Jump to content

Satellite TV.

Southern Star

By Southern Star
in Living Afloat

 Share

Featured Posts

Southern Star Experienced

Southern Star

Posted
Posted

On my little boat which I just bought, I have a TV, a satellite TV box thingy, and in the front locker there is a satellite dish. There is a mounting on the roof for it, and all of the co-ax to run to it.

 

What I don't know is how to aim it at the transmitting satellite, is this done with a compass or is there some other gizmo which people use to find a signal?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nicknorman Veteran II

nicknormanDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted (edited)

Personally I find satfinders useless, because they find any old satellite, not the one you want. The Freesat satellite is on a bearing of about 145 degrees so you can use a compass (stand well away from the boat) or more easily, look at Nicholsons, google maps etc to get an idea of where 145 degrees is relative to where you are moored. Then point the satellite dish that way. If you don't get a picture straight away, move it around a bit until you do.

 

You have to get the elevation right as well. If you have a dish with an arm sticking out at the bottom, have the dish vertical. If the dish has no arm, but a central sensor blob, it has to be pointed up at about 22 degrees from the horizontal. Once you have successfully tuned it once, you will find it very easy. It normally takes me less than 30 seconds.

Edited by nicknorman
Link to comment
Share on other sites
bottle Veteran II

bottle

Posted
Posted

Freeview (terrestrial) has a few different channels than Freesat (satellite), a 'free to air' box (satellite) has many more but mostly continental stations.

 

Omnimax, some say are good, some say they are not so good, what is true about all aerials and dishes is, if they cannot 'see' the transmitter then they will not work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
junior Veteran

junior

Posted
Posted

Routinely I use an omnimax aerial and it's definitely more hit than miss. Strangely, sometimes I find I get all the channels minus the BBC channels, and sometimes I find I only get the BBC channels. If you are moving every day you will probably find you need to re-tune every day.

 

I also have an ancient satellite system but it is not permanently set up as I don't like the wires running everywhere. 'Keeping Up' was kind enough to come and help me set it up the first time I used it and he brought a printed paper set of his sundial sat finder system and explained their use. With these and an small basic audio sat finder we got it up and running successfully.

On a few occasions I have needed to get it all out so as not to miss X-Factor on a Saturday night. I've found the 'sundial' sheets very useful to get me pointing in the rough direction but on one occasion the sun had gone to bed so I was less successful. If there are other boats around with satellite dishes, you can gain the rough direction from looking at them.

 

I tried a couple of different sat finder apps and just couldn't figure them out. I've no way of knowing if this was because of user error or because the apps were just generally useless.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Martyn Hicks Contributor

Martyn Hicks

Posted
Posted

On my little boat which I just bought, I have a TV, a satellite TV box thingy, and in the front locker there is a satellite dish. There is a mounting on the roof for it, and all of the co-ax to run to it.

 

What I don't know is how to aim it at the transmitting satellite, is this done with a compass or is there some other gizmo which people use to find a signal?

Hi... Its Martyn from TRAVELSAT,

 

Let me know where abouts you are on the network and when I'm next passing or in the area I'll come by and have a look what equipment you have and get it set up n working for you...

 

Martyn...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
johnmck Rising Star

johnmck

Posted
Posted

 

Hi.

 

We had a Sat system for a few years. Liked the choice of programmes, but we tend to watch the terrestial channels, so it was a bit of overkill really. What we disliked was having to moor to suit the TV. As line of sight is required to the satellite, we avoided some choice moorings just to get Tv..

 

Last year we purchased an Omnimax, which came with the booster. Having had this a year now and travelled with it as our sole means of Tv, I feel we have fully tested it now. Only once have we been unable to get Tv. Strangely this was in Anderton Marina, whilst just outside it on the cut, full range of channels!

 

What we like. No fiddling with the sat on the roof, in the rain. No receiver ( Tv has built in Freeview) Plonk in on the top of the Cratch ( magnetic plate screwed theiron) then back inside the boat and tune via the TV.

 

Caveat. Without the booster we get zilch. With it on we get on average 100 digital Tv channels and 30 radio.

 

Saved many a domestic re mooring to suit Tv reception and then fiddling with the sat to get the signal, so well worth the investment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
OldGoat Veteran II

OldGoatDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

Over the years some folks have complained about manufacturing / design problems with the Aldi type of equipment. Regardless of that these are general receivers and you only get a 'now and next' programme guide (I would find that a pain) whereas if you get a Freesat receiver you get a 7 (or is it 14) day programme guide - more convenient.

 

Another point to the detriment of Freeview is that some channels may not be available - that's because the transmitters are split into groups of programmes and some of the groups at a location have lower power than the main channels. That accounts why somebody above complained that he couldn't get all channels in certain places.

 

Satellite is easier. You either get all channels that you would expect or none at all!

 

Broadly there's not a lot of difference for the main channels (BBC, ITV 4,5 ) between Sat: and freeview. There are more on sat: but most are not worth watching....

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
floatsyourboat Collaborator

floatsyourboat

Posted
Posted

Over the years some folks have complained about manufacturing / design problems with the Aldi type of equipment. Regardless of that these are general receivers and you only get a 'now and next' programme guide (I would find that a pain) whereas if you get a Freesat receiver you get a 7 (or is it 14) day programme guide - more convenient.

 

Another point to the detriment of Freeview is that some channels may not be available - that's because the transmitters are split into groups of programmes and some of the groups at a location have lower power than the main channels. That accounts why somebody above complained that he couldn't get all channels in certain places.

 

Satellite is easier. You either get all channels that you would expect or none at all!

 

Broadly there's not a lot of difference for the main channels (BBC, ITV 4,5 ) between Sat: and freeview. There are more on sat: but most are not worth watching....

 

 

So would a decent ariel on a pole be a better option?
Link to comment
Share on other sites
peterboat Veteran II

peterboatDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

I have found that if I put the Nickolsons on the roof page open and you match the canal direction on it to the boat direction (if I am coming back its the other way) the satallite points to the bottom right hand corner always seems to work for me :)

 

Peter

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.