Aeriel On Caravan

[millie]

when i bought the caravan the dealer showed me how to lift and lower the aeriel for a signal however bought a digital tv with freeview plugged into two diffrent sites last two weeks very poor picture so fuzzy you cannot hardly make the picture out tried turning the aeriel in all diferent directions but nothing any suggestions

[gmc15]

I only have a digital telly for the van and I find that I either get a picture with the ariel pointed in the right direction, or I get no picture at all. I have sometimes taken my analogue telly from home so I can get some picture, rather than nothing.

At some sites digital reception is poor as the signal is not very strong.

 

HTH.

 

Graeme.

 

ps I now use a satelite system to avoid these problems

[millie]

I only have a digital telly for the van and I find that I either get a picture with the ariel pointed in the right direction, or I get no picture at all. I have sometimes taken my analogue telly from home so I can get some picture, rather than nothing.

At some sites digital reception is poor as the signal is not very strong.

 

HTH.

 

Graeme.

 

ps I now use a satelite system to avoid these problems

is the aeriel on the van for an analogue tv then

[harry.m1byt]

when i bought the caravan the dealer showed me how to lift and lower the aeriel for a signal however bought a digital tv with freeview plugged into two diffrent sites last two weeks very poor picture so fuzzy you cannot hardly make the picture out tried turning the aeriel in all diferent directions but nothing any suggestions

 

You cannot get a fuzzy picture on digital (Freeview) - if the signal is poor it pixelates or if it is really poor you get no picture or sound.

 

Is it fitted with an amplifier, if so might it need to be turned on/ set to maximum gain? Usually this will be fitted close to the antenna.

 

If you want to be fairly certain to be able to use TV no matter where you are, get a satellite system.

[Jon46]

Millie, are you referring to your rooftop aerial? Depending on the age of it, it may not be suitable for receiving digital tv. I have a rooftop Status aerial, which is fixed. I bought a Vision Plus external aerial and pole, which I use with two extension pieces where the signal is poor, which lifts the aerial to a good two metres above the roof the van. I've not tried it with digital yet, but it does say on the box that it is suitable for use with freeview digital channels. Something like that may be worth a try.

Jonathan.

[harry.m1byt]

Millie, are you referring to your rooftop aerial? Depending on the age of it, it may not be suitable for receiving digital tv. I have a rooftop Status aerial, which is fixed. I bought a Vision Plus external aerial and pole, which I use with two extension pieces where the signal is poor, which lifts the aerial to a good two metres above the roof the van. I've not tried it with digital yet, but it does say on the box that it is suitable for use with freeview digital channels. Something like that may be worth a try.

Jonathan.

 

There is no such thing as a 'digital arial'. There are certain areas of the country where digital tranmission are spread over more than one band of frequencies and there a wider band arial may be needed. Digital signals share the same band of frequencies as the analogue system.

 

All arials (antennas) sold for use with the likes of caravans are wide band so they will work anywhere in the country, on any transmitter -digital or analogue. The roof mounted flying saucer type antenna is wide band, but is also omni directional - so it works in all directions and therefore lacks the gain of a directional one. Much better is a directional antenna and even better is a directional antenna mounted high.

 

The description 'Digital Arial' was thought up to help sell new antennas.

[lakenham rod]

when i bought the caravan the dealer showed me how to lift and lower the aeriel for a signal however bought a digital tv with freeview plugged into two diffrent sites last two weeks very poor picture so fuzzy you cannot hardly make the picture out tried turning the aeriel in all diferent directions but nothing any suggestions

Hello,

A couple of weeks ago I was at a local site by the coast and could not recieve a digital signal at all, I have two aerials, a vision plus on a twelve foot pole and a status flying saucer on the roof, I could only pick up three channels, they were analogue and on the Status aerial with a signal booster yet a few weeks ago at a site mear Mansfield I picked up every Freeview channel on the Vision plus with no problem, After speaking to people on the local site I have now purchased a complete satellite system on ebay for £120 and picked up at the first attempt according to the program guide over seven hundred channels all with perfect clarity, it all depends where you live in the country what strengh signal you will recieve but I don,t think when the switchover is complete it will be very good in certain places,

Rod.

