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Freesat


jacko264

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Hi all

If we use a freesat  on a narrow boat  will the dish need to be on the bank  or will it work on the boat .

I was  going to take one on holiday  and was thinking if I needed  to make a stand or a bracket to fit it on the roof

thankyou for any info 

Graham 

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Used one on the boat for several years. As long as it has line of sight on the satellite, it will work. Finding the satellite is the hard bit, but a finder inserted in to the cable makes it easier. Seen various approaches to mounting the dish. Needs to be easy to adjust and easy to take down so it doesn't get trashed by low bridges etc.

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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18 minutes ago, jacko264 said:

Hi all

If we use a freesat  on a narrow boat  will the dish need to be on the bank  or will it work on the boat .

I was  going to take one on holiday  and was thinking if I needed  to make a stand or a bracket to fit it on the roof

thankyou for any info 

Graham 

It will work on the boat no problem.

 

Be aware though that boat movement may temporarily affect the elevation angle of the dish, particularly if the dish is aligned facing toward port or starboard. We found somebody stepping aboard would be sufficient to disrupt viewing. This was with a std. 'Sky' dish.

 

Aligned facing toward bow or stern this obviously less of an issue.

 

You dont mention which reciever you plan to use but the newer Freesat HD boxes also need internet connectivity for all the functions like 'watch program from start' as an example.

 

(Im pretty sure our Manhaten in the bedroom one wont work at all without an internet connection. I can check in the morning.)

Edited by The Happy Nomad
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4 minutes ago, jacko264 said:

Hi Nomad  the set up we have is quite old and it will not need the internet I will have to find it buried  in the small bedroom  to find the make and model 

Graham

 

If its old dont worry. Internet connectivity is unlikely to be an issue.

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We’ve had a mag mount satellite dish on the boat for about 8 years. We keep it inside during the day, plonk it on the roof in the evening. As said, you need to consider where you are going to moor if you need to watch telly, because even a small amount of foliage along the line between dish and satellite will block the signal..

 

There are generally two types of dish, those with the receiving bit (LNB) in the centre, and those with it on an arm at the bottom of the dish. The latter is much better IMO because it means the dish aim is vertically offset and it so happens that the correct elevation of the dish is with it vertical  which is easy to “eyeball”. Bear in mind the roof is curved, not flat!
 

You then just need to point the dish about 145degrees (south south east) and tweak it a bit to get a good signal. Counter-intuitively, smaller dishes are easier to set up because they are less directional.

 

If in need of commercial help, seek out Martyn at Travelsat, he is very helpful.

Edited by nicknorman
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Much the same a Nick.  I use BNC connectors to link in the sat finder (quicker than the F-type) and it usually takes me maybe a minute to get a good lock.  Don't often lose the signal with boat movement, and if so it is only a second or two.  I also use Nicholsons to get the direction to aim.  With practice you soon get the knack of setting it up.

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9 hours ago, dor said:

Much the same a Nick.  I use BNC connectors to link in the sat finder (quicker than the F-type) and it usually takes me maybe a minute to get a good lock.  Don't often lose the signal with boat movement, and if so it is only a second or two.  I also use Nicholsons to get the direction to aim.  With practice you soon get the knack of setting it up.

Yes F connectors can be a bit fiddly, but we use push fit F connector adaptors. You can get them from eBay or Amazon.

9 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

i use an iOS app called Dish Align to give me a rough idea if its worth bothering to set up the dish when we're moored up, if it is then its a simple job with a good signal meter to lock on to the sat.

Unlike tv signals, the satellite is always in the same direction so I just look at Google maps to see where the satellite is.

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10 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

i use an iOS app called Dish Align to give me a rough idea if its worth bothering to set up the dish when we're moored up, if it is then its a simple job with a good signal meter to lock on to the sat.

I can tell you that a compass won't help you find the correct alignment direction when you are stood next to a steel boat! How do I know this? ?

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23 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Unlike tv signals, the satellite is always in the same direction so I just look at Google maps to see where the satellite is.

 

3 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

I can tell you that a compass won't help you find the correct alignment direction when you are stood next to a steel boat! How do I know this? ?

 

 

its not massively different to using Google maps, just a different tool

 

 

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11 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

I can tell you that a compass won't help you find the correct alignment direction when you are stood next to a steel boat! How do I know this? ?

