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Our MH has been a TV free zone until now, but having just retired and planning to spend more time travelling we thought that we would get ourselves sorted, that's when the confusion started. It seems that satellite will cost approx £1k plus Sky fee's - more than our use would justify. However we would like access to freeview and digital reception using a roof mounted aerial.
The range of aerials available is bewildering, Omnisat, Oyster etc.. can anyone advise on the advantages or, disadvantages ease of use etc?
Also would welcome information from anyone with experience of picking up foreign stations abroad... the news and weather in French, German or Italian is generally comprehensible and that is really all that we would require.
I would welcome the advice of seasoned users.
Many thanks,
Jane
The following members of MHF thanked littleandlarge for this posting
Hi Jane,
Sorry we're not seasoned users, but when we were away up north last year, we took a 14" colour portable with us.
With a set top aerial, we were only able to get 2 channels-BBC1 & BBC2.
When I remembered that I had a freeview setup in my laptop bag, I tried setting it up.
The DVB-T Player is a USB device that can be bought for under £30.00 these days, and with the stumpy 3" aerial stuck to the side of the van, led out of the window, we were able to get good reception of 12 digital tv channels, and about 4-5 digital stereo radio channels.
I would advise anyone to go with a laptop, as the portable tele was difficult to stow in the van.
Regards, Bob
______________________________________________________________ about taste there can be no dispute.
The following members of MHF thanked dreamcatcher for this posting
For use abroad, satellite's the only real way to go if you want some English speaking channels. There's a million threads already posted on the subject if you do a search, but it's possible to be set up and running with a decent manual system for well under 500 quid. Globesat and the Maxview crank up dishes get good reviews and a cheap digital free to air receiver will get BBC and ITV apart from into the south of Spain and into Eastern Europe due to the tighter footprint of the satellite used to transmit them which is focussed more tightly over the British Isles. This will cost you ZERO in Sky fees.
Automatic systems are far more expensive.
Set up of the dish can be accomplished in a few minutes with a bit of practice under your belt and a small satellite finder meter to assist and can be done from inside the van with both the dishes mentioned.
As I say, do a search or look under the satellite TV sub heading in the forums and research the subject to get an idea of what's out there. Personally, at the moment I have the small camping satellite system bought from LIDL which has a receiver that will run on mains or 12v. The small dish isn't the most secure when adjusted due to the cheapo ball and socket adjusting arrangement and can be disturbed by high winds leading to loss of signal, but I intend to upgrade to a better dish soon.
Loads of English speaking channels are available on the Astra 2 system of (3) satellites, however, lots of them are encrypted for use with a sky digibox. BBC and ITV free to air are on astra 2D and also Film 4 (gotta love Film 4)and are unencrypted, but watch out for the footprint for where you want to travel to. Astra 1 at 19 deg E of South has loads of German channels including Eurosport for free, so if your languages are good that's another option for Europe. Euronews and CNN are both on it in English too.
Hope this helps a wee bit.
The following members of MHF thanked bearkit for this posting
Hi Jane,
Sorry we're not seasoned users, but when we were away up north last year, we took a 14" colour portable with us.
With a set top aerial, we were only able to get 2 channels-BBC1 & BBC2.
When I remembered that I had a freeview setup in my laptop bag, I tried setting it up.
The DVB-T Player is a USB device that can be bought for under £30.00 these days, and with the stumpy 3" aerial stuck to the side of the van, led out of the window, we were able to get good reception of 12 digital tv channels, and about 4-5 digital stereo radio channels.
I would advise anyone to go with a laptop, as the portable tele was difficult to stow in the van.
Regards, Bob
Mine arrived yesterday so I am going to try it out. Bit concerned as I have Vista on the laptop so I may end up trashing it and sticking XP on if it don't do the biz. Might trash it anyway as Vista reminds me of an April Fools prank.
The following members of MHF thanked Pusser for this posting
Our MH has been a TV free zone until now, but having just retired and planning to spend more time travelling we thought that we would get ourselves sorted, that's when the confusion started. It seems that satellite will cost approx £1k plus Sky fee's - more than our use would justify. However we would like access to freeview and digital reception using a roof mounted aerial.
The range of aerials available is bewildering, Omnisat, Oyster etc.. can anyone advise on the advantages or, disadvantages ease of use etc?
Also would welcome information from anyone with experience of picking up foreign stations abroad... the news and weather in French, German or Italian is generally comprehensible and that is really all that we would require.
I would welcome the advice of seasoned users.
Many thanks,
Jane
Hi Jane.
We have got a Status 530 aerial which we have used for years. Never fail to get reception on digital if it is available.
If we go abroad and can be bothered we use a Sat dish we got from Lidl for £59.00. We don't full time so we go abroad to enjoy the sites, not to sit and watch TV. There is never anything worth watching in the summer anyway! I would rather spend the £1k on the holiday.
If it is wet we take some DVD's.
Get the 530 at about £100. You can fit it yourself if careful.
______________________________________________________________ What is this life, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare!
John S
The following members of MHF thanked 2kias for this posting
I have just bought a used digibox and new 60 cm sat dish on Ebay for £35. Picks up all free to air stations and radio. Will be very useful for European trips.
Kenwarden
The following members of MHF thanked kenwarden for this posting
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and it is amazing. How can something that is 2 inches long do a better job than my two foot box under the telly. I am wondering if there is anything in the box under my telly.
Thoroughly recommend this to anyone wishing to use their laptop for a TV. Included aerial only works in strong signal areas so certainly need a proper job aerial. It works abroad and you can select your country when scanning. Picture is on par if not it actually is on HDD - better pic than on my flat screen telly. Info section for program info is excellent with thumbnail pic as you run through the channels.
Now got to decide whether to get an aerial stuck through my roof or use some coax to run out the back and stick a pole in the ground for the aerial. On balance I think it will be a pole in the ground.
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