Maplin "Satellite Suitcase"

[Yamanx]

I used my Maplin suitcase satellite tv system in anger for the first time over the break. And I am well impressed. Worked an absolute treat, I couldnt get on with the stipid compass thing but if you just point it roughly in the south west direction, switch on the beeper and move the dish around until the sound gets to a higher pitch and bingo! Perfect tv picture on a million channels. Took no longer than directing a normal tv aerial, with far superior results.

 

Highly recommended.

[NB Willawaw]

The COMAG unit that Maplins sell, far out-performs an omni-directional aerial if you have a good view of the horizon - the elevation angle for the Astra satellite is quite low off the horizon and if your aerial is fixed low down (i.e. on the coachroof), getting an unobstructed view of the bird is not always easy unless you are moored near open fields.

 

Bear in mind that you can't receive ITV Ch4 or Ch5 as these are encrypted.

 

However, it does provide all the other regional BBC and ITV programmes plus Sky News, CNN, Men and Motors etc for free. Note you will need a TV licence for the address that you give at the shop. You also get Radio 2 via satellite if your FM stereo reception is dicky.

 

I got mine with a German language manual and managed to get it going based on the schematics.

I have since discovered that you can download English language instructions from the Maplins website.

 

P.S its a pain to get it all back in the box - I don't think I'll bother. The choice of mounts that come as standard i.e. rubber suction mount like a cars GPS mount or the G-clamp are well made.

Edited January 3, 2007 by NB Willawaw

[chris w]

I have the Maplin unit too and it works a treat. The elevation angle for the Astra satellite(s) is not too low though @ around 25 degrees (+/_ a couple of degrees depending on exact location). The dish looks like it's pointing at the horizon but it's an "offset" type so when it's roughly vertical, it's actually looking about 20+ degrees into the sky. Of course if you have thick trees right next to you that will be an issue.

 

Chris

Edited January 3, 2007 by chris w

[Bullfrog]

An update on this product.

 

I managed to damage my LNB last weekend whilst trying to dis-connect the co-ax cable. Instead of disconnecting it tore out the socket instead, obviously breaking the connection to the internal PCB.

 

The good news is that Maplins sent me a replacement LNB under warranty FOC next day.

 

Excellent service from Maplins.

Edited June 1, 2007 by Bullfrog

[NB Willawaw]

That is excellent service.

I have spent quite a lot of time in Maplins recently as we are moored near a store and believe they even sell the replacement LNB's.

I've also seen the receiver in there for sale separately, as well.

 

An update on this product.

 

I managed to damage my LNB last weekend whilst trying to dis-connect the co-ax cable. Instead of disconnecting it tore out the socket instead, obviously breaking the connection to the internal PCB.

 

The good news is that Maplins sent me a replacement LNB under warranty FOC next day.

 

Excellent service from Maplins.

Edited June 1, 2007 by NB Willawaw

[BORNJOYFUL]

S o who can tell me how we get channel four a sit is mainly what we watch!!

 

also i reckon we will have tree problems- should i go for satellite or multidirectional- using it with a laptop and tv card. thankd T

[NB Willawaw]

You wont get Ch4 on the Maplin/freesat solution.

I guess, satellite-wise, you are looking at a sky-box.

Alternatively, analogue or digital terrestrial signals using an external, directional aerial on a pole.

 

S o who can tell me how we get channel four a sit is mainly what we watch!!

 

also i reckon we will have tree problems- should i go for satellite or multidirectional- using it with a laptop and tv card. thankd T

[Sue]

To help with finding the dot in he sky, and from one of the link pages on my blog...

 

Finding the dot in the sky

 

The biggest asset us narrowboaters have is good ol’ Nicholsons Guides (A compass is handy, but not necessary). North is always at the top of the page, so when thinking about your mooring, check the book and make sure there are no trees or buildings in the line of SEish. Having moored send someone out ready to swing the dish, switch on the Tele and receiver.

 

Press ‘Services' on the remote, then select (4) System Set Up, then (6) Signal Test. OK now you need whoever is on aerial duty to point the dish in an easterly direction…. ready to swing it very slowly to the South East ( 28.2 degrees east to be exact). If you start from a Southerly direction you will get the wrong satellite (there are a lot going around!) The Lock Indicator will say ‘not locked’ and the two bits below that will say 00 at this stage. Turn the dish a couple of inches to the South East, wait for a count of 3, then turn again, and continue doing this until…

 

Lock Indicator – ‘OK’

Network ID – 0002

Transport Stream – 07d4

 

(Any other ‘Network or Transport Stream’ and you have got the wrong satellite! . In this case, switch the box off, then disconnect from the wall. Wait 30 secs and start all over again. After a few goes at doing this you will become very quick at finding it.

