Satellite TV help please

mikeody · Veteran Member

Satellite TV help please

dave06 · Guru

I bought a cheapy off ebay, it was about $350 - $400 including postage, now the price does dictate the quality, mainly the compass and stuff like that, but only in the setting up phase, it takes a little longer it's no dramas to us as we take our time with everything we do, but the picture is the same and you save probably $500, so for me it was worth it,

you can have a squizz at this site http://stores.ebay.com.au/ITECH-WORLD

if you are going to be viewing away from power then this unit is good because you can power it off 12 volt as well as 240v

the brand is a chinese make called "strong", mine has been fine all the time I have used it. as with all satelite tv reception one must be in a clearing with perfect "line of sight " vision to the sat which is geo stationary above papua new guinea so you must have the co-ordinates for it wherever you go, you either get "perfect digital quality " picture or you get nothing, there is no in between with sat tv

which brings me to my next reference if you go to this site http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=10736 and download the software, you will be able to "poke in" your country and city and be able to find the correct settings the software is called "gorb track" and it will find any satelite anywhere in the world

the instructions that you get with the sat set are not worth two bob and the angle doohickey on the side of the sat is primitive but it gives you an idea of what to do, I found it interesting and it kept me and a couple other fellows occupied for quite a while

or you could get the expensive "vansat" and get good instructions and a better stand for an extra $500, not me I'll keep my chinese one, tellys the same

-- Edited by dave06 at 15:52, 2008-11-23

Wombat 280 · Guru

Hell, where are you going that you can't pick up a local station that will provide the latest news.

Just a thought but maybe a Sat Phone is a better option than a TV for news updates if going bush bashing at least it can help get you out of strive if need be .

I use HD compatible 48 cm LCD TV and back it up with stand alone DVD player for the times when there is only crap on , most of the time,. Opted for a stand alone unit as when they stuff up you can bin either but if you buy a combined TV DVD unit and one fails it all fails

The external ariel is one I got brand new still in box off EBay for $33.01 , currently selling in Caravan Specialist Outlets for $220.00 and it works better than the one I had installed at home for the big screen LCD.

If you have an old pool leaf skimmer pole they make ideal ariel posts that you can adjust with the twist of the wrist.

Happy Watching

Basil Faulty · Guru

I sold my sat TV setup. For me it was just too much effort to set it up. When it was setup the picture was brilliant. I bought a digital settop box and that seems to cure the picture quality and most of Australia seems to have digital coverage. My set top box also has an input for a dish and gives instructions in Chinglish how to connect a dish to get free to air Sat TV. If you PM me your email I can email you some software to help you align your dish, that is where I fell down, Son computer engineer wrote this and it gives you all the angles, azimuth etc. You need a compass and an inclinometer and a good sattelite finder as well as the dish, LNB, reciever and I think you still need a card.

dave06 · Guru

dont have to go far to be out of telly range, few blackspots in the adelaide hills, down the bottom of the murray valley no reception, burra creek gorge, wilpena pound, all the gorges around hawker, spots along the great ocean road, just out of port lincoln, all along the bight, the "up" country, just out of mildura, even the tallest of antennas wont help you there, cause there is no reception,

telly is not important to us and we rarely if ever even take it with us but every now and then we just get the urge to see someone else, even if it is on a little screen, when we had our last trip through the stony desert to longreach and back through quilpie and tibooburra then broken hill, we watched a little bit, try to get a "local" station there, we seen no-one for two weeks at a stretch, just someone elses voice after that was strangely welcomed, the news stories dont change, but just to keep in line with what is going on is enough, comforting in a small way

telly reception is not a problem along the east coast and built up areas, but get into gibber country and try your little rabbit ears, all you'll get is rabbits!! even on a bloody long stick

Basil Faulty · Guru

dave06 wrote:

dont have to go far to be out of telly range, few blackspots in the adelaide hills, down the bottom of the murray valley no reception, burra creek gorge, wilpena pound, all the gorges around hawker, spots along the great ocean road, just out of port lincoln, all along the bight, the "up" country, just out of mildura, even the tallest of antennas wont help you there, cause there is no reception,

telly is not important to us and we rarely if ever even take it with us but every now and then we just get the urge to see someone else, even if it is on a little screen, when we had our last trip through the stony desert to longreach and back through quilpie and tibooburra then broken hill, we watched a little bit, try to get a "local" station there, we seen no-one for two weeks at a stretch, just someone elses voice after that was strangely welcomed, the news stories dont change, but just to keep in line with what is going on is enough, comforting in a small way

telly reception is not a problem along the east coast and built up areas, but get into gibber country and try your little rabbit ears, all you'll get is rabbits!! even on a bloody long stick

Yeah Dave rabbits ears went out with VHF........They used to be in plague proportions if you think back..... UHF is more or less line of sight and universally horizontaly polarised unlike the VHF....
I have used a winegard on my recent vans with good results but they are expensive. I did see a guy with a normal UHF antenna and a masthead amplifier at Tathra and that would cost around $100 I'd reckon and he was getting brilliant reception. The winegard uses the aluminium roof of the van as the reflector and if you look at any TV Antenna it is mostly reflector the antenna bit is only a small loop connected to the lead. Intriguing how these things work, the signal travels in the outer microns of the antenna so if it is corroded, pitted or covered in salt you can expect signal degradation especially at the frequencies TV signals are transmitted at.
As you say when you get a few KM from population the signal quickly degrades/deteriorates.
We made an amazing discovery; if we can't get TV we play games on the laptop, Scrabble and Monopoly & trivial pursuit are good for the grey cells and hopefully will stave of dementia though if you have demenbtia you don't know you have it so I could have dementia and not know it... errrrrrr what was I saying.....And as the Laptop adjudicates we no longer need to take Barry Jones on Hols with us.

