Hi All ,have just had a stay at Lane Cove tourist park.and were unable to tune tv in,had this problem last time we stayed there also.i have a wineguard ariel set up on the van,anyone else had this problem,as when I got home tv tuned in from the driveway at Gosford no problems.thanks I advance.mike g
Did you ask any others staying there or ask reception?....we stayed at a place once that was down the bottom of a steep gully which because of the gully had no tv reception so they had some sort of booster/whatever that changed the frequency from UHF to VHF or similar and if you wanted to watch tv you had to retune to this differentspectrum.
Hope that makes sense!
You were in an extremely strong signal area. The signal is so strong there that it would overload the amplifier in the antenna and thus block signal getting through. You need to switch the amplifier off.
This can happen at EPIC Canberra. It also happens at Broken Hill, it's a common complaint in the T/T park, when you ask the first thing they ask is "have you turned your amplifier off." Richmond Qld is another where I have had to turn the amplifier off.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
Stephen, why don't you get off your hobby horse? Most of us get TV in most of the places we go. We do not wish to carry a bulky antenna and set it up every time we want TV. Most of us don't go where you need a dish for TV a high percentage of the time. A lot of the parks we go to do not have the room to site a dish or have too much tree cover. The newcomers just want to know how to set up what they have.
What we don't want is your persistant cracked record telling us WHAT WE NEED. Why don't you just wrack off before someone really gets stuck into you?
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
Stephen, why don't you get off your hobby horse? Most of us get TV in most of the places we go. We do not wish to carry a bulky antenna and set it up every time we want TV. Most of us don't go where you need a dish for TV a high percentage of the time. A lot of the parks we go to do not have the room to site a dish or have too much tree cover. The newcomers just want to know how to set up what they have.
What we don't want is your persistant cracked record telling us WHAT WE NEED. Why don't you just wrack off before someone really gets stuck into you?
Geez, Pete, that was totally uncalled for. Get out of the wrong side of the bed this morning?
Just a quick one, A hobby horse i don't have. But having been in the electronics repair industry for all of my working life and with over 30 odd years also installing television antennas from a domestic system to a fully blown MATV system feeding 100's of television.I started off installing television antennas when SBS in Melbourne was on channel 0 ( VHF ) and after a short time moved over to channel 28 in the UHF band.This was the point in time when coax cable started to be used for television reception( at UHF frequencies 300 Ohms twin feed cable has a high signal loss.
I also have my amateur radio licence ( advanced VK7SVG )so i also dabble with HF, VHF and UHF reception. So i have seen it all. Over the years i have seen many caravans and all type of antennas fitted to the caravans. Some while will work in a lot of areas, there are a lot that fail.Or some will work say at home, but out in the country do not work or only on some channels ( if at all ) The old analog system that we bit our teeth on was not so bad and if you had a snowy picture or the antenna was pointed the wrong way, or a faulty amplifier, it still worked in a fashion. A lot of the time the picture would fade in and out. 300 Ohms cable gave way to coax cable with the onset of color television and UHF transmittion
Then several years ago our government said that we were going digital and the whole ball park changed. Now if you have a problem with television reception there can be a number of causes and the main one being the BIR of the signal ( bit error rate ) and get this wrong and you have what is called digital drop out. When this rate gets to high you start to loose channels.
This can be caused by to low a signal, or also the signal being to high a level ( strong ) the antenna being to mounted to high or also to low. Then there is the coax cable and while there are many types on the market RG6 quad cable is the bare min requirements. The end connectors, splitters, balums and even how the cable is run and clipped in to place. Sharp bends are a big no no.
2012 Australia also had a shift in channel frequencies ( Eg i used to live in Mildura and our 5 main channels were spread over the VHF and UHF bands. After the shift all of the UHF channels moved down to the VHF channels.
Now i have had caravans for over 10 years now and have been able to try out and test also a few of the antennas on the market and while a few of them did work to a point, in some places were next to useless and one would be better of with a piece of string.