 

Hope that helps.. we tend to get the set up done in about 20 seconds now.

[Djuwenda]

2 things...

 

1- Aldi have a sat dish set which works of 12v coming on sale next sunday for the paltry sum of £49

 

2- Can you use such a set up to get a freeview signal?

 

reason I am asking is I have a freeview receiver on my laptop (dont own a telly) and I am finding it hard at the moment to get a decent freeview signal in most places. The only input my freeview receiver has is the coaxial one.

[Keeping Up]

2 things...

 

1- Aldi have a sat dish set which works of 12v coming on sale next sunday for the paltry sum of £49

 

2- Can you use such a set up to get a freeview signal?

 

reason I am asking is I have a freeview receiver on my laptop (dont own a telly) and I am finding it hard at the moment to get a decent freeview signal in most places. The only input my freeview receiver has is the coaxial one.

Freeview comes from a terrestrial transmitter so you need an aerial to receive it. A freeview box will not receive a satellite signal.

 

Freesat comes from a satellite so you need a dish to receive it, and will not get Channel 4 unless you use a Sky box with a card (either one that you pay monthly for, which gets you everything including Sky TV and lots of other channels, or one that costs £20 as a one-off and just gets you BBC & ITV plus channels 4 and 5 and a few others). Neither a Sky box nor a Freesat box will receive freeview signals.

 

The two are not interchangeable, but many people confuse them especially as the marketing name of the satellite version has been changed so frequently (when I bought mine some years ago it was called Free2view)

[cyclic]

2 things...

 

1- Aldi have a sat dish set which works of 12v coming on sale next sunday for the paltry sum of £49

 

2- Can you use such a set up to get a freeview signal?

 

reason I am asking is I have a freeview receiver on my laptop (dont own a telly) and I am finding it hard at the moment to get a decent freeview signal in most places. The only input my freeview receiver has is the coaxial one.

I use a "Freeview" receiver with my laptop on the boat, with a normal basic 10 element TV aerial which I also use for the analogue TV. I just swop the 'coax' coneector from one to the other.

 

If you're attempting to get reception with a 6inch antenna that came with the laptop receiver, forget it, unless you can get it away from the steelwork of the boat.

Freeview is also only available in selected areas of the UK. Google "Freeview" to check that you're in one.

 

My current TV aerial is also a disgrace. It's bent and corroded, but it does the job and on the laptop the strength and quality indicators are high, but you could probably pick up a 10 element one for a tenner.

 

wrt the Aldi sat dish, I bought a Lidl Suitcase one, which is described as "Free to air", and is not related to SKY so you don't get all the channels, including 4 and 5.

IMHO unless you need the Playboy channel or Al Jazeera, you'd be better persevering with your freeview laptop set up. You might get good picture quality with the Satellite, but not much better than the laptop, and you wouldn't have to run another cable for the dish antenna.

Its only advantage for you would be if you weren't in a "Freeview" area.

My Lidl sat receiver has a connection for a monitor as well as a SCART, but you'd need to check if the Aldi version had one, and also that it was compatible with the laptop, otherwise you'd have to shell out on a monitor or a flat screen TV.

 

FWIW I can set up the sat dish now in less than a minute, without the benefit (???) of the supplied finder thingy.

Also, Unfortunately, the Receiver doesn't have the benefits of a SKY receiver's , so you're on your own with the alignment unless you can read a lot more into the instructions than are supplied.

 

Hope that helps

[Djuwenda]

it does indeed.

 

I am just trying to get BBC2, to watch the bike racing. Europsort in French English German or Spanish would be nice too.

 

I am not a huge TV fan (been doing witout for nearly two years now) and dont really want to buy a LCD tv as its one more thing to stow away/convert to 12v/protect from prying eyes.

 

What I might do is get a pcmcia card so that I can plug the sat dish in to the laptop: My friend who cc'es with me has an analogue antenna and hardly ever manages to get a signal.