dave06 · Guru

my philosophy exactly plenty of other things to do apart from telly, the tv in "fringe" and "city" area is now actually too strong and one has to "detune" his antenna because of digital. our you beaut 60 foot tv tower at home is now useless only good for the galahs to sit on, signal too strong, we have a little $25 antenna on the top of a cupboard for a $4,500 high definition plasma but it works perfectly, digital quality reception

I actually enjoyed the challenge of setting up the sat dish but it then turned into a "talking point" from passersbys and we found ourselves, as usual, sitting around and just yakking and having a drink into the wee small hours, sometimes ten o'clock, yeah I know I'm a nightowl but what else do you do, most times we dont actually get to watch the idiot box, but it's good when right out in the sticks and you get sick of that toffy nosed little git saying "THIS IS THE ABC AND HERE IS THE NEWS"

one thing about the box is that if I cant sleep, I get up and turn it on and after 1/2 an hour I'm gone, deep underground into noddy land, cant watch it for long, makes the dragon very angry, she gets a movie and I go to sleep

if you look at a map you could draw a line about 500 km inland and follow the coast from cairns down around to ceduna where you would get reliable telly after that its like striking the lottery and very patchy

rowdy · Veteran Member

I got one from Itec world the same as dave06. I've had no problems with it, I use it at home when were not away in the van. I have a selectv card .it has about 30 channels ,no contract so you can stop and start the subscription whenever you like.I found this site usefull for settingup the dish ... http://www.dishpointer.com/

mikeody · Veteran Member

Hello all,
My that topic got some instant response. Thanks everyone as that is great start to my research - I never seem to make decisions instantaneously these days !
Another option of course could be PC related. I am heavily into PCs and will build one for our travels [am not really into laptops].
The issue is what about TV cards or USB TV 'dongles' in the PC ? Could be worth researching also as this could kill two or three birds with one stone - PC, TV, and DVDs - if it works of course !
Will keep everyone in touch as things progress.
Mike.
PS thanks anyone who included website addresses - will certainly be using those over the next few weeks.

dave06 · Guru

ahhh!!! now theres a topic all to itself, computer based tv and entertainment, when we go we will certainly have a computer on board, I had a tv card for mine and it worked pretty well except it overheated the video card and cooked it, dvd replay of course is digital quality, so it could, and I'm sure that in the future (if not already) it will revolutionise the way we see our little boxy mates

a mate of mine in sydney has a fridge, it senses what comes out and makes a list, every week it sends out a message and a delivery boy brings him his grocerys, he hasnt been shopping in years, dont know if I would do that but I guess the option is there

Valderi · Veteran Member

Hi Mike.
I also like watching TV and spend lots of time on the computer at home I can spend 6/8 hrs a day on the dam thing.

Question for you? are you free camping or will you be on powered sites.

When I get out on the road it's free camping for me, my solar power will not produce enough amps to run a computer 6/8 hrs a day drawing around 9.5 aph and DVDs around 8.0 aph so I'm restricted I can live with this, longer happy hours LOL.

But if your on powered sites you will have no problems with power supply.
Cheers Frank.

mikeody · Veteran Member

Hi Frank,
At the present time we are VERY new to caravanning.
Have just bought a van and am in the process of 'massaging' it to suit us two.
Whilst inevitably there will be times when we are 'free camping' realistically I think to start with at least it will be mostly powered sites for us - so power at the moment is probably not much of an issue.
I have an LCD tv with PC input and am about to grab a small very recent Dell PC from work [am part time PC technician when worling] which I will use in the van.
The issues I seem likely to be facing are [a] will a tv card in the PC [or a USB TV dongle] give me adequate free to air TV in areas relatively close to the coast around Australia - I really dont think I want to get into satellite TV at the moment, and what about internet access whilst on the road ?
As I get more information and have tried this and that I will keep everyone [and yourself] up to date.
Thanks for response,
Muike

Basil Faulty · Guru

mikeody wrote:

Hi Frank,
At the present time we are VERY new to caravanning.
Have just bought a van and am in the process of 'massaging' it to suit us two.
Whilst inevitably there will be times when we are 'free camping' realistically I think to start with at least it will be mostly powered sites for us - so power at the moment is probably not much of an issue.
I have an LCD tv with PC input and am about to grab a small very recent Dell PC from work [am part time PC technician when worling] which I will use in the van.
The issues I seem likely to be facing are [a] will a tv card in the PC [or a USB TV dongle] give me adequate free to air TV in areas relatively close to the coast around Australia - I really dont think I want to get into satellite TV at the moment, and what about internet access whilst on the road ?
As I get more information and have tried this and that I will keep everyone [and yourself] up to date.
Thanks for response,
Muike

Muike???? yerp the TV card/dongle will work BUT make sure it is for digital and not analogue as anal is to be phased out. I bought a new lappy a while back and it has a tv tuner built in but I still need an antenna with it but it is satisfactory....
The internet is best solved by either using a mobile phone as a modem with a data pack from T or use WiFi, cafes etc. Don't bother with the sensational deals being offered by anyone other than Optus or Telstra for wireless internet, they work well in large cities but no where else, and the internet on the move, in the train,bus tram ferry is absolute HUBRIS, too much electrical interference to allow decent internet....

mikeody · Veteran Member

Thanks Basil, will keep everyone informed as things develop.
Mike