Sites with Aerial connection on site bollard
Hi everyone.
This might seem like an odd request, but does anyone know of a site in the Midlands area ot too far away - preferably a CAMC site - that has aerial connections on the site bollards?
The reason is that I want to check out a lead on my caravan before my service - the last one before my warranty finishes. The lead is the one that goes from the SAT connection on the side of the van to the VisionPlus unit. If you unscrew the roof aerial connection from the VisionPlus unit and connect the SAT lead to the aerial point, it should work if you connect an external aerial lead from the bollard to the side of the caravan. Mine didn't work, so I reported it to my service department as a faulty coaxial lead. They tested it and found that the wrong lead had been pulled through to near the VisionPlus unit. They have now pulled the correct lead through and, basically, I want to test it in 'real live situation', to make sure all works correctly.
We're due for a few nights away, so if I could find a site with an aerial connection at the bollard as well, that would kill two bird with one stone - so to speak.
David
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Didn't think of that MM. It would mean bringing the caravan home, which we don't usually do and I'd have to work out how to do it - we're on Virgin, and no longer have a tv aerial at home. I'd prefer to find a site, to be honest - that way, we've got a good excuse for a few nights away too.
David
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To buy a brand new external antenna will cost about £12. A lot less than any of the Caravan Club Sites - and you will always have it as a spare.
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Chances are (if you have a factory fitted aerial) the internal wiring leading from the bollard socket on the side of the van will not go through your booster, it will by pass it. The reason for this is that as the signal from the bollard will already be boosted it would be detrimental to be boosted again. This in fact can make for worse reception and possible loss of channels. However in a few cases the cable can go through your booster and if this is the case then you should turn the one in the van off. Hope this helps.
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The hookup from site bollards will need to go direct to the tv not via the c/van booster,as the signal from the site booster will be affected,when you retune the tv (needed on most sites)i have fitted an additional outside tv socket in the same outside 13amp socket housing and run the lead to the back of the TV,
if you want to check your tv lead just plug it into your tv at home with a double female connector
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Never had all these issues before TV back in the days of the Home Service and the Light Programme.
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I am given to understand that Horace retired at the introduction of the trades description act
but Keynsham is still spelt the same way !!!!!
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Thanks Micky. I was led to believe it was OK if you left the VisionPlus booster switched off. Someone on Facebook posted up the following picture of what he had done with his van to avoid connecting and reconnecting the aerial wire.....
In the picture, the black wire at the bottom of the splitter is the Sat wire that leads to the side of the van. The white wite at the bottom on the splitter is the wite that leads to the roof aerial and that was originally screwed in to the aerial socket of the VisionPlus. The white wire at the top of the splitter connects the top of the splitter to the aerial socket of the VisionPlus - in the photo, this loops up out of sight and back agaqin.
David
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Thanks rayjsj. This may well be the best bet for us. Thanks for the thought of Uttoxeter Moulsey. Another site good for us is Blackshaw Moor (we sometimes go here as our daughter and S-in-L only live 200 yards from the site), but I'm not sure if they have aerial points.
David
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I've used the booster as a junction box in the past as Dave is suggesting ... it prevents having to have a cable through the window.
When we bought it, our caravan had a 2 way adaptor plugged into the booster similar to Dave's picture but it was never very satisfactory so I just swapped cables about to suit. Having said that, the last time away, I'd to drag the co-ax through the window as I just couldn't get the telly to tune in. When a neighbour left, I used another socket on the post which was a better fit & we got a better reception.
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With our set up our van has a factory fitted 'omni' aerial - all of which are rubbish! It works fine in strong signal areas but anything less than this it's not good at all. You can forget it completely too if the broadcasted signal is in vertical polarity. I therefore carry a smallish directional log aerial as I can change both direction and polarity with this. I have wired from the exterior socket cable and then through the booster which I can turn off or on. Whilst in one area I still struggled but found that turning the booster down (the gain) improved the reception significantly. Sometimes in very strong signal areas you may even need to turn the booster off for best results.
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Our van is low spec and even that has a external F type satellite socket in the battery box so just change the one plug to F type on your long coax lead, there also a F type socket in the caravan so make a fly lead to connect that to your TV, we now have two fly leads one x 2 normal coax plugs and one with normal and F type plugs
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David
Not sure if this makes sense but I think you have a Bailey caravan? I have a Bailey motorhome so the way they do things I expect are not vastly different? I was trying to get a picture on our Vision Plus aerial here at Cirencester Park and was able to get no end of channels but no ITV 1 and HD channels showed break up. ,. Initially I didn't use the booster because it seems to need an F socket to Co-Ax to converter which I didn't think I had but eventually did find one so I connected to the site bollard. I parked the aerial and set about tuning via the bollard. I got all the programmes I needed with a stable picture. I think Mickysf is right in what he says. I imagine there is a splitter somewhere to the co-ax connector in the van with feeds coming from the aerial, via the booster and a direct feed from the so called satellite connector on the outside of the van. Just the test the theory I put the TV on and switched off the booster and it made no difference to the picture which seems to suggest my theory might be right!
David
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Not sure if this helps however our Elddis has a TV point in the external hook up locker which we discovered was not for an external aerial feed but to have a tv in the awning.
With our van having the whip aerial we often need to use a 'proper aerial and so I disconnect the roof feed into the booster and connect the feed to the awning to the input on the booster and never had a problem to either tv in the van.
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That's interesting, our external socket is on the opposite side to the awning and has two fittings, one F type and one RF. You do what we do (note sat cabling must not go into booster) but I had to check the route the wiring took. Ours were in and missed out the booster but that was easily rectified although with my directional log aerial I don't need the booster that often. It's also easy to change polarity which is far more of a problem with reception for some and some don't know about it. Can't do that with an omni.
Whip aerials are 'omnis', believe me the more expensive omnis like the Maxview Omnimax Pro and Gazelle are equally rubbish.
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Not sure if this is of any help. It might be what David has already said in his original post. We have a Swift Challenger with the Vision Plus and an external TV socket in the battery box. When we connect this to the TV socket on the site bollard, all we have to do is plug the aerial lead from the TV into the port marked SAT in the caravan instead of the port marked TV. No need to fiddle around with, or disconnect anything else. Of course, it might be different in a Bailey or other make of caravan.
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