# Satellite dish for a camper!



## durhamwasp (Oct 27, 2008)

Alright guys, 

Was recently travelling around France, Belgium, Germany and Lux and couldnt help but notice that 90% of the campers over there have portable satellite dishes stood outside on tripods.

Im wanting to buy one of these, for use in UK and when im in Europe, so any tips? If i buy a one such as this http://www.satellitesuperstore.com/caravan-satellite.htm for £150, will i need a freeview box to go with the TV, and will this British freeview box work abroad? Or do i need to get a regular satellite receiver box (not freeview) 
I am not bothered about picking up the British channels while abroad, just the local channels to where i am at.

Edit: If i bought the £70 system from Maplin/Lidl etc, would i be able to use it in Europe to pick up their local stations too?

Any help much appreciated!


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## Pioneer (Oct 27, 2008)

Hi durhamwasp, 
first of all you would need a very large dish for southern europe,ie Spain/Portugal/ south of France etc, if you are to receive all the Freesat or Sky channels. I have a 1200mm dish with modified arm(folding) carried on the bike rack, when I know that I will be staying parked up for a few weeks. In most of northern Europe a good 60cm dish would do the trick. This would also pick up local channels in southern Europe along with Sky news and BBC world news, when on Astra.
I use a 12volt Digital Sat Receiver (Maxview) and can pick up 7/8 different satelites with it.(Football on German/Dutch TV, and 6 Nations Rugby).
It's a minefield with the amount of different systems available and different info gained from various departments, but I know mine works for me.

Happy Camping and viewing


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## cipro (Oct 27, 2008)

I just use a British 240/12v tv which has free view built in and it picks up quite a few channels not that I watch much telly

My set all has dvd and cd built in oh also can view my pictures on the system which is a nice touch. but again it is a mine field and you need to have what suits you and the price you are prepared to pay.


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## guerdeval (Oct 29, 2008)

Freeview and the BBC/ITV on sky broadcast on Astra2D which concentrates their signal tightly around the UK and without a large dish you will have little luck south of Bordeaux, HOWEVER, because the sky channels broadcast also from 2C on a huge footprint you will get quite a few free channels right down to Southern Spain with a 80cm dish and a cheap sky box off ebay or you might have one in the house, what most people seem to forget is to change the transponder on the sky box, in the UK its pre-set to 11778 but that is for the Northerly signal but you want the Southerly beam so 12129 usually works, look on SATCURE website for a full list of transponders for the South, I believe the freesat boxes will pick up some foreign stations it cann't succeed with BBC/TV for the reason above.


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## durhamwasp (Oct 30, 2008)

Im really not bothered about watching English channels while im in France, Belgium, Germany etc, just want to get some local channels.

Would a £69 dish from Maplins be good enough for this for example?


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## maureenandtom (Oct 30, 2008)

durhamwasp said:


> Im really not bothered about watching English channels while im in France, Belgium, Germany etc, just want to get some local channels.
> 
> Would a £69 dish from Maplins be good enough for this for example?



Durhamwasp,

This is going to be difficult.   The dish is vital because that's what picks up the signal you need.   But there's nothing fancy about using it.  It doesn't matter how you mount it.   On the van, on a tripod;  I've even seen a small dish set up on a table and aimed through the window - the guy said it worked perfectly.   Different people have different experiences of what they can pick up with this dish or with that one.   

I hope you aren't confused, because you say "local" television, by the differences in transmission of terrestial and satellite signals.  "Local" terrestial television will need an aerial, not a dish,  BUT you will also need a television capable of decoding signals in the format used by that country for transmission.   Probably it gets less complicated with digital terrestial transmissions but it gets more confusing for me to talk about that. Your TV set which works in the UK with an aerial might not work in other countries with an aerial.   "Local" terrestial television is not for the likes of us.  Or not for the likes of me anyway.  Anyway, you're specifically talking about collecting signals using a dish.

"Local" satellite television signals will be transmitted to earth, collected by your dish and sent to a decoder which is then sent to your television.   Just like home.   On each of the satellites you can pick up (except for the one you're probably used to at home) there will be television channels "local" to more than one country.   So you see the confusion when you say you want to pick up just "local" TV?

