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Quote: Originally posted by lyn hathaway on 23/3/2009

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let us know how you get on with it.we bought one twelve months ago and my oh has not the patience to mess around finding a signal

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Quote: Originally posted by Angus1215 on 22/3/2009

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They crop at up at LIDL, Aldi and such places, come in a suitcase for about £60.00 (also at Maplins I gather),andcontain everything you need to get going - dish, LNB, cable, decoder.
They work fine in the UK and are easy to use (first time can be a pain though), but you will need a bigger dish if you go chasing the sun in France/Spain etc.
I`ve used mine for 4 years and with the standard 30cm dish haven`t had any problems if you set it up properly, it seems countless other don`t appear to have many difficulties either judging by the numbers on sites.

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Quote: Originally posted by pinkfloyd on 23/3/2009

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Quote: Originally posted by Angus1215 on 22/3/2009

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They crop at up at LIDL, Aldi and such places, come in a suitcase for about £60.00 (also at Maplins I gather),andcontain everything you need to get going - dish, LNB, cable, decoder.
They work fine in the UK and are easy to use (first time can be a pain though), but you will need a bigger dish if you go chasing the sun in France/Spain etc.
I`ve used mine for 4 years and with the standard 30cm dish haven`t had any problems if you set it up properly, it seems countless other don`t appear to have many difficulties either judging by the numbers on sites.

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We bought one from LIDL a few months ago and have tried it out but nothing at all regarding a picture. We pointed it where it said on the free compass type thingy you get with it and checked all the connections but to no avail. Thinking of taking it back and changing it for a Des O'Connor CD collection which would be just as annoying! Anyone with any good suggestions to get a picture would be much appreciated....

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 Hi, Have alook at www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk for brilliant advice on setting up/tuning etc.I have had my sat in a suitcase for two years now and would not leave

home without it,takes takes 15 mins max to set up.

Hi ben9 and pinkfloyd.

                                Have a read of my earliar coment on this post, finding the satellite is almost like impossible on your ferst try, but once you have mastered it you can't undestand what all the trouble was, one of my previous jobs was setting up polar mounts, a device that allows the satellite dish to track the entire arc, were the Dish travels from East to West, picking up some 30 satellites, almost impossible for the amateur to set up, most would say, I soon mastered the technique, and back in the late 80's folk would be happy to pay me £50 to get there Dish tracking the Arc (Clarke Belt), all you need to find a satellite is patience, and an understanding of what it is you are actualy doing. 

The thing that seems to cause most people to get confused is that not only do you have to point the dish on the right compass bearing you then have to adjust the dish to the correct angle vertically. And of course you need a clear view of the sky without high trees right in front of you. My technique is to point the dish with a compass first, then slowly and gently tilt the dish until I get a hit, adjusting sideways if necessary. It usually takes about 2-5 minutes. The big thing is to only make small adjustments at a time. I once watched one guy using his dish like he was trying to shoot down aircraft with a missile launcher before announcing it was faulty.

It gets easier with practice.

Regards Brian

Thing is like technology going backwards in a way, as it was far easiar to find the satellite in the days of Analogue, not only did Digital make it harder, but they also reduced the coverage of the signal (footprint) this is why many folk in Spain who used to get the Analogue signal on a small dish, now need a huge dish upto 1.8m in parts of spain.

can anybody please explain the zones, zone 1 and zone 2, as I havent got a clue what they are.

Cheers

Hi higgins5589.

                     Zone 1 dish is your normal Sky mini-dish 43cm, Zone 2 looks the same but is 58cm, to get an idea of Zone 2, the area is everything North of the Scottish border and the whole of Ireland, although the rule is not adhered to, as you will find plenty of Zone 1 Dish's working in the Zone 2 area fitted by installers who should know better, and you will see Zone 2 Dishes in the Zone 1 area, especialy on commercial properties thus maintaining signal in the very worst weather conditions, the Zone 1 Dish's will work in the Zone 2 area, it is only when the bad weather comes that you find out why they have Zone 2 Dish's in the Zone 2 area. As a Dish need to maintain it's Parabolic shape to give optimum performance, the Sky mesh Dish is a bad choice for Camping, far better to use a Steel, Aluminum or Fiberglass Dish of say 55cm hope that helps.

Hi Francis.

Thank you for the info, that is great, I have decided to take your advice and get a zone 2 dish, also I will stay away from the mesh dishes and get one of the others that you recommend. Thank again.

Regards

John

Hi higgins5589.

                      In my collection of Dish's I have a Attisat FL500 it is a flatt plate antenna and has no protruding arm like a regular Dish, this is due to the Lnb being embedded into the antenna and makes for a very compact unit, Technisat also make flatt plate antenna's amongst others, they look very similiar to the old BSB Satellite Squarial, I found the FL500 Worked fine from John O Groats! (field testing), down into Southern France, although it failed to pick up Astra 2D along the Cote d Azur. the downside is cost which I guess would be at least £100.

Quote: Originally posted by CandP on 24/3/2009

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Another good place to look is ebay.

You can get a dish, LNB, Cable and brackets for about 35quid. Which is perfect for anyone who already has a sat receiver.
Then all you need is a pole to clamp it onto ;) Much cheaper than the dedicated kits. The only difference being that one comes in a case and the ebay ones don't.
A zone 1 dish would be suitable for most of the UK with the exception of the Highlands of Scotland where a Zone 2 would be needed.

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