[Maverick]

Rather than keep tail-ending the Lidl thread, I thought I'd start one specifically about this set-up.

 

In fact, I think at least one of the systems that Lidl have sold may be nigh on identical, (although others they have marketed are 240 volt only).

 

This is the one I'm trying.....

 

Link to Maplin Satellite Suitcase system

 

Yours for £59.99, (or slightly less if you buy a £2 catalogue to use a £3 voucher).

 

This contains the lot, including receiver, dish, selection of mounts, cable, 240 volt AC to 12 volt DC power supply, separate 12V cigarette lighter style lead, Scart cable, and a very crude compass based satellite finder.

 

The instructions are quite poor, and, if you've never tried finding a satellite with a dish before, don't give many clues.

 

Note this is NOT a Sky system, and cannot take any sort of plug-in card, so will only work with channels that have no encrytion of any sort. It's fine for all BBC and ITV channels, but NOT channels Four or Five. (If you must have those, you need the more expensive Sky free to view offerings).

 

So does it work on-board a narrow boat ?.....

 

Well yes, on a try out on our home moorings, I eventually found the Astra satellite that handles most of the UK stuff - I was quite lucky that it's in a direction where trees and other obstructions are not, or I think I'd have failed at that point.

 

The receiver is working well, but dish is very susceptible to movement of the boat on its moorings, and picture drops out if you rock it very much. (I think because the dish is "looking" sideways off the boat it's far more vulnerable to this, than if it was "looking" forward" - any side to side rocking is significantly changing the angle of inclination towards the satellite.

 

Curiously London ITV was harder to get right than other ITV regions - I noticed this at home too, but am unsure of the technical reasons why. But all ITV and BBC channels, + S4C, CNN News, (and about 200 other channels of largely crap!), seem to be good picture quality.

 

I'm not sure how I'd have fared if rainy, windy or both.

 

I have, however, encountered one issue, that needs more thinking about.

 

I'm largely 12 volt only - part of the attractions of this box. I had the box wired directly to the boat supply, (it says it can tolerate under volts and over volts), but the TV is running of 12 volts through one of the much discussed Amperor regulators. What I found was, that although TV picture is fine, I'm getting a significant, (though just about tolerable), audio "buzz", when the TV is connected to the Sat receiver, and it's powered on. Seems like some kind of "earth loop" issue, perhap?. But it seems if I run the Sat box through a low powered inverter, to drive it's 240 volt power pack, the buzzing stops. (I't all worked fine when 240 volt powered at home).

 

I don't want to use any 240 volt on the boat, if I can avoid it, so will continue to look at the problem. I haven't measured the volts available at the front of the boat when the TV is switched on, (yet), but am wondering if it's dropping below a level that the Sat box is happy with when powered off it directly. (I don't want to have to buy another Amperor supply for the sat box - it will cost nearly as much as the whole of that system).

 

More work is needed on this, but not too bad for a quick set-up, and, if you are 240 volt based, the indications are that it "would do exactly what it says on the tin", straight out of the "suitcase".

 

Anyone else tried one of these cheapies yet, please ?

 

 

Attempted to set one of thes up today with zero results. Apparently whatever I try I get the no signal message. Press the info button and I'm on BBC World Astra 19.2E. If I do a auto scan it says no station found.

 

Tried the audio bleeper wich worked but didnt help and the shit compass that came with the dish. Whatever I do I cannot get the signal intensity meter of 35% (even disconnecting the cable it still read 35%) and signal quality wont move from 10 - 11 %

[stuart]

Kept meaning to post this, but SKY are also doing a box+dish package for a one-off cost of £79. No monthly costs. You only get the basic free channels, but includes BBC + ITV etc.

 

Might be worth it for keeping a SKY box on board.

 

Have a look here... http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=497501

 

http://www.dixons.co.uk/martprd/editorial/...omos%20Sky%20TV

[Maverick]

Hello Michael,The trouble is Astra 2 is not marked on the Sat finder supplied (only Astra 1 19deg E-the german channels).If it the same as my one,set the wheel to London.Now rotate the dish.I have found that Astra 2 is straight through the middle of the "A"of Astra on the dial.Set the dish so that it sitting vertical.Follow the instructions in the manual,IE make sure the receiver is tuned to Astra 28 deg,and set to say BBC1-and you shouldn't be far out.If you still have no picture,press the info button on the remote to get the meter and audio beeper up.Now by gently moving the dish left or right or up and down a little (listening for the tone to rise in pitch)you will find the Sat and the picture will pop up.

