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Hi All

Does anyone have freeview box, we had a sky dish and box for our last caravan but cant be bothered with all the hassle of setting up etc for a weekend, so was looking into a freeview box but dont know how they work. Will we need an outside ariel or anything as we havent got any ariel at the mo.

Any help appreciated

Melissa xx

I've holidayed in a few static caravans, and always take a freeview box with me plus an aerial with integrated booster designed for freeview.

My experience varies. Unless there is a strong signal in the area, you not likely to have much success with an indoor aerial (caravans are a metal shell, well static ones are anyway). However it is possible to do it, but you might spend a while fiddling with your aerial trying to find the best reception. I've had problems such as cars and people going by and causing signal interference.

On the caravans that have had an external aerial they've either not been orientated correctly (horizontal or vertical, it makes a difference for digital reception) and/or not been raised high enough to get a good signal.

If you're travelling about, I find this site http://www.ukfree.tv excellent for getting transmitter information from. It tells you where your nearest transmitter is (so you can point your aerial at it) what signal strength it has, where it covers (graphical representation), and which channels it carries.

I use the same as Newfi_lover, Omni van aerial + USB freeview adaptor on the laptop. Great as the PC plays DVDs, games and is a TV. Its also smaller than a flat screen folded away.

However reception is hit and miss, even in areas where digital is suposed to be good (hence a stack of DVD's).

If you want better reception you need a good aerial. Adding a booster (amplifier) doesn't help much, as rubbish in = bigger rubbish out. You need a good signal to noise ratio, ie lots of signal and little noise. Idealy you want both analogue and digital reception, as this more or less guarentees some type of reception.