Now when we travel we do like to free camp, in the outback, or down on the river. Just to get away from it all and to see some of this wonder full country of ours, and yes we do stay in caravan parks as well and also spend money in the town that we stay in or travel through.
I personally do travel with a 80 cm dish that lives on the bed inside our caravan when we travel and has never moved while we travel.I have tryed a couple of the older foxtel dishes but have found that the 80 cm one worked the best. I also travel with a couple of spare LMB's as i have had a couple fail ?? . For a sat meter i have a little Labgear that cost me ( trade ) about $80.00. I do have better equipment at home, but my main meter that i use from day to day cost big $$$$$ and also has to sent away to get recalibrated every couple of years. This i leave this meter at home when traveling.
My caravan is also set up to run off 12 Volts and have a 200 Ahr battery and 240 Watts of solar on the roof. The television runs off 12 Volts and so does the Vast receiver. The only things that need 240 Volt is the micro wave and the air conditioner. I do use a small inverter that used to run my original Vast receiver ( 240 Volt only back then ) but have since change over to a 12 Volt version.
When i was working i would have people come in with reception issues due to the antenna being the wrong type for the particular area that they are staying in, lets face it how good is a VHF antenna trying to pick up UHF signals. It will work to a fashion if at all, the problem is there are so many factors that can cause a issue and the lose of channels and problems for the end user.
So i go sick and tired of all of the antennas that are on the market, some with amplifiers and some with out, some were a pain in the back side to put up and some were not even worth the time and effort.
This alone was the reason to why i have changed over to the Vast service. I have not found a place ( so far ) the i have not being able to get the Vast to work. I will admit that some times it takes a little bit of time, but normally i have it up and running within 10 Mins.
The Vast system and the setting up of the dish is a bit of a learning curve for most of us, but practice, practice and more practice in setting up of the dish at home is a must befour you hit the road . learning how to read a compass. I never have used one of those apps for finding the direction /angle to point the dish at. A good sat meter and compass is a must.
Just a quick one, A hobby horse i don't have. But having been in the electronics repair industry for all of my working life and with over 30 odd years also installing television antennas from a domestic system to a fully blown MATV system feeding 100's of television.I started off installing television antennas when SBS in Melbourne was on channel 0 ( VHF ) and after a short time moved over to channel 28 in the UHF band.This was the point in time when coax cable started to be used for television reception( at UHF frequencies 300 Ohms twin feed cable has a high signal loss.
I also have my amateur radio licence ( advanced VK7SVG )so i also dabble with HF, VHF and UHF reception. So i have seen it all. Over the years i have seen many caravans and all type of antennas fitted to the caravans. Some while will work in a lot of areas, there are a lot that fail.Or some will work say at home, but out in the country do not work or only on some channels ( if at all ) The old analog system that we bit our teeth on was not so bad and if you had a snowy picture or the antenna was pointed the wrong way, or a faulty amplifier, it still worked in a fashion. A lot of the time the picture would fade in and out. 300 Ohms cable gave way to coax cable with the onset of color television and UHF transmittion
Then several years ago our government said that we were going digital and the whole ball park changed. Now if you have a problem with television reception there can be a number of causes and the main one being the BIR of the signal ( bit error rate ) and get this wrong and you have what is called digital drop out. When this rate gets to high you start to loose channels.
This can be caused by to low a signal, or also the signal being to high a level ( strong ) the antenna being to mounted to high or also to low. Then there is the coax cable and while there are many types on the market RG6 quad cable is the bare min requirements. The end connectors, splitters, balums and even how the cable is run and clipped in to place. Sharp bends are a big no no.
2012 Australia also had a shift in channel frequencies ( Eg i used to live in Mildura and our 5 main channels were spread over the VHF and UHF bands. After the shift all of the UHF channels moved down to the VHF channels.
Now i have had caravans for over 10 years now and have been able to try out and test also a few of the antennas on the market and while a few of them did work to a point, in some places were next to useless and one would be better of with a piece of string.
