semi or fully auto satellite dish

[Blazeaway]

We have a full sky package and hd box so we can watch films sport etc. Currently have a full size house dish on a pole which is a pain to align and iffy when the wind blows. So we are investigating what to replace it with such that I dont need to get wet sorting it out in cold/bad weather.

 

Lòks like lots on offer so what would you recommend ?

[Theo]

I see a few porta pottis on the roof which apparently do the jobe well. One chap I was talking to had just paid £650 for his and said that it aligns itself in 90s. He was delighted but said that it still needs line of sight and won't see around buildings. It was the VuQube and if he really paid £650 then he might have paid over the odds. I have found one for £477 here

 

N

[Pete & Helen]

If your flush with money then go for an all singing and dancing auto system. But if your like most of us then the option is to use a smaller dish (35-40cm). They don't have to be aligned so accurately as the 60 or 90cm dishes or the funny shape sky ones, and isn't as susceptible to the boat moving around, takes only a min or two to set up.

Once you have the elevation set. Fix a small spirit level on the arm so you can set this (if it changes due to boat listing etc...) level first, then just point roughly SE and use an inline indicator, or as I do just move the dish slowly til you get a picture then fine adjustment using the signal strength indicator on screen.

Edited May 5, 2015 by Pete & Helen

[nicknorman]

We have a magmount Travelsat dish. The correct elevation is with the dish vertical. The correct azimuth is around 145degrees magnetic which can be determined from looking at Nicholsons, google maps etc.

The dish lives inside when cruising, and when we stop, having looked at the map, it normally takes less than 30 seconds from plonking the dish on the roof, to getting 100% signal and quality bars on the TV. Based on that, I really can't see the point in spending a lot of money on an expensive and ugly automatic or semiautomatic lump to be permanently attached to the roof

[Phil.]

Also with the sky box aligning the dish should take seconds to do using the magnetic dish Nick refers to. Let me know if you need method explaining in detail.

[Blazeaway]

I see a few porta pottis on the roof which apparently do the jobe well. One chap I was talking to had just paid £650 for his and said that it aligns itself in 90s. He was delighted but said that it still needs line of sight and won't see around buildings. It was the VuQube and if he really paid £650 then he might have paid over the odds. I have found one for £477 here

 

N

Good one thanks, it is the kind of device we were thinking of but it looks rather tall and as it appears to be freestanding would it be at risk of being nicked or blown over in high winds ?

[bottle]

If the dish is permanently mounted, then the boat has to be moved (sometimes) to get a clear view of the sky, those pesky trees, I tell you.

 

If dish is magnetically mounted you move the dish, not the boat, usually much more easily done.

[OldGoat]

If the dish is permanently mounted, then the boat has to be moved (sometimes) to get a clear view of the sky, those pesky trees, I tell you.

 

If dish is magnetically mounted you move the dish, not the boat, usually much more easily done.

 

Possibly not a valid point (depends on the circumstances)

Quite a part from my unwillingness to spend loadsa dosh on a cocooned dish, I find there are a number of our preferred locations where the hedge / small trees obscure the satellite. My solution is to stick the dish on a pole (ten feet or so solves most problems). The pole socket is fixed rigidly on the foredeck - so that's another solution?

[ditchcrawler]

Some time back I watched a chap moor up in front of the Blue Lias, up sits the auto seek dish and starts traversing around. At this point we took the dogs for a walk, from the other side of the cut we saw the dish wake up again and go for a few more spins before going back to sleep. It was still repeating this when we got back. It seems that satellite signals don't pass through very dense willow trees. Nothing is easy with boating! pass the red wine dear.

[Bunny]

Could never get the dish to line up , dinner was always late while I tried . Given up and use a Free view box and an ariel . Bunny

[jonesthenuke]

I see a few porta pottis on the roof which apparently do the jobe well. One chap I was talking to had just paid £650 for his and said that it aligns itself in 90s. He was delighted but said that it still needs line of sight and won't see around buildings. It was the VuQube and if he really paid £650 then he might have paid over the odds. I have found one for £477 here

 

N

The VuQube for £477 will probably be the remote control but non-automatic one.

 

We have the auto version. Sling it on the roof pointing vaguely south, press the button and let it get on with things whilst I do something else. If there is line of site to the satellite it will work in short order. Ours is mounted on four magnetic pads so does not blow away. When not in use it sits alongside the engine and is completely out of the way. I prefer this to the permanently mounted dish approach (auto or not)

 

In my view this is OK but it all depends on your willingness/ability to set up a dish every time you stop and want TV. The longer you stay in one place the less of a nuisance it is to manually align the dish.

