How do you receive your TV ?

[alan_fincher]

Hi..

 

Camos dome....select satellite you wanna watch...wait for motors to do the rest....

No satellite link.??.raise 26 foot mast which also has internet repeater amplifier on it...

Well...it is 2010 !!!

 

Bob

Approximate cost ?

 

(I have far less money in 2010 than I did in most of the years leading up to it!)

[Guest wanted]

Hi..

 

Camos dome....select satellite you wanna watch...wait for motors to do the rest....

No satellite link.??.raise 26 foot mast which also has internet repeater amplifier on it...

Well...it is 2010 !!!

 

Bob

 

then sit back and watch absolute twaddle most of the time!

[Bobbybass]

You're all so cruel....

I have great things to watch...!!!

 

There is this great new program calles Steptoe and Son.....and another called 'Whatever happened to the likley lads...'

That's without things like : 'Cops with cameras....Cops with fast cars...Cops with helicopters...and Cops with loud American accents'

Its all well worth it....

 

Hmmmm...now I think about it...anyone wanna buy a satellite dome..?

 

 

Bob

[Phil Ambrose]

I use one of these most of the time.

 

http://www.maxview.co.uk/products/info_C3008_B.html

 

But I have attached the pole to an extending aluminium pole (see photo) which is usually enough for a good signal. It's easier to line up than the demountable satellite dish.

 

 

How do you strap the tree to the pole?

 

Phil

[Tiny]

We hang our omnimax on the front door handle. There is a booster in the circuit. If the signal is bad we open the door but mostly it is OK. We notice others need poles and huge arrays to get the same result.

 

At home we have a £12 portable ariel on a box pointing through the window at the transmitter (maybe). The transmitter is 30 miles away behind a few lumpy bits and the ariel works best pointing at the wood frame of the window, yet that ariel, with its built in booster gives a full strength signal to the digital recorder. In fact before reaching that recorder we split the signal twice - first to another TV at the other end of the house via a long cable, through a booster and video recorder.The other split is at the back of the original TV - on 30' of in room cable from the ariel. Here a two way splitter booster feeds the digital recorder and another video recorder. The TV is linked via EXT1 to the digital recorder, and via EXT2 to the DVD player (which could be linked to the TV through the video but then needs an extra sound feed to the TV as with both on EXT1 the DVD gives picture but no sound). Meanwhile the video recorder is linked to the TV via the ariel feed. By doing this the video recorder can record (non digital) off the ariel and also feed non digital to the TV, the TV can get direct (non digital) from the ariel. The digital recorder can record up to two channels (digital) while playing back a recorded one on the TV or can record one, play one live. The rig also allows the video to record off the digital via the AV channel if we want a less good but more permanent recording.

 

If I only had 3 heads and brains I could actually use all this lot but its nice to play and occasional it is useful.

[Mat B]

Got a satellite dish mounted on the mooring.

 

River is a bit high at the moment and I discovered last night that the B***** thing doesn't work underwater!

 

m@

[Guest wanted]

You're all so cruel....

I have great things to watch...!!!

 

There is this great new program calles Steptoe and Son.....and another called 'Whatever happened to the likley lads...'

That's without things like : 'Cops with cameras....Cops with fast cars...Cops with helicopters...and Cops with loud American accents'

Its all well worth it....

 

Hmmmm...now I think about it...anyone wanna buy a satellite dome..?

 

 

Bob

 

[DHutch]

We dont have a TV onboard...

[Keeping Up]

We dont have a TV onboard...

Just a steam radio I assume?

[churchward]

As ccers, 95% of the time we get a good terrestrial signal with a log periodic aerial, no reflector so nice and slim and takes minimum space when folded down and is doubled up so nice and short, has built in booster. We also have a cheap satellite dish from Aldis which is very good but rarely need to set it up + we find it more fiddly than terrestrial which only needs moving in one plane, dish entails two planes.

Yep, this method gets my vote to. It's effective and cheap compared to satellite set-ups. We rarely have an issue getting a Freeview signal.

Edited March 1, 2010 by churchward

[GeoffS]

It helps if you can see the screen at the same time

 

Dish mounted on front of cratch. Turn screen so it can be seen through window. Align dish as necessary watching the signal reading.

[PeterG]

We have a simply dish with a mag mount but to be honest we have only used it three times in the last five years since we bought it.

 

Seemed easy enough to set up using a compass and copying others that had been setup already.

 

However you can see we do not watch TV that much but use the internet instead to keep in touch when on the boat, there is just to much to do rather than just staring at a rectangular plastic thing.

[Bullfrog]

Thought you might like to see this one spotted at Lagos Marina, Portugal last week:-

 

 

Since this is on the salty stuff, I guess he must be a CM'er and never goes anywhere! I bet he gets a good picture though.

 

David

[steelaway]

My mates ariel - it looks worse in real life - bent to buggery

But he insists he get a perfect picture with it.

 

 

Alex

[Tiny]

My mates ariel - it looks worse in real life - bent to buggery

But he insists he get a perfect picture with it.

 

 

Alex

 

As the TV offers signal strength I tried my £12 indoor ariel - 30 miles from the transmitter pointing in all directions. It varied just 1% and the low figure was pointing in the opposite direction to the tranmitter straight at the back wall. Maybe the room walls are part of the ariel. I understand that they are full of salt as it used to be cured in that room before it became part of the house.

[mchancox]

Thought you might like to see this one spotted at Lagos Marina, Portugal last week:-

 

 

Since this is on the salty stuff, I guess he must be a CM'er and never goes anywhere! I bet he gets a good picture though.