Once you have done it a couple of times it will become second nature.Hope this helps Badger.

 

Attempted to set one of thes up today with zero results. Apparently whatever I try I get the no signal message. Press the info button and I'm on BBC World Astra 19.2E. If I do a auto scan it says no station found.

 

Tried the audio bleeper wich worked but didnt help and the shit compass that came with the dish. Whatever I do I cannot get the signal intensity meter of 35% (even disconnecting the cable it still read 35%) and signal quality wont move from 10 - 11 %

[Bullfrog]

Whatever I do I cannot get the signal intensity meter of 35% (even disconnecting the cable it still read 35%) and signal quality wont move from 10 - 11 %

 

This might mean you don't have a good cable connection possibly got the braided earth screen touching where it shouldn't, so in fact the with and without cable signal is in fact the same!

 

You might also have perfect hardware set-up but have no line of sight to the satellite. Tall trees or buildings in the way can stop it working.

 

Also check your elevation of the dish. On mine the bar at the bottom is usually horizontal when signal is found.

 

Keep trying - it's worth it once you have the knack of alligning the dish you'll get crystal clear reception.

[Silkhay]

Attempted to set one of thes up today with zero results. Apparently whatever I try I get the no signal message. Press the info button and I'm on BBC World Astra 19.2E. If I do a auto scan it says no station found.

 

Tried the audio bleeper wich worked but didnt help and the shit compass that came with the dish. Whatever I do I cannot get the signal intensity meter of 35% (even disconnecting the cable it still read 35%) and signal quality wont move from 10 - 11 %

 

I use one of these dish / decoder combos all of the time.

First you need to go to the menu / satellite setup menu and change it to Astra 2.

Get yourself a proper compass and point the areial to 146 Mag, it varies slightly depending on where you are in the UK but only by an amount too small to register on most compasses.

The connecting bar between the dish and the LNB needs to be about horizontal.

Then you may need to move the dish around very slightly until you get a good signal, I would recommend a signal strength meter which you can get about £15 from B&Q which has a far quicker response than the signal strength meter on the screen.

If you get a good signal but no picture you are probably lined up on Astra 1, which has a much stronger signal than Astra 2. You can check this by changing the decoder to Astra 1 and you will see a nice selection of German programmes (How's your German?). This is the one I usually hit first.

If this is the case then you need to swing the dish about 3 - 4 degrees left and lower the LNB a tad. Note you don't move it 9 degrees, that is the difference in their Longditude over the equator not the line of sight from the UK.

Incidentally, before you do anything make sure all your connections are clean, and no chance of short between the coax core and the screen.

If I can be of any more help please ask

[Maverick]

I use one of these dish / decoder combos all of the time.

First you need to go to the menu / satellite setup menu and change it to Astra 2.

Get yourself a proper compass and point the areial to 146 Mag, it varies slightly depending on where you are in the UK but only by an amount too small to register on most compasses.

The connecting bar between the dish and the LNB needs to be about horizontal.

Then you may need to move the dish around very slightly until you get a good signal, I would recommend a signal strength meter which you can get about £15 from B&Q which has a far quicker response than the signal strength meter on the screen.

If you get a good signal but no picture you are probably lined up on Astra 1, which has a much stronger signal than Astra 2. You can check this by changing the decoder to Astra 1 and you will see a nice selection of German programmes (How's your German?). This is the one I usually hit first.

If this is the case then you need to swing the dish about 3 - 4 degrees left and lower the LNB a tad. Note you don't move it 9 degrees, that is the difference in their Longditude over the equator not the line of sight from the UK.

Incidentally, before you do anything make sure all your connections are clean, and no chance of short between the coax core and the screen.

