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Hello all again. In the past this site has helped me no end with various problems associated with caravanning, I hope in this case somebody can advise if I am stupid or the reasons why I cannot achieve what I want.

In early 2007 I bought a free to air portable satellite system to take with us while caravaning, this to shut the wife up about not being able to see her x factor, I have to say that initially I struggled with the setup, but after a few hours of profuse swearing I eventually got the hang of it, now it takes me 2-3 minutes to log onto the astra 2 satellite at 28.2 degrees, its wonderful and gives me peace while I have a vodka and coke.   The question I have is, and maybe I am stupid here, I can get a whole host of channels, and can switch very quickly to hotbird or even astra 1, however, I cannot seem to pick up channel 4, men and motors and the film 4 channel, is this because these are not available from the free to air satellite astra system  at 28.2 deg, and only transmitted by Sky?

Can anybody  help me?

Regards

David

HI i  cant get the stations you mention , but apparently no one can either. the stations may be available by next summer is what i have been told

Hi Ken, thanks for the reply, maybe thats it in a nutshell, maybe somebody can fill us in on when and if they will be available?

Regards

Dave

I think its channel 4 and 5 you can't get on Freesat. However I have heard the 4 will end their arrangement with Sky next year so it might resolve itself. We are thinking of going over to a Satellite next year as we are intending to spend more time in Europe so its always interesting to read of people's experience.

David

Hi Dave, thanx for the reply, saw your mail coming in as I was on line,  we love west wales for a number of reasons and visit there as much as possible, for ages I battled to get a conventional signal down there, even radio was hit and miss, many times I spent most of the evening twiddling the ariel around so my wife could get some sort of picture and even then it was like snow.  Until one day I got so fed up I decided to look at alternatives, I chatted to various people while we were away who had satellite systems attached to their caravans, eventually I made the decision right or wrong at the time to go that route.

I bought a satellite system from ebay in what looked like a brief case, was not sure how I would get on with it, anyway it came all as a kit, I tried for ages to get it set up and nearly launched it into space a few times but did not give in, patience a satellite finder, a good quality compass and an understanding of satellite set up cured the problem.

You can look on ebay as they quite often have them for sale, bought mine for £60 where they are  £100+ in maplins,  have not looked back since, set up now only takes me mins once I have clamped the dish to the caravan and the wife does not moan anymore about not seeing the Xfactor, plus I can now get radio as well through the satellite, its great watching others twisting and cursing at their conventional ariels while I am sat watching  Sky News. If you need any help or more info do not hesitate to ask

Regards

David