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Hi all,
Need your help & advice.
We want to be able to view British T/V in France what do members suggest is the best but reasonable price and system to go for I cannot afford the £2,000 price tag but on the other hand it needs to be hassel free
Get a crank-up dish (choose Alden, Globesat, Camos, Maxview) and either a Free-to-view satellite receiver or a Sky digibox, depending on your channel wishes and what you have at home.
The Maxview Crankup (only one I can comment on from personal experience.) is a great piece of kit for about £375 . . . . plenty of change out of your £2000.
(I'll help you a bit more by moving this thread to Satellite TV, where you will get more replies. )
Having deliberated on this for some 18 months I opted for a small folding arm 54cm dish which can be stored anywhere in the van and a small tripod. We only use secure sites and if we are there for any length of time then the dish is ideal (although it only takes about a minute to set up) just plug it back into the van on our return and that's that plus we have the freedom to position the dish anywhere on (or off) the pitch - For any other circumstance we can use the Archos AV500 which stores about 100 hours of TV.
I suspect you specifically want to fit a dish to your van but we couldn't justify the cost or the inherent disadvantages.
The Oxford B&Q store had a complete satellite system for under 40 quid last week, dish, receiver and sat finder, cables etc.
Cannot find it on their site, its probably mains only not 12 volt. Don't know what size dish you will need in France, but if this would do and they have some in your local store could be the cheapest way to go if you knock up a stand to put it on, especially if you have an inverter.
Could be a local clearance offer, may be in their other stores.
Location: Chichester, West Sussex, PO20 7BU 01243 511189
Status: Offline
Hassle free would have to be either a Camos dome, or KVH Tracvision R4. The systems costs approx £1300inc but excluding labour required to fit.
The units will happily work in France and with the addition of a Sky, Freesat or Free to Air box will pick up English broadcasts off of Astra.
All you need to do with these systems is press the on button and it will seek out the sattelite automatically. With the dish's enclosed inside a dome, this also means that they can be used in windy conditions whereas exposed dishes could not.
With manual systems such as a Crank Up, you would need to manually adjust the sattelites position to lock on to the satellite.
I hope this helps,
Regards,
Chris
Premier Motorhomes of Chichester
All you need to do with these systems is press the on button and it will seek out the sattelite automatically. With the dish's enclosed inside a dome, this also means that they can be used in windy conditions whereas exposed dishes could not.
Yes. That's a disadvantage for sure, and one to be considered seriously. Undomed dishes are OK until it starts gusting quite strongly, then they need to be lowered, which is a pain if the boss is half way through her favourite programme. (What price avoidance of ear-bashings? )
premiermotorhomes wrote:
With manual systems such as a Crank Up, you would need to manually adjust the sattelites position to lock on to the satellite.
Don't let this put you off too much though if you are working to a budget. With a bit of practice and familiarity you will be racing the auto-setup systems, and winning quite often. I can usually get a lock in less than a minute.
One further point if you are limited for storage space. Either of the systems mentioned by Premier, or any of the Crankups are permanently stored on the van roof, so no problems finding somewhere for a sizeable dish and tripod inside the van.
Location: Chichester, West Sussex, PO20 7BU 01243 511189
Status: Offline
Thanks for the excellent additional advise Zebedee.
It may also add whilst on the subject, you can always get a portable dish. Maxview make a 66cm portable kit where again you would need a freesat style box. This is about £200 plus the cost of the box, again wind and possible theft? should be taken in to account here.
Thanks for the excellent additional advise Zebedee.
Hope it helped Chris.
I think everyone would go for a domed autoseeking system if cash was no object . . . I certainly would like a shot.
When the wallet is as difficult to prise open as mine though, I think the Maxview Crankup is as near the perfect compromise as can be found - if that's not a contradiction in terms?
Having said that, my caravanning friend has precisely the setup you suggest (Maxview dish and tripod) and he is delighted with it. Exactly the same dish as my Crankup and he can park under trees and just move his dish out from under them. (Yet another thing to consider!)
He has plenty of storage space in his van though, whereas we are rather limited.
I endorse KVH and Maxview, both excellent systems. As been's said already, there are pro's and con's for both types of system. Ultimate in ease of use has got to be the KVH, with the Maxview coming in on value for money - still easy to use when your used to it.
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