If I can be of any more help please ask

 

Bought it home and had a play with it. Just Managed to get the astra 1 station but couldnt locate the astra 2. Had it for a split milli second but it apears to need pin point accuracy which would render it totally useless on a boat. There is a tree in the line of fire but I thought the signal came from space and the tree definately isnt that high

[bottle]

Bought it home and had a play with it. Just Managed to get the astra 1 station but couldnt locate the astra 2. Had it for a split milli second but it apears to need pin point accuracy which would render it totally useless on a boat. There is a tree in the line of fire but I thought the signal came from space and the tree definately isnt that high

 

Maverick

 

The hight of the satellite above the horizon is between about 20° in the south to 30°in the north the tree may be the problem

[saltysplash]

Afraid i cant help with what angle in degrees the dish has to be or at what elevation, all iknow is i have sky dish and box on board. I am on a tidal mooring with a tidal range of 2mtrs-7mtrs. I bought a sat finder kit from maplins and took a walk round chatham with the compass and took a bearing off a couple of houses with dishes, it averaged at about SSE. got back on board. fixed the dish to my radar mast and pointed in the general direction. lined up dish using the supplied analogue readout. tweaked it every way the dish moved till i got the strongest signal and hey presto. sky tv. as fo line of sight....at low tide i have the ropery at chatham dockyard in the way and still no problem. it would appear that even with tide rises and falls the dish is still within the signal arc of the transmission. the only time the signal breaks up is during high winds and the old tub is slewing or when boats or past too fast and she rocks. Now if i can get ggod recpetion in those conditions then the canal with virtually no movement should be ok. check your connections as previously suggested. Another thing about line of sight, take a walk around town and youd be surprised at some of the locations dishes are placed. i have even seen them pointed at a wall. so they must be getting something

[Maverick]

Afraid i cant help with what angle in degrees the dish has to be or at what elevation, all iknow is i have sky dish and box on board. I am on a tidal mooring with a tidal range of 2mtrs-7mtrs. I bought a sat finder kit from maplins and took a walk round chatham with the compass and took a bearing off a couple of houses with dishes, it averaged at about SSE. got back on board. fixed the dish to my radar mast and pointed in the general direction. lined up dish using the supplied analogue readout. tweaked it every way the dish moved till i got the strongest signal and hey presto. sky tv. as fo line of sight....at low tide i have the ropery at chatham dockyard in the way and still no problem. it would appear that even with tide rises and falls the dish is still within the signal arc of the transmission. the only time the signal breaks up is during high winds and the old tub is slewing or when boats or past too fast and she rocks. Now if i can get ggod recpetion in those conditions then the canal with virtually no movement should be ok. check your connections as previously suggested. Another thing about line of sight, take a walk around town and youd be surprised at some of the locations dishes are placed. i have even seen them pointed at a wall. so they must be getting something

 

 

Cheers salty. Im off out to try and find a nice open space this weekend and give it a try. The girlfriend had no tele last weekend so we had to find other things to occupy our time. I'm bloody knackered. ..... To much information I know

[Silkhay]

Bought it home and had a play with it. Just Managed to get the astra 1 station but couldnt locate the astra 2. Had it for a split milli second but it apears to need pin point accuracy which would render it totally useless on a boat. There is a tree in the line of fire but I thought the signal came from space and the tree definately isnt that high

 

It doesn't have to be that accurate but if you are relying on the signal strength meter in the decoder it can appear so. It can take up to 45 seconds for that to react by which time you've moved the dish out of the beam again; I can't recommend highly enought the value of an inline meter!

 

As to tree height, if its more than 20 or 30 yards away it would need to be the height of a Sequoia to interfere.

 

Good hunting

[saltysplash]

Cheers salty. Im off out to try and find a nice open space this weekend and give it a try. The girlfriend had no tele last weekend so we had to find other things to occupy our time. I'm bloody knackered. ..... To much information I know

 

I know what you mean.....scrabble can take it out of you

[5thHorseman]

Thanks for the information, it was very helpfull.

I now have 400 odd channels using the suitcase setup from Maplins.

The key was the bar holding the receiver needing to be almost level and buying an in-line sat finder.

As I tried it at at home I do have one problem - the damn dish is suckered to the sunroof of my car and I have to go to work tomorrow, so the search will have to start all over tomorrow night when I get to the boat.

 

Thanks again

 

5th

[Maverick]

Yippe it works. Had it working at the weekend.

 

Very strange though we could not get a signal whatever we did. I left it in roughly the correct position on the compass and was about to give up. It sort of locked on to it on its own after a delay.

 

One tip I can give anyone is watch the logo that says no signal or klein signal if you havnt changed the language settings. As you rotate the dish slowly watch for the logo to flicker or dissapear then just leave the dish. The signal appears to find it then lock on after a short delay.

 

Dont know if the box stores any info after its done it for the first time but every time you set it up again after its dead easy.