Now when we travel we do like to free camp, in the outback, or down on the river. Just to get away from it all and to see some of this wonder full country of ours, and yes we do stay in caravan parks as well and also spend money in the town that we stay in or travel through.
I personally do travel with a 80 cm dish that lives on the bed inside our caravan when we travel and has never moved while we travel.I have tryed a couple of the older foxtel dishes but have found that the 80 cm one worked the best. I also travel with a couple of spare LMB's as i have had a couple fail ?? . For a sat meter i have a little Labgear that cost me ( trade ) about $80.00. I do have better equipment at home, but my main meter that i use from day to day cost big $$$$$ and also has to sent away to get recalibrated every couple of years. This i leave this meter at home when traveling.
My caravan is also set up to run off 12 Volts and have a 200 Ahr battery and 240 Watts of solar on the roof. The television runs off 12 Volts and so does the Vast receiver. The only things that need 240 Volt is the micro wave and the air conditioner. I do use a small inverter that used to run my original Vast receiver ( 240 Volt only back then ) but have since change over to a 12 Volt version.
When i was working i would have people come in with reception issues due to the antenna being the wrong type for the particular area that they are staying in, lets face it how good is a VHF antenna trying to pick up UHF signals. It will work to a fashion if at all, the problem is there are so many factors that can cause a issue and the lose of channels and problems for the end user.
So i go sick and tired of all of the antennas that are on the market, some with amplifiers and some with out, some were a pain in the back side to put up and some were not even worth the time and effort.
This alone was the reason to why i have changed over to the Vast service. I have not found a place ( so far ) the i have not being able to get the Vast to work. I will admit that some times it takes a little bit of time, but normally i have it up and running within 10 Mins.
The Vast system and the setting up of the dish is a bit of a learning curve for most of us, but practice, practice and more practice in setting up of the dish at home is a must befour you hit the road . learning how to read a compass. I never have used one of those apps for finding the direction /angle to point the dish at. A good sat meter and compass is a must.
Thank you Stephen. There is a wealth of info in your post.
I to am an Amature but have not used it for a while, when on the road as a hobby hopefully.
Peter everyone has a right to speak. We are after all a democratic society. Lets clam down and make sure brain is engaged, before putting mouth into gear.
If everyone takes ideas from one another, we ALL end up been very happy with our own lot.
I for one have learnt heaps from KFT on here as just one example with my Vast TV + my fixed Winguard.
My own sat Dish takes up Zero space and sets up in minutes.
What you said to Valiant 81 was way out of order. I think you should send him a PM with an apology.
A big thank you to the people that have stood up for me. One never knows on forums who reads ones posts, so thanks.
Hey Jim. Good way to mount your dish,well done, what do you do with the arm and LMB. I have seen a couple of dishes that people have cut and put in a sleeve and pin to make it removable.
One thing i have found out is the LMB could fail after a while due to the vibration of the dish mounted to the chassie of a caravan. One reason why i always carry a spare LMB or two.
If you look closer at the base holder, it is offset on the 6mm mounting plate,by about 200mm( To accommodate to dishes shape) The stand pipe is braced with 2 x 6mm gussets. One either side at the base. I cut 2 nouchers in the stand pipe, into which the dish tube has pins 2, that settles into the stand pipe.
I then drilled a hole through the lot. Then pasted a 6mm-8mm bolt through, drilled the end of the threaded end, and placed a padlock through the bolt. The base can be moved left or right along the rear bumper. I tilt the dish using the tilt knob to hold it against the spare tyre.The LNB stays attached to the arm 24 x7. I do have a freezer bag taped over the LNB to keep any water at bay.All safe and secured.
The pipe on the right end of the bumper holds my Yargi pole to which sits my Yargi antennae.
PS: The yargi pool poles can be seen. laying flat across the bumper.
Inside my rear bumper hides 3 x 2200mm sections of grey water pipe. linked together (From the big Green Shed) give me 6600mm of no smell piping.
Its all in the planning.
Regards Jim
-- Edited by Hey Jim on Tuesday 5th of December 2017 11:20:58 PM
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