Freesat
Does anyone have recommendations for a Freesat set up? Thanks.
Comments
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I use a Snipe 2 auto seeking sat dish with an Avtex TV. This has a built in receiver. Works well as far down as the southern Dordogne in France. I do not use the sat in the UK, just The Avtex coat hanger type aerial with built in booster.
I must admit I have a high security cable and lock on the sat dish and attach it to the caravan wheel.
Colin
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We had an automatic dome on our caravan, which cost about £1100 and was nothing but trouble. I would estimate it was out of action more of the six years we had it, than working. When we switched to a MH I decided not to bother with anything sophisticated. We have an Avtex TV with Freesat and Freeview tuners and a Sky type dish and tripod. As it happens freeview is so often available I have taken the sat dish out of the van and returned it to the loft. Over there you need such a big dish if you go south of the Loire we don’t bother. Hopefully it’s to warm to sit in the van anyway and I can tune the Avtex to a French network for the News and Weather.
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Where you want to use it might dictate the dish size. In the UK a Sky sized dish will be fine but in Europe I would suggest an 80cms dish which will receive UK programmes down to the South of France.
You will need a receiver. This can be a stand alone one (JL sell a Manhattan Freesat receiver for £49) or you can buy TV's with a built in receiver, Avtex and Cello are certainly two that offer this facility. Having it built into the TV is neater inside the van as the signal goes straight to the TV rather than through a box.
As to all the accessories you need this website https://www.satellitesuperstore.com/cat.htm is worth a browse as they sell everything you will need.
At the end of the day it depends on how much you wish to spend, a basic kit would probably set you back £150 for everything except the TV.
David
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All depends on what kind of system you want, a manual one like Steve describes or a more costly automatic system. Of the automatic systems there are two types, dishes which fold down for travel or the dome type. the latter are more reliable in high winds but generally have smaller dishes and as a result the signal can be less reliable in fringe areas or heavy rain.
I have used both automatic and manual system in fact I still have my manual 80cm dish in the garden shed.I prefer the auto system and the ease of setting up it offers. Flick a switch and bingo the picture is there providing there is line of site to the satellite. My auto system is a Tracvision 4 dome with a dual LNB and I use it all the time with the TVs we have had and it has performed faultlessly for the past 10 years and continues to do so.
peedee
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Humax make good Freesat and Freeview boxes that contain a harddrive so that you can record programmes. It helps to get a dish with an LNB with at least 2 outputs allowing you to watch one programme and record another. There are many threads on this topic, just use Google.
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"You will need a receiver. This can be a stand alone one (JL sell a Manhattan Freesat receiver for £49) or you can buy TV's with a built in receiver, Avtex and Cello are certainly two that offer this facility."
If this is being read in respect to "Freesat" ™, Is this actually true?
Our Avtex, albeit quite an old one has indeed a satellite decoder fitted but a basic generic one, that receives free to view satellite transmissions, but has not the licenced Freesat ™ software.
It can of course pull in the same UK channels offered by Freesat ™, but has neither the dedicated post code, and direct Astra 28.8 alignments, plus also not having a 7-day EPG.
Not necessarily are these any great loss, with alternative programming schedules readily available via use of our phones to the internet, but setting up for the right satellite and finding one's local channels, requires a little more understanding.
If wanting to view non UK channels, then a generic decoder can be more flexible than one based on Freesat ™.
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Good points OC. I prefer the generic receiver, I think it is a better solution in the mobile environment plus I like to watch some channels not on the Freesat portfolio. eg.Euro News. My TV at home, an LG, does both but I have it tuned to pick up all free to air channels.
peedee
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I just wish we had a little bit more information from the OP. He may be using the term "Freesat" as a means of identifying UK programmes via satellite. He may not be aware of the differences between Freesat and Free to Air which as you say is what you get via the built in satellite receiver, at least that is what we got when we had a roof mounted dish. I assume by the post code you mean the ability of receiving local programmes like Look East (West)? I think we found those by just scrolling down through the channel list. We no longer have a satellite system that we use in the van, we rely now on terrestrial TV as our current motorhome has a built in VisionPlus aerial which is pretty good.
David
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Yes David, the Freesat ™ system uses an entered post code to sort out the "right" BBC's and commercial channels for that entered location, as part of the setting up routine.
So wherever you get to watch it, you receive your home news and other programmes, though that might not always be what we want, say re weather forecasts
As you say with the generic decoders it is all findable for the searching and can with many be selected and retained as "favourites", again no big issue. As I said it requires a tad more understanding, though that's readily acquired.
That Freesat™ is tuned [in standard configuration] just to concentrate on the "right" satellite, could be helpful for those taking the first steps into satellite TV, though again learning what you need to select presents most of us with no great challenges.
The point I was making really is the term "Freesat" gets used in and out of its "Trade Marked" context, just trying to clarify it a bit as here it is the thread's "subject".
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the Snipe is a good piece of kit, fairly wind resistant, a good thing with a dish on the roof..
a lot depends on where you tour (Uk or Europe) and whether youre a Sky subscriber....
if solely in the Uk, a 60cm dish will cover all the UK incl north of Scotland.
if touring in Europe, an 80cm disn will see the home BBC/ITV channels accessed as far as the south of France.
if a Sky subscriber, many of their premium channels (movies/sports) are on a seperate (more easily accessed) beam and can be viewed well into Spain with even a 60cm dish.
we have a Teleco auto disn which served us two years on the previous van and four years plus on this van....not cheap (although i negotiated it in the extras with the van) but a very reliable piece of kit...
we now have an Amazon Fire Stick and, with better and better 4/5g service this has been very easy to set up and use. for £40 a great piece of kit and a good back up to 'other' types of tv.
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