[bigcol]

We've got the camos dome fully automatic

Wouldn't be with out it

I see folks moor up and spend hrs outside tuning re tuning the mini sats day night rain and snow

 

I bought mine of eBay couple of hundred quid, had it now for 3 years

Just press a button inside and searches, tracks, all automatically done

Wouldn't be without one now

eBay search for satalite dome plenty on there

 

Plus thanks to a recent post, you can get a app now which shows where the sat is, making sure not a big tree in your way

 

The one below I suspect is expensive, but you can buy different makes new for Same

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Camos-self-seeking-satelite-dome-dish-/271861086645?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3f4c2ef9b5

 

 

Col

Edited May 7, 2015 by bigcol

[OldGoat]

We = me used to have tremendous trouble until -

I made the mount absolutely vertical - in all directions

I bought a cheap satfinder thingy from eBay

I have a GPS (a mobile phone app would do)

 

Before we stop I look at the GPS to see that there's a clear view to 150 degrees. Remember where that is approximately.

1. Moor up.
2. put dish on mount
3. plug cables in
4. point dish to where I though 150 deg. is
5. Confirm with screech from sat finder - peak it to loudest screech
6. tighten mounting
7. Watch TV

Items 2 to 6 take about a minute - less if it's tossing with rain

 

Can't see what the problem is (Well I do know - folks don't make sure the dish is mounted vertically)

[loubyscooby]

I had a TravelSat dish but got fed up with loosing signal if they dish moved slightly in the wind. Now have a VuCube semi automatic and its fab. Held down with 2 bungee cords and the cables secured by magnetic cables ties. Obvious plus is that it can be taken off the roof if need when out on the cut. Definitely recommend it .

[PeterG]

We find the best option is not to use either and also it means we do not need to have a TV, defintely recommend it.

[Neil TNC]

On the barge in Ireland we went for a semi-automatic (not on the move) Roadpro (Camos). I bought it straight from Roadpro, as a "open box" special, for £800. Being quite large, it has a reasonable sized dish, which is rather essential over there as it is at the edge of the Astra coverage. For that reason the satellite is lower angle in the sky, so trees/buildings are more likely to get in the way. We now are very picky about moorings, but being Ireland there is always plenty of space. It works very well, aligns in a couple if minutes (after that you can turn off the 12vdc alignment box to save leccy) and means we can keep in touch with Blighty (Londonland) and get Radio4 (FM is even intermittent in some bits of the North). It's mechanism is not exactly very robust looking, for that reason when we are not on the barge, it is kept in the wheelhouse. When out it just sits on the wheelhouse roof, with the "legs" tied down to the folding equipment "gantry".

 

[5thHorseman]

Camos (Roadpro) - Press the red button - buzz, buzz, blip, blip. Sky on the TV. Press the red button

[zigspider]

We find the best option is not to use either and also it means we do not need to have a TV, defintely recommend it.

Fully agree. Why the need for TV coverage ? Is there that much quality programming out there ? Anything worth actually watching can be downloaded and viewed at your leisure at no great cost.

[Neil TNC]

Camos (Roadpro) - Press the red button - buzz, buzz, blip, blip. Sky on the TV. Press the red button

You can imagine what one sounds like on top of a wheelhouse?

Quite the symphony of hums, blips and buzzes.

[blackrose]

I just set up a cheap dish manually when it's not raining outside. TV is really not so important to me that I need it instantly.

[5thHorseman]

We have a full sky package and hd box so we can watch films sport etc. Currently have a full size house dish on a pole which is a pain to align and iffy when the wind blows. So we are investigating what to replace it with such that I dont need to get wet sorting it out in cold/bad weather.

 

Lòks like lots on offer so what would you recommend ?

 

The OP stated he has a dish on a pole which he finds a pain to align and does not like to get wet and cold doing it.

 

He did not ask

 

about the need for television coverage or indeed owning a TV

for opinions on the quality of programming

about the importance or unimportance of television to others

about using Freeview

or for instructions on how to set up the dish which he already owns.

[Blazeaway]

The OP stated he has a dish on a pole which he finds a pain to align and does not like to get wet and cold doing it.

 

He did