[Guest John KS]

Try doing a search on this forum. There's loads of information about aerials etc. If you have got a flying saucer then forget digital unless you are pitched in the field the transmitter is in!!!!!!

[colger23]

I have the old S315 status aerial and I have not had any problems picking up a digital signal although for normal viewing I use a sky satellite system. I suggest you check out the connectors on the aerial cable, there have been instances where the connectors have been fitted incorrectly resulting in a short between the inner conductor and the screen.

 

Gerry

[Jon46]

There is no such thing as a 'digital arial'. There are certain areas of the country where digital tranmission are spread over more than one band of frequencies and there a wider band arial may be needed. Digital signals share the same band of frequencies as the analogue system.

 

All arials (antennas) sold for use with the likes of caravans are wide band so they will work anywhere in the country, on any transmitter -digital or analogue. The roof mounted flying saucer type antenna is wide band, but is also omni directional - so it works in all directions and therefore lacks the gain of a directional one. Much better is a directional antenna and even better is a directional antenna mounted high.

 

The description 'Digital Arial' was thought up to help sell new antennas.

 

Thanks, Harry, for clarifying that for me. At least I know I'm doing the right thing with my extra-extended antenna. By the way, does it make any difference which way round the antenna is mounted on the pole, blades pointing horizontally or vertically? I always put mine on horizontally but see some others on site mounted vertically - it always seems like to much trouble to swap it round to see what the difference is (especially as I'm not the one who watches the TV!)

[harry.m1byt]

Thanks, Harry, for clarifying that for me. At least I know I'm doing the right thing with my extra-extended antenna. By the way, does it make any difference which way round the antenna is mounted on the pole, blades pointing horizontally or vertically? I always put mine on horizontally but see some others on site mounted vertically - it always seems like to much trouble to swap it round to see what the difference is (especially as I'm not the one who watches the TV!)

 

It makes a great deal of difference, it is called horizontal (as in flat) and vertical polarisation. As a general rule the main TV transmitters use horizontal and the much smaller, lower powered relays to just serve a small area - use vertical.

 

Quite a few of the relays do not support digital or only provide limited support for some Freeview channels.

[Wee Jock]

If you have a digital tv have a look in the manual and find how to put the signal quality and strenght meter upon the screen. Some have a line of bars that appear and some just a solid line.

 

Use this to find where you are receiving the strongest signal from before you set the tv to search for stations.

 

(not sure if you are aware but with digital you need to retune for different areas)

[millie]

thanks to you all just to clarify i have a new bailey paegent and i was using the ariel on the rooftop of the caravan tried moving it in all directions but didnt get a good reception never mind i wont give up i will try again when i go away next however who needs tv

[Mattie]

I have an aeriel on a pole attached to the front of my caravan and a digital tv, when I go outside the area I look to see which direction houses have their aeriel pointed, point mine that way and then do a search for the tv stations on my tv. I usually have a really good picture. I find this much easier than my analog tv, I had to program the stations manually with that.

 

I find this aeriel is much better than the Status aeriel, I sometimes go into isolated areas and often couldn't get a picture, with this aeriel, I rarely don't get a picture.

[Cheltenham Caravanner]

It may well be that the built in aerials on caravans i. e. the omni directional ones will work better receiving digital signals once the switchover is complete and the analogue signals have been switched off.

 

I have read somewhere on the net that when the analogue signals are gone the digital signal strength is to be boosted by up to 50 percent.

[harry.m1byt]

I have an aeriel on a pole attached to the front of my caravan and a digital tv, when I go outside the area I look to see which direction houses have their aeriel pointed, point mine that way and then do a search for the tv stations on my tv. I usually have a really good picture. I find this much easier than my analog tv, I had to program the stations manually with that.