Your difficulty, until you get used to it, which you will, is knowing which satellite you have aimed at and what available channel numbers are.   I sometimes, and at first, used my home Sky box in the van.   Fine for the channels you get at home.   Except that I couldn't get them in Portugal.   Other people with dishes the same size as mine could, I couldn't.   But I could pick up the European channels from the Astra 1 satellite (at home you'll be using Astra 2).   Unfortunately, my Sky box won't pick up the available channels on Astra 1 automatically and each channel has to be tuned in manually.   That's provided you know what channel is what.   You have to do some research to find out that sort of information.   But easy enough to do once you do know.

Luckily, there are fairly inexpensive receivers that will pick up any satellite we are likely to be interested in and will tune into available channels automatically.   Mine cost me £40.   My dish cost me £20.   The LNB. that thing on the end of the boom, cost me £3.  Cable and fittings about a Fiver.   Except for the cable all the rest came from Lidl two or three years ago.

I've said enough, except for all the rest which would take all night.   You can buy little widgets which will tell you when your dish is aimed at a satellite.  I've got one;  it's almost unused and I'm not sure I could find it easily.   Both the digiboxes I might use, that is my home Sky box and my £40 box, have a facility for showing you when the dish is aimed at a satellite.   You should know which one you're hoping for but it won't be too difficult to identify which one once you've found it.

You don't have to go abroad to test the equipment.   You can test whatever you buy here.   I'm guessing that what you want is the Astra 1 satellite.   You can buy a dish very cheaply, like I did, and try it.   If what you've got picks up Astra 1 here then it will pick it up wherever you're likely to be - within reason;   we're talking about central, northern and western Europe, yes?

And last, truly last.   I'm no electronics or TV expert but I do use Astra 1 and 2 all the time.  Both of them at home and away.   So I don't mind trying to answer any questions you can throw at us.   Oh, very last thing, if you decide to use your Sky box abroad, don't tell Sky about it.   They don't like it.   Actually I think they probably ban it in their contract with you.

Tom


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## lenny (Oct 30, 2008)

Well done Maureenandtom,, credit to you for your kind reply, it must have taken you ages. Although it was over my head I,m sure this answers
Durhamwasps question, 

Keep up the good work


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## durhamwasp (Oct 31, 2008)

yeah cheers...

I'm fairly clued up on satellite dishes and satellites, i have a motorised system on my wall picking up channels from all over the universe.

Was just interested to know if a Maplins £69 job would do the business really, and i see no reason why it would not, with the right receiver.


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## maureenandtom (Nov 1, 2008)

durhamwasp said:


> yeah cheers...
> 
> I'm fairly clued up on satellite dishes and satellites, i have a motorised system on my wall picking up channels from all over the universe.
> 
> Was just interested to know if a Maplins £69 job would do the business really, and i see no reason why it would not, with the right receiver.



Then you already knew the answer.   

I see no reason why not either.   I answered because you seemed to confuse a satellite system with the Freeview system.   Still digital but Freeview is obtained through an aerial.   I don't know if a British Freeview box would work abroad - but I see no reason why not - and there are cheap boxes advertised as *definitely *doing the job both here and abroad.

I still don't know whether you want to use an aerial or a dish.   But good luck.


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## wints (Nov 1, 2008)

Hi to all
I mentioned some sat stuff in a reply to a general query re France, so I'm repeating it here for anyone who's interested.

_I took the maplins 'sat in a suitcase' to south of france and got a picture almost everywhere. I also rigged up a spare sky dish to an alu pole, jubilee clipped to the rear ladders, and also got a picture. Those were experiments to see how easy / diff it was to work. It was my intention then to get a maxview wind-up dish but on the m/home fun site there are several unhappy owners of that dish, so I think I'll wait.
regards
Allen

Originally Posted by durhamwasp 
Thanks for the reply mate, was it fairly easy to set up and get working? And is everyone included in the box? such as receiver to connect between the dish and TV?

Cheers! 

