went over to the dark side and considered satellite I guess a Crank up would have similar gubbins issues. I've never seen the internals where a dome is used, do they give a clean internal appearance?
Technically Andy, I wouldn't be able to give advice, but my first thought was either get a box to put the TV on while travelling or find another mounting point, as the weight of even a small TV on an arm that looks like at least a metre long would just rip it out of the wall, I personally would in vest in 2 x TV's and mount them to the wall using a simple VESA fitting, the simpler the better, if poss on a wall you have access to the rear of and use a similar sized plate as the VESA mount to spread the weight evenly.
As for linking it to aerials or dish do whatever you feel you need there is plenty of advice and tackle to sort out that problem, however have you seen this 19" TV/DVD/PVR/HD Ready/Freeview in one box.
Good luck, you're a bright lad, you'll figure it all out.
Location: In the badlands on the border of Staffordshire and Cheshire just out of earshot of the M6 and WCML
Status: Offline
Thanks for that Kev.
Sorry you've obviously not seen the other end of that arm (see attached pic). It swivels round the top of The Illuminated Pole on a very sturdy joint. I don't think there'd be any weight issues.
Anyway we're going for the Avtex 10" as anything larger looks way out of scale in our van. For an example have a look at the 15" TV in the Autocruise Sportstar (roughly the same as our Adria) in this month's Practical Hotormome. It just looks too big for the space.
And another anyway , it's taken ages to convince Mrs SDA that we really do need a tele in the van. Trying to get her to agree to two would be beyond my powers of persuasion.
I bought one of Snelly's quick release VESA mounts which I am very pleased with.
If you used 2 of these you could move the TV where you want and dispense with the arm arrangement.
I am currently trying to decide which way to go with my AS Symbol. However I have a LOT less space than you. I want a satellite but have decided that I don't want a hole cut in the roof for a crank-up.
I am currently undecided between an extremely expensive 50cm Teleco flatsat or a cheap Multimo on a pole. Chalk and cheese really but its quite tricky deciding which way to go. I may give the Multimo a try but my problem is where to store it when not in use.
I like that swinging arm idea, you should patent it .
You've probably thought of this - if you have an external ladder then you can semi-permanently mount a status image aerial to the ladder, it can be left on the van (lowered obviously) but it would mean going outside to raise it when you want to watch Corrie .
I think they do a kit with the aerial and a ladder mount. I've seen a few fitted and they look quite smart.
despite the size of the fitting I'd still be worried about the weight mate, have you hung a couple of bags of shopping on it yet to see if it will take the weight, and maybe made it bounce about a bit, Mrs SDA might be able to help with the bouncy bit
The alternative is not to mount the aerial permanently on the MH. Have you looked at the Image aerials also from Grade who make the Status aerial. I use one with a mast that clamps to the rear step or can clamp to brackets on the outside of the MH. You can also buy the same amplifier that is used on the Status aerial.
You can then mount a socket on the outside wall and all of the wiring can be under the bed.
And it is much cheaper with the same performance of the Status aerial.
Gerry
Location: In the badlands on the border of Staffordshire and Cheshire just out of earshot of the M6 and WCML
Status: Offline
GerryD wrote:
Andy,
The alternative is not to mount the aerial permanently on the MH. Have you looked at the Image aerials also from Grade who make the Status aerial. I use one with a mast that clamps to the rear step or can clamp to brackets on the outside of the MH. You can also buy the same amplifier that is used on the Status aerial.
You can then mount a socket on the outside wall and all of the wiring can be under the bed.
And it is much cheaper with the same performance of the Status aerial.
Gerry
Gerry may I introduce you to Peejay. Peejay may I introduce you to Gerry
'You've probably thought of this - if you have an external ladder then you can semi-permanently mount a status image aerial to the ladder, it can be left on the van (lowered obviously) but it would mean going outside to raise it when you want to watch Corrie Sad .
I think they do a kit with the aerial and a ladder mount. I've seen a few fitted and they look quite smart.
If you ain't got a ladder then ignore the above'
I knew I should've splashed out a further £4k for the Compact Package 3 with flush windows, cab skylight, glazed hab. door AND roofrack (but no mention of a ladder to access it). Doh!
I've looked up the Image aerial on the web and it's a lot, lot cheaper, although you have to buy a pole and presumably other bits as well. I can't say I've ever seen one but there again I've never looked out for it before. I'd like to have a gander at an installastion before committing.
We have a Camos Dome and with that you only get one cable hole through the roof and this can be more or less where ever you want it. I would surgest that you put the cable into a wardrobe or large cupboard along with you sky box and Camos controller. We have a TV in the back bedroom and one in the front lounge both with magic eyes and no visible cables(apart from the last bit to the TV) or sky box/ camos box
If you go the Crankup route the cable can be entered where ever you want but the control bit of the dish will be on the roof of the van. The Camos Crankup is much smaller and you might have a chance of getting the control bit hidden in a cupborad.
We could not live without Sky but I guess we have kids with us so our needs are not the same.
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, it's taken ages to convince Mrs SDA that we really do need a tele in the van. Trying to get her to agree to two would be beyond my powers of persuasion. 
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