we have a Lidl putchased lit, but it is identical to the Maplins one. About £60 or so complete. At the moment you cannot get Ch4 and 5, but all other "Free to view" are available.
As long as you have a clear line of sight to the SSE it works really well.
I have recently purchased all the bits I need but have not used it in anger yet! I have tried it in the back garden and to my surprise I actually got it to work! This is a good place to look http://www.wizardsatellite.co.uk/ I suppose I spent about £160 and got receiver, dish (64cm) tripod, signal indicator and compass plus cable. Will try it for real the end of next week!
Be aware that the 'lidl' kits dishes are not storm proof. The sky dishes have holes so they dont get moved about in heavy wind. The lidl kits are solid so are prone to being blown off course. Ive used both and found the £20 ebay triax dishes are the best and stay put in wind.
To get all the free channels (and your local stations) you need a sky box from ebay and a £20 freesat card from sky.
Here are some pics in case you are interested of it mounted.
I have used the information on the following website and found it to be helpful and accurate and it will get you viewing (but see my comments below):
http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/
I already had a Sky card for free to air satellite TV and a Sky digital box. I got a standard sized Sky dish and an LNB bought through a website and loads of wire. For a stand I used a parasol base and a steel tube - the kind you connect to your vacuum cleaner (I never said this was going to be pretty!)
I got it set up at home with little difficulty, using the information off the website I mentioned and no more equipment than a magnetic compass.
We went off in the van to the Cotswolds and also got it working with little trouble.
So, confidence high, I took it to Europe with me and learned 2 lessons. One - what looks like a nice shady site for camping might be useless for a signal and Two, I didn't take enough notice of the satellite footprint limits. The standard Sky digital dish just wasn't big enough for use in south and east of Europe.
Conclusion. If you really, really must have UK TV then you'll probably have to spend more than I did and the main cost will be on dish size and quality and of course a big dish takes up space.
This time we're taking loads of DVDs for wet weather and a wind-up radio that gets short wave, just so we can here Auntie BBC when we get home-sick.
LOL - fxy04 makes a good point! When I arrive on site now - I have my satellite compass in hand and scan around for trees and shady areas. The trees just CANT be in the line of my satellite dish!! HA.
There is little things that have got bad press on these forums more than setting up satellites. Its dead easy - takes me about 10 mins to fine tune it all in.
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: SAT TV