 

I find this aeriel is much better than the Status aeriel, I sometimes go into isolated areas and often couldn't get a picture, with this aeriel, I rarely don't get a picture.

 

I found it (terrestial TV) a bit of a time consuming fiddle in all the areas where there was a good signal. My method was first to find the best analogue signal I could find, then align the antenna on it, decide whether it needed to be horizontal or vertical then finally let the TV scan for digital. A long drwan out process often with satifactory result at the end of it.

 

Using satellite, the sat is always in the same place and the channels are always on the same frequencies - your only variable is the setting up of the dish. Bet I can line the dish up in a fraction of the time it takes you to get a picture on the TV and my picture is perfect :-) On just the one Astra satellite I have hundreds of channels to choose from and many more if I feel inclined to swing the dish round to another satellite.

 

I must admit I was reluctant to get a satellite system for the caravan for many years. I didn't want what I thought was a lot of extra setting up - but it really is so much quicker and works almost anywhere I might care to go. Whereas the terrestial fails me in 90% of the places I go.

[ildi]

Hi Millie

 

Just to add my two pennies worth. We also purchased a New Pageant Series 7 and our first night on site everyone had good pictures on their televisions bar us. We fiddled the aerial every which way we could but no picture. A couple of weeks later we went to a site in Somerset. The same happened no picture with our Status ariel. We checked the wiring in the plugs etc etc and the plug were wired ok. We then decided to try and plug the tv straight into the ariel in the overhead locker it was perfect picture could not have asked for a better reception. It turns out the wiring between the box in the overhead locker and the ariel plug itself is faulty. This is something we could not fix as it mean tracing the wiring and as it is all boxed in behind the facia we did not wna to damage the van. We spoke to our dealers who are going to rewire it for us when we return from our next holiday. Until then we are taking a very long extension cable so that we can position the tv on the unit and I wont miss my soaps (LOL). Hope you get yours sorted.

[Mattie]

I found it (terrestial TV) a bit of a time consuming fiddle in all the areas where there was a good signal. My method was first to find the best analogue signal I could find, then align the antenna on it, decide whether it needed to be horizontal or vertical then finally let the TV scan for digital. A long drwan out process often with satifactory result at the end of it.

 

If you look at the other tv aerials, you can see houses from many sights or other caravan aerials and put yours in the same direction there isn't a problem getting a signal. Once I get it facing the same way as the others, I get the tv to do a search.

 

 

Using satellite, the sat is always in the same place and the channels are always on the same frequencies - your only variable is the setting up of the dish. Bet I can line the dish up in a fraction of the time it takes you to get a picture on the TV and my picture is perfect :-) On just the one Astra satellite I have hundreds of channels to choose from and many more if I feel inclined to swing the dish round to another satellite.

 

The only time it takes is the tv searching for the stations, this tv does that automatically so I can get on with other things.

 

I must admit I was reluctant to get a satellite system for the caravan for many years. I didn't want what I thought was a lot of extra setting up - but it really is so much quicker and works almost anywhere I might care to go. Whereas the terrestial fails me in 90% of the places I go.

 

Many people can't afford to pay for satellite tv, there are a lot of free stations but the cost of setting up for satellite is a lot higher than for digital freeview.

[Dave m]

when i bought the caravan the dealer showed me how to lift and lower the aeriel for a signal however bought a digital tv with freeview plugged into two diffrent sites last two weeks very poor picture so fuzzy you cannot hardly make the picture out tried turning the aeriel in all diferent directions but nothing any suggestions

hi

We have been on two sites recently and were not able to get digital tv at all and the analoge was so poor we could not watch it. It will be a dish if you want to use it on those sites when its all digital which at the moment i don't want and cannot afford it.

 

Dave m

[JonathanM]

We replaced our status booster with a cheap tesco teknika booster (£8 or so) and it is marvellous! Best signal we've had in the 4 years since the van was built.