hi, i purchased a omnisat portable ,suitcase system 2 years ago.i,ve tried it with a sky box(because i didnt get a receiver with my satelite system,i also purchased a omnisat sat finder(also because i didnt get one with my sat system),ive tried to get it to work in this country and all over europe but to no avail,i,ve even tried changing the settings on the sky box,again to no avail!i pick up the direction of the satelite with the finder,but the skybox jus keeps saying no signal,anyway i,ve given up on this system ha ha,can anyone reccomend a portable satelite system that i may be able to get working!i,ve had a look at qite a few online and there seems to be a lot to choose from,i,ve got a budget of approx £ 180 ,any advice appreciated regards fimmy
Hi fimmy had same problems as you with my aldi sat kit,in the end got rid of small sat dish that came with kit, since i have been useing bigger dish no probs at all setting up
I use a sky box with my suitcase type sat kit from Maplins. I've found that although it says no satelite signal on Sky chanel 998 I have most if not all the chanels anyway, just try changing it to 101 and see what happens. Sat kit was only £69 and I've used it as far south as the Vendee.
cheers Dave and Caroline,i,ll try your suggestion first Dave,them maybe go for a bigger dish ,does the digital change over make much difference? regards fimmy
I used the suitcase one from maplins for a few years, but always found that the wind blew it off aim quite often. It was difficult to set up as you cannot lock the elevation of the dish while you swing it through the horizontal.
I bit the bullet last week and got one of these sets.
At £75 it's the cheapest set I could find anywhere. Used it while away last week, very easy to set up with a sky box and did not budge an inch on the included tripod.
Edit. The tripods with drilled hole for pegging down are £5 extra.
I have the maplins one,Comag,set it up in the awning on the three pad mounting,I found the LNB arm has to be perfectly level,so I use the small van leveler on it,I also make sure the search is horizontal polorised,and the LNB is live,I can get Astra 1 & 2 & hotbird with no probs,about 5 min to set up.
------------- Think this year is to follow old meet friends for 2014.
If you cant do someone a good turn,don`t do them a bad one,its nice to be nice you know,and little things mean much more later in life.
Pete.
That gets you a portable Dish with LNB and your cable; you then need a decoder.
Amongst the cheapest is a "free to air" capable unit by Comag,[ Maplins etc] but I would spend another £15 odd and buy a genuine "FreeSat" licensed unit like this:
The reason for going to genuine "FreeSat" is that it has a very good EPG [Electronic Program Guide]; that way you know what is on now later in the day and throughout the week; invaluable info. Others do have EPG's of sort but most are relatively pathetic compared to "FreeSats"
The problem with both Sky and Freesat Box's is that they need to lock onto to the default transponder, which happens to transmit from Astra2D, and the problem with Astra2D is that it is a spot beam, intended to only cover the UK, so when over in Europe, if you can't get a good signal from Astra2D the box will not work, you can of course change the default transponder setting, to get around this, but that is a faff, for an easy life it is best to use a none Sky none FreeSat Box, as they do not look for a default transponder, that aside I have used a Sky Box as far South as Frejus and Antibes, using an 80cm Dish on a site with a fair bit of shade, a 60cm would not work, this year in the Southern Ardeche I used a 80cm with with a none Sky Box, again a 60cm would not work, remember there are some five satellites in the Astra2 Fleet, and all but 2D cover the most of Europe. hope that helps.
Just had a Screwfix sales leaflet delivered today and inside is a free to air Sat.System at £39.99. Anybody got one of these? are they any good for caravan
thanks all for the advice,much appreciated!i think firstly i,ll invest in a 80 cm dish,and tripod and take it from there,i,ve changed the default transponder settings,which was easy enough, Francais,what type of non sky non freesat box could i buy? regards fimmy
I like the "Comag" box's, but they also brand for Maplin/Aldi etc, I would go for a 12V model, as it is usualy the built in PSU that fails first on most mains only satellite box's, the 12v adapter that comes with satellite box's are a fairly standard switch mode device, but can be replaced with a linear model, which are more reliable, although more bulky, then of course you have always got the original adapter as a spare. hope that helps.
just a point on some of these sat channels,make sure you have put the child lock on,some are for adults.but the kids channels are great for bad weather.
------------- Think this year is to follow old meet friends for 2014.
If you cant do someone a good turn,don`t do them a bad one,its nice to be nice you know,and little things mean much more later in life.
Pete.
Quote: Originally posted by Vectratot on 03/11/2009
Just had a Screwfix sales leaflet delivered today and inside is a free to air Sat.System at £39.99. Anybody got one of these? are they any good for caravan
agree if you have not got one this price is brilliant,got our leaflet today.
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: portable satelite systems?what to buy?
