Security of portable satellite dishes
Perhaps a silly question, but what do you do with your portable satelite dish and tripod when you leave the site. Are there ways of securing them against theft or do you just have to pack them away every time you leave the van and then re-set them up on return?
Cheers
Comments
-
I think most folk simply trust their fellow campers.
0 -
Setting up can be a real pain so I would never move once working and, on those days when whatever you try fails to get a signal, would not be too unhappy if someone did pinch the bloomin thing!
As said you have to trust all will be well, taking sensible convenient precautions, and cant see any acceptable alternative.
0 -
After all, do we remove everything from outside or from in the awning? Do we go out and leave washing on the whirly? What’s different about a satellite dish?
0 -
Do you empty and store the Waste container and Water container in the van along with your caravan step, before going out for the day ?,, so why remove and store a satelite dish.which in many cases is not of any more value. . Just leave it where it is and have a bit of trust in your fellow campers.
K
0 -
I’ve seen water barrels chained to caravans on a few occasions and I’ve heard of them being stolen too. Which is a sad reflection on fellow camper’s experiences. We secure our bikes with a heavy cable which is looped through our caravan’s chassis. Ditto our solar panel. But where do you stop? With some BBQs costing significant sums and the contents of awnings adding to the risk, we need to trust each other in the main, securing just our more valuable and desirable possessions, which in our case didn’t include the satellite dish when we had one. Perhaps technology has supplied the OP’s answer with internet based streaming.
0 -
We have an Avtex flat satellite dish which cost about £200 and a Weber BBQ which was about the same amount. Until this year, I have always put the sat dish in the van when we have gone out and the BBQ lives out of sight in the awning when not in use. This year, I haven't bothered moving the sat dish and it's been fine. I have to say - and I might have been lucky - but in almost 50 years of camping and caravanning, I have never experienced anything being stolen on site. That said, if I have an 'uneasy feel' about a site or occupants, I still tend to be very careful.
0 -
Perish the thought of theft. With all that's nasty in the world, we do like to believe that members of the camping fraternity are still overwhelmingly a trustworthy group.
If we ever saw someone tampering with an outfit, or the belongings thereof, we would certainly take steps to identify the culprits (smartphone piccy) and contact site reception at the double.
0 -
I suppose there is a good argument here not to go OTT on a really expensive dish, I just have a simple Triax 65 cm dish on a very rudimentary tripod of sorts, with a £15 Easyfind LNB.
A couple of hundred quids worth of showy dish, probably would be more "attractive".
In 40 years of vanning my only direct involvement with theft was my Aquaroll folding handle going in the early days they brought that out. I have come to terms with the loss.
The Triax dish by the way has some small holes punched in the rim, so a mini padlock and security chain could add a bit to its security if this sort of thing really weighs on your mind.
0 -
In all the years we had a portable dish I didn't take any precautions and the only incident we ever had that involved interference was at the Municipal Campsite in Metz. We came back to find the co-ax lead pulled away from the LNB. It was quite close to road so I imagined a vehicle or a person walking between the pitches had caught the lead? Soon mended and back in service.
David
0 -
Mine was 'made' from an old tubular music stand and a dish I retrieved from a skip (could be argued I stole that)😚, cost pence, had it many years and it owes me nothing. Don't think any respectable Tea-Leaf would be interested in it, mind! A friend asked me if I'd swap it for an all signing an' dancing roof mounted expensive one. Not a chance until it becomes inconvenient, at the moment I love that self satisfied feeling achieved after minutes of setting up. So much more flexibility too. To be honest mind satelite TV may just be old technology in the very near future, much like that 8 track and Betamax I once owned.
0 -
(could be argued I stole that)
I think its called upcycling now
David
1 -
I have to agree with oscid and others. You know, over the years of caravanning, I have come to the conclusion that people who have caravans really look after one another. On the very few occasions that I have been on a Club site I have found them just as amenable and friendly as I do on CLs. In fact, I would go as far as to say that they are a great bunch and will help you at the drop of a hat- that’s what makes this hobby so rewarding- the friendliness. So don’t worry about your SD- you can ask your neighbour to keep an eye on it but I bet he is already doing so! On the CL I go to in Wales, the main Shopping Centre is about 23 miles away- offers get made all the time for stuff to be fetched back for us and I never worry about anything going walk-a-bout. It never has and I would be gobsmacked if it did. 99.99%of caravanners respect other peoples property- there’s always a bad apple but so few I wouldn’t worry!
0 -
I have heard of campers marking their equipment in a subtle way, so that a walk around the site would make it readily identifiable. Wouldn't help if it was hidden away for future use, or taken by someone as they left the site.
What a depressing subject, though? What's next on the list of manufacturers' "must have" for new vans - built-in CCTV?
0 -
Some of the Dutch and German already smile at us when we fit a hitch lock, so if we start chaining TV dishes down I hate to think what they will think of us.
0
