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lots of info here

http://satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/

Quote: Originally posted by andyrbruce on 09/7/2012

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....Thinking of getting a Satellite setup for our holiday to the New forest.

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This is the reply that I gave to another query a couple of days ago under the topic: portable satellite kit:

I have a portable satellite kit bought from Maplins online, I had a choice of a new one at about £120 or a 'refurbished' one at £49.95. I chose the latter and it was actually brand new, just the outer case was very slightly scratched! I don't think it came with a SCART lead, but they're only about a fiver.

It's actually easy to set up, just follow the instruction booklet. You need to assemble the dish components, connect the lead from the dish to your receiver, connect the receiver to the tv with the SCART lead, connect power to them both and turn 'em on. Aim the dish slightly east of south (a cheap compass will do the trick, or look at other dishes on site to see which way they're pointing) and make sure the dish is vertical, not pointing at the sky. You must sure that there are no tall trees, buildings, etc. blocking the dish's 'view' of the satellite.Press the 'INFO' button on the receiver remote and on the television you'll see two horizontal bars showing signal intensity and signal quality. Don't panic! Now you need to press 1 (I think)  and this will give you an audible low tone, but you may need to increase your tv volume to hear it, especially if the dish is some way away from the tv. Back to the dish now, adjust the dish in a horizontal plane only 2-3 mm at a time until you hear the low tone turn to a high tone. When this happens you will have a crystal-clear picture from the satellite! Fix the dish in this position so that it doesn't move and that's it. All you need to do now is to search for channels. On the receiver hand-set there is a button marked 'Search'. It takes a few minutes but you'll get something like 420 channels plus 60-odd radio channels, although a lot are encrypted, such as Sky. The television hand-set is not used apart from volume, colour, etc., everything is done on the receiver hand-set.

If I've made any errors, I apologise, but I'm writing this from memory as my satellite kit is packed away for a while. However, the instruction book is quite comprehensive and if you 'play' at home first you'll find it child's play on site. Enjoy!

We bought a kit of E Bay looked great value, dish tripod, box with remote signal finder and all the leads with instructions. First time out it worked great down in Dorset after the initial 2 hr set up, never got it working again despite several attempts at various locations through out the country. Decided to stick with the status aerial on the van and watch what ever we can.

Good Luck