 

David

Satellite TV, Internet and Communicating with the International Space Station!!!!

[mchancox]

 

Hi.

 

Went to the Boat and Caravan show at the N.E.C, yesterday. Suprised how limited the display onboard equipment was, but hey ho, we are in a recession.

 

So, with the onset of the "Digital revolution", how do you receive your T.V.?

 

All the systems i saw were massive, not suited to life on a narrowboat roof as a permanent fitting, and far to complex for moi.

 

Cheers

 

John.

I too was at the Show on Sunday and was a little disappointed with the equipment on show.

Receiving TV signals can be a little tricky depending on where you are. If using an aerial you need to point it towards the transmitter. Ideally you then need to position your aerial either horizontally or Vertically (Again depending on the transmitter.

I personally prefer Satellite and a freeview box to watch the BBC, ITV, CH4 & 5 and a few others out of the several hundred that are available.

Budget comes into it as well. If you want a system that you just push a button and the Dish does all the hard work then you can expect to pay 4 figures. Basic sat systems are a £160+.

There is just so much Choice in the modern era so go with what you think is best for you. Whether you are live aboard (Static) or on the move constantly.

[Justin Smith]

I`ve done a bit of research into optimising your TV signal from a canal boat, or caravan. Not that I`ve ever been caravanning but I assume the principles are the same. That said I`d have thought getting TV reception from a canal boat is a bit more difficult than a caravan because canals and rivers are in valleys !

Basically I`d use a Log Periodic aerial, but make sure you`re aligning onto the strongest transmitter, which is not always the one you expect, also that your TV aerial is correctly polarised and that your TV is correctly tuned in !

Omni directional TV aerials are not recommended other than in strong signal areas or as an aid to identifying the strongest transmitter to align onto with a decent aerial.

[nb Innisfree]

We use this for aligning aerial. With a small mod you can do away with the plug in battery and mount it permanently in the coax route using aerial booster power supply. No bothering with finding transmitter, just twirl the aerial mounting pole until you get the most LEDs lit up.

Edited March 13, 2010 by nb Innisfree

[Keeping Up]

I`ve done a bit of research into optimising your TV signal from a canal boat, or caravan. Not that I`ve ever been caravanning but I assume the principles are the same. That said I`d have thought getting TV reception from a canal boat is a bit more difficult than a caravan because canals and rivers are in valleys !

Basically I`d use a Log Periodic aerial, but make sure you`re aligning onto the strongest transmitter, which is not always the one you expect, also that your TV aerial is correctly polarised and that your TV is correctly tuned in !

Omni directional TV aerials are not recommended other than in strong signal areas or as an aid to identifying the strongest transmitter to align onto with a decent aerial.

Most of what you say is very good advice but I do have two small observations:

 

1. Rivers are always at the bottom of valleys; canals usually are not.

 

2. One advantage of an omnidirectional aerial, applicable to boats but not to caravans, is that they will provide a watchable signal for the crew when the boat is on the move. I have a choice of aerials available, and I find that the omnidirectional aerial will pull in a reasonable signal including Freeview in probably 3 out of 4 locations (disregarding those locations where there is no signal available for even a log periodic).

 

I have always used the omnidirectional aerial to find the best signal - even if it was too noisy to be watchable - and then swapped to a directional aerial if necessary. However this technique is much less useful on digital TV because you can easily have a "catch 22" situation where you can't lock on to a digital signal until it is reasonably strong, but you can't find out which way to point the aerial until after you have locked on to the signal; the use of some sort of signal strength meter then becomes almost essential.

[Keith & Kathy]

Hi

I tried normal ariel and a dish. What a lot of messing about, cant be doing with it at my age (retired). Had a dome fitted it's brill. Moor up, turn on flat screen tv, press a button on a little box, no prob's. bit pricy, think I paid about £1200, but hey lifes to short.

[Biggles]

Not read the whole thread but I use a cheap Lidl dish (£30 with digi box 4500 channels) with my sky box from home. I usually have it aligned ion a couple of minutes. We get all our sky chanels we get at home using the multiroom box.

 

Setting up the dish is very easy one you have practiced it. Great guide here Linky

 

Log on to the Lidl email feed to see when they come up next. I wish at that price I had bought them all in store and ebay'd the rest at £60 a pop

 

Biggles

[Justin Smith]

Most of what you say is very good advice but I do have two small observations:

 

1. Rivers are always at the bottom of valleys; canals usually are not.

 

2. One advantage of an omnidirectional aerial, applicable to boats but not to caravans, is that they will provide a watchable signal for the crew when the boat is on the move. I have a choice of aerials available, and I find that the omnidirectional aerial will pull in a reasonable signal including Freeview in probably 3 out of 4 locations (disregarding those locations where there is no signal available for even a log periodic).

 

I have always used the omnidirectional aerial to find the best signal - even if it was too noisy to be watchable - and then swapped to a directional aerial if necessary. However this technique is much less useful on digital TV because you can easily have a "catch 22" situation where you can't lock on to a digital signal until it is reasonably strong, but you can't find out which way to point the aerial until after you have locked on to the signal; the use of some sort of signal strength meter then becomes almost essential.

 

I`d agree with you that canals aren`t always at the bottom of valleys like rivers (by definition) are, but they are more likely to be so than say a road.

 

I accept that some Freeview boxes work differently than others, but surely once you`ve got the thing tuned in (preferably manually) using the Omni, you can then peak up the higher gain aerial on the same frequency using the signal strength reading, not that I fully trust those things but that`s another issue.

As an aside, if purchasing a set top box (or TV) for use on a boat or caravan I`d try and get one which can be tuned in manually because not all can be.