Satellite TV set-up
I have an Avtex 16" TV in my campervan which has built-in satellite receiver, according to its description. According to where I am, I am quite happy with the reception I get in the UK on Freeview. I have done a couple of trips abroad in the last 6 months and intend to do more as my retirement looms. Am I right in saying that in order to get UK channels (BBC, ITV for example) I will need to use a satellite dish to get a signal? As most of my trips tend to be to Spain I think I need a fairly large dish, 85cm I think. My question is, is it fairly straightforward to set up a portable satellite dish, connect to my TV and get a decent signal? Please bear in mind that I am a complete lemon when it comes to technical matters so I need a simple explanation. PS I am thinking of a portable dish as mine is a small van (Wildax Pulsar - 5M) and I don't want any additional kit on the roof.
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In short, and in simplistic terms the further you go South in Europe the bigger the dish required. There does come a point where it becomes impossible to pick up British SAT broadcasting stations. Much of southern Spain is out of range with our equipment and the satellite footprint provided.
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Have you seen this thread which is currently ongoing, perhaps no need for a satellite dish at all? https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-together/discussions/sites-touring/overseas-sites-touring/tv-in-europe-2
On our previous motorhome we had an 85cms automatic dish and got most UK channels down as far as Carcassonne, didn't really go to Spain so have to bow to others experience which has been contributed here. The idea of doing everything via the internet, rather than dish has its attractions.
David
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I love sats & all the paraphernalia but whilst away it’s the wild & the outdoors rather than stuck inside-that is for winter not summer. I too don’t like the faff😕
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We are currently on the South of France in our caravan. We have a 85cm satellite dish on a tripod. OH is good at getting it aligned to Astra 2, he has a gadget to assist him (not a squealer)
At Marseilan plage he managed to get ITV channels 3 days out of 7, no bbc at all. The weather plays a big part in fine tuning and receiving these channels especially the manual type of dish.
We moved sites all of 12 mls, still same weather, still perfect line of sight to satellite but no ITV or any spot beam channels at all, just pan European channels the likes of Challenge, Pick, Sky news, Together and Blaze.
Now we have been to this site before, last September with our MH which has a roof mounted automatic 85cm dish and received ALL the English channels including BBC.
Manual tripod dishes are great for dodging trees but they are not so great this far south in France I'm afraid. A lot of skill and buckets load of patience are required.
In Spain and Portugal an 85cm dish will not get you UK TV spot beam channels. At Alicante you need a 1.2m dish and in Murcia a 2m dish is need, as stated far to big to carry around with you. Some sites however you can rent a dish or just plug into the sites system.
Data and something like a Firestick is the way forward if you want to watch English TV channels in Spain.
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Hi with bbc you now need hd sat reciever to pick up there channels they have changed from sl
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My understanding is that the SD channels will still be available until 2024 but not on the Freesat menu. Currently they are available on transponder 10803Ghz horizontal polarised, coded 22000. All that is required to receive these SD channels is to pick up this free to air transponder. First check the reveiver is set up to receive this channel and then either do a complete search for all free to air channels or manually search for this individual frequency.
peedee
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I bought my hd box on Amazon £39 use it at home and in motorhome .my mate also uses this method with his avtex tv which he had trouble with having to reprogram each time he switched it on .works perfect now
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