The maplins (or lidl, they're the same) kit comes with a small (1/2 size of sky receiver) 12 v receiver and small dish. You will need to get a cheap sat finder which helps locate astra 2. The dish doesn't have any elevation markings on it which makes it tricky (hence sat finder) to locate the sats but with practise it gets easier. The sky dish does have elevation markings on it (mine does !) and is less difficult to tune in. All other bits are in the box.
Hope that helps.
Allen_

I'd still prefer a roof mounted dish but not at the price oyster want !
regards
Allen


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## guerdeval (Nov 2, 2008)

They'll be gone by the time you get here but LIDL in Benicassim have 80cm dishes for SIX EUROS!!!!


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## durhamwasp (Nov 4, 2008)

thanks for all your help guys, particularly *maureenandtom* and *wints*


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## cipro (Nov 5, 2008)

I don't know if a British Freeview box would work abroad 

I have a built in free view and a status aerial and it pics up a lot of 
channels like I said in a previous post but we don't watch much 
TV anyway


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## Nosha (Nov 6, 2008)

I don't know if this helps... but whilst on the subject of Freeview, the small 'home' freeview boxes sold by Asda at £19.99 are 12volt! 
Just have a look round the back of anything you are thinking of buying, I've now bought a 14" Tv with DVD and a Freeview box that ALL run on 12v straight out of the box! (and I have two 240v/12v transformers spare??).


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## fencer (Nov 29, 2008)

*12volt 15" TV, LCD.*



Nosha said:


> I don't know if this helps... but whilst on the subject of Freeview, the small 'home' freeview boxes sold by Asda at £19.99 are 12volt!
> Just have a look round the back of anything you are thinking of buying, I've now bought a 14" Tv with DVD and a Freeview box that ALL run on 12v straight out of the box! (and I have two 240v/12v transformers spare??).



Yep I have followed you and got a 15inch wide screen LCD TV from comet. Now Ive learned that if I buy a cheap Satellite Dish (60 centimetres wide) it will pickup the "Astra 2 South Beam" footprint and receive UK channels when going through all of France and Spain and most of Portugul too. The digibox (set-top box) must have Free to Air channels because BBC and most ITV chanels are free. So forget a Sky-Box as it aint needed. Anyone with a few DIY tools can cut and hinge the standard bracket to facilitate a fold down mechanism.. Take care and dont fall off the roof.
(Astra 2 - South beam - extended coverage of Southern Europe ...)


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## t&s (Dec 1, 2008)

i have a 65 cm dish sky
i get sky from denmark to south of barcelona without any problens you might have to tune in to the south beam if going south of barcelona but make sure there are no trees or houses i  the way of the signal
this site it has all the answers 
http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/


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## bevo (Dec 2, 2008)

*satellite dish*

hi
   i bought a 65cm dish and tripod on ebay from netgear, great dish used in germany southern france and austria.
  it's a hirshmann dish, but the box it came in said triax, the dish has a folding arm for transportation, and on the mounting plate it is marked in degrees for easy positioning when on site. it only cost £59 with 10m of cable and a sat finder.
   great dish


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## Nosha (Dec 8, 2008)

The www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk website as per T&S/Terry's replay is a WEALTH of information!

I have just made a base - used car sales drive on flag pole for a dish, also bought a folding rotary clothes line off ebay for £7 which has a superb tripod base... just like the fifty quid ones also on ebay!

There are links to websites giving angle, elevation & skew readings for most countries and the dish sizes needed and can answer almost every question raised!

If you need a weatherproof 'F'type socket for the side of the van Maxview make a great little box in white or grey for £13 with free P&P, it's the same one as listed on Maplins (not stocked in the shops) and sold at up to £17 on ebay with p&p! And it came within TWO days!!!

My three tips for finding Astra 2D is:-
A compass to aim the dish at around 146 deg.
After setting up the dish the first time, stick a spirit level bubble on the LNB arm so you can from then on set the elevation very quickly.
A satellite finder for the fine tuning.

Having used the above three items I have found Sky TV QUICKER than I can swing the aerial back and fourth and get the telly to scan for the local transmitter/channels!!!

And I thought you needed a £1000 self seek dish to get a picture in under half an hour, not a bit of it!!


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