Indeed! The compass of a phone is often similarly affected so an app (or Google maps) doesn't always work unless you are standing a long way from the boat. That was why I invented the Satellite Sundial, which can even help you stop the boat at precisely the right place relative to a small gap in the trees; just print it out and hold the sheet of paper in front of you as you come to a stop. Of course it only works if the sun shines.

 

Don't be tempted to use a larger dish in the expectation of getting a better signal. The larger the dish the more critical is the alignment, and the signal strength from a smaller dish is perfectly adequate.

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Don't need a sat finder or compass or anything. You stand on the roof in the pouring rain whilst wife shouts at you. 'Not that way, the other way, no the other other way, you had it then.  When? , just then. What when it was there?  No when it was somewhere else. How's that now? ...... Where are you? I can't hear you, I've gone to the loo. Oh F*** this .... splash. There, that's how to do it. Guess how I know.

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19 minutes ago, Keeping Up said:

Indeed! The compass of a phone is often similarly affected so an app (or Google maps) doesn't always work unless you are standing a long way from the boat. That was why I invented the Satellite Sundial, which can even help you stop the boat at precisely the right place relative to a small gap in the trees; just print it out and hold the sheet of paper in front of you as you come to a stop. Of course it only works if the sun shines.

 

Don't be tempted to use a larger dish in the expectation of getting a better signal. The larger the dish the more critical is the alignment, and the signal strength from a smaller dish is perfectly adequate.

You don’t need any compass functionality when using eg google maps, well that assumes you can eyeball approx 145 degrees on a map.

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We used a free sat and dish set up on our boat over the last 11 years and would regularly moor up in the same spot . However, the last year we could not obtain a signal from the same mooring spot, finally deciding that the local trees and bushes had grown over the years thus preventing the clear sight of the satellite we had obtained in the earlier years. Doh !

 

Edited by Boatingbiker
added not in the appropriate place in text to make sense
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We have used sat for many years and when we had our new boat built four years ago we specified the need for a good mount block above the bow doors. The curved shape of most boat roofs does not work well with mag mounts. Our builder saved the cut outs from the bow thruster tube to weld in place!

 

We started with a low cost sat in line finder which was especially frustrating but a special self Christmas present brought us a more upmarket one which displays a small picture on the screen, It is battery powered so attached directly to the dish's lead before you then connect into the cabin. Normally we lock on within about five seconds of pointing in roughly the right direction. One problem with the simpler detectors is that they react to various satellites whilst the more complex one can be set to the standard sat and so does not attempt to lock onto the wrong signal.

 

An approx direction is very simple, especially as we normally set up at the end of the day once moored (we always take the dish down whilst cruising and in high wind - the mag will take most conditions but very high winds can topple it). Look for where the sun is about to set - point right arm in that direction. The point the left arm directly opposite (ie east west) now point the right arm in front of you (ie due south) Now bisect that angle as the sat is roughly south east. Start searching with the dish and sat finder in that direction and it will not take long to get 28deg.

 

Whilst here, can I give a very big plug for Martyn at Travelsat. He specialises in canal based users and travels over a wide area to supply and fit. He even came to us when the base mount failed year a short while back. (A known weak point in these dishes is short rod that is attached to the base of the dish and which fits into the mag mount) Martyn will never rip you off and will go that extra mile (literally) to supply what you want.

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1 hour ago, nicknorman said:

You don’t need any compass functionality when using eg google maps, well that assumes you can eyeball approx 145 degrees on a map.

Nicholson's with their 1:25,000 OS maps are also good for eyeballing suitable local features at the right bearing. Assuming you know where you are.

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We use freesat all the time. If wanting telly make sure there is an open aspect to the South East and aim. No need for any special technology to find the satellite. The key is planning ahead when you moor up. We just work from the canal books.

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2 hours ago, Wizzer said:

We use freesat all the time. If wanting telly make sure there is an open aspect to the South East and aim. No need for any special technology to find the satellite. The key is planning ahead when you moor up. We just work from the canal books.

Depends on your boat, layout and installation. If, as in our case and many others, the dish is mounted on the roof with an aerial socket that connects with a cabin near the stern, then shouting between the person adjusting the dish and the person watching the tv can get a little fraught. In addition, the reception is more stable in response to boat movements if it is well aligned and doing that, just based on seeing a picture on screen, is quite difficult.

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14 minutes ago, Tonka said:

You are going to be on a boat in the countryside

 

Life is too short to worry about a television.

That's about as helpful to the OP as offering to make them a cup of tea in a chocolate tea pot.

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