I am a definate techno phobe and very dense with anything technical. My mind just shuts down.
Anyway I was worrying about digital tv and the thought of messing with a satellite dish and signal finder was enough to bring on my palpitations. I thought it was dvd's only from now on. I used to have an old analogue tv and made do with either a couple of channels or on some sites no TV at all.
Anyway I decided to buy a digital TV with freeview and dvd player in it (only a cheapo from Argos) and after tuning it in I am staggered at how many channels I can get and such a good picture. I have one of those little flying saucer ariels on the roof of the van and with analogue I always thought it was rubbish. I do need to use the booster button on the ariel.
Very satisfied and hoping nothing changes when the whole country is digital.
Interesting to read. Only just got back into caravanning, and have so far amused the kids with dvd's on laptop on a rainy day. That was simply through the memory of my dad spending an eternity trying to get reception in years gone by! I recall an almighty faff and the occasional profanity!
The key thing to remember on digital is as more areas get's switched over the signal will get boosted so all in all you should get a good picture even with the "saucer" aerials.
Went down to Cornwall last week (all Digital now) and reception on aerial and very cheap freeview receiver was great. Got every single Freeview channel going. Have to admit it wasn't quite a good in the evening.
Think we might have just bought the same as you robin52 - we got it from Argos outlet on eBay for about £80
We also only have the old status aerial on the van and always had problems with reception - in fact in the house we can't get any tv signal with a roof top aerial (but are now digital anyway)
Took the tv into the van and plugged it all in and WOW!!! got everything much better than the house did.
It's certainly stopped me from spending an absolute fortune on a satellite set up
we got great reception even at whitby with a status multi direction flying saucer type aerial on our old caravan elddis firestorm 2000, but now we have a bailey ranger 2007 with same aerial got bugger all (pardon french)at Whitby and had to put the ordinary digital aerial up and still only got channels 1-4 yet got the lot with same one at clacton its beyond me
------------- Live Each Day Like Its Your Last, One Day Youll Be Right
Just you wait and see... we don't have a TV in our caravan (& never will) but at home the whole digital experience is nothingh but trouble.
Just last night they were bu~#ering about with the signal again - despite the fact that the switch-over was completeed here months back. After re-tuning yet again as instructed we have once again got worse reception than (ever) before on several channels, and yet again lost lots of channels... no less than THIRTY this time... and guess what it's all the channels with the only decent programmes that have gone
So welcome to digital TV. Eventually you'll find that you can watch more of the same repeats of..... Cr*p In The Attic, endless repeats about people with loads of money looking for a little place in the country, stupid gits on bus tours abroad making you cringe to be British, cooking programmes, shopping channels or the porn channels if you want to pay for them
Other than that the rest will come & go then disappear forever - unless of course you live dan saff near London. No doubt they'll get everything for nothing at the expense of the rest of the country ..
Err, sorry - I think I justy had a major rant there .... ......
we have found digital tv reception via the saucer omni-directional aerial on our van to be very variable. Some places you get perfect reception on all channels, and in other places you get jerk-o-vision and block-o-vision galore! Which is not fun. Even more bizarrely we have had great reception in the middle of nowhere, and poor reception in or near towns/cities. And the other way round. So now we rely on our freesat decoder and satalite dish. We even have recieved the full freesat channel list in the Nehterlands including radio channels - much to the amazement of other British campers! We had great weather, BBC news, planet rock on the radio and plenty more between! We have found freesat to be a great resourse while camping and only really use freeview (digital tv) to see if the channel dave is available (strangely not available on freesat for mysterious reasons not known to me).....
------------- Why am i doing this instead of camping??!!
Touch wood, I have had no problems so far with digital tv in the van. I use a traditional aerial (Image 620) which has a bracket and clips onto the awning rail and a plate which sticks on the side of the van. I have an Android smartphone and use an app called UK Aerial Finder, this tells you which way to point the aerial towards the nearest transmitter ( you dont have to be so accurate like satellite ) a quick tune in and all good to go.
I also bought a Alba freeviw TV from argos last year. My old digibox could hardly pick anything up with the status arial, but this TV picks up everything.
We have generally have a good digital reception, once you have the arial pointing in the right direction. We usually have a good look at which way everyone elses arial is pointing.
Dont forget you will have to re-tune if you move around the country, in some areas you can only get the signal from the booster masts that dont have all the channels
I have freeview in my car and can get 85 channels plus all the radio ones outside my house as the signal comes from the main mast.
If I go into town the signal comes from a booster one and can only receive 19 channels and 6 radio ones.
When the idiots in London decided we can go digital they divided the UK into areas, and each area was allocated a different frequency, just like with analog, when there was no need with digital.
If every main mast and booster one, where set to the same frequencies we would not have half the trouble
I have an interesting alternative to digital tv. I use my laptop and go to www.tvcatchup.com. As long as you have internet access on site, you should find that you can stream all the freeview tv channels, plus a few more, through your computer, completely free of charge. You just have to create a free account.
Most sites now have wi-fi, often free. This is a good alternative to worrying about reception and aerials etc.
I personally use my phone as an internet connection and 'tether' it to my computer. Even this way, if you use the' low quality' setting within the menu, you can normally get more than adequate viewing. HOWEVER make sure if you do it this way that you have proper unlimited internet bundle on your phone, or it will cost a fortune!
Also I Skype and e-mail friends while I'm away. And the laptop provides dvd watching facilities and games playing console for the nippers! A useful tool, I'm sure you'll agree.
Obviously this is not for everyone or the non technically savvy, but I have an ageing FC and I don't want to drag a telly round with me and it is a great space saver.
One has to remember thought that if there is no wi-fi and no phone reception, there is no tv......
I hope this has provided food for thought for those who are having tv problems.
Regards, Panda.
------------- Just call me Panda!
These broken wings are gonna leave me here to stand my ground......
There seems to be a world of difference in receiving digital and analogue signals on the Status type aerials. I always found it difficult with analogue and was one of the reasons for buying a satellite system. But since the change over I have got good reception with digital both in the UK and abroad.
gone over to a dish and a sky box,still have the odd problem with trees ect. but mostly its been one of the best things we have done.the picture quality is fantastic.providing you have a good view of the sky towards the south there is no problem getting the signal.
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.
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Topic: Amazed at TV reception
Eventually you'll find that you can watch more of the same repeats of..... Cr*p In The Attic, endless repeats about people with loads of money looking for a little place in the country, stupid gits on bus tours abroad making you cringe to be British, cooking programmes, shopping channels or the porn channels if you want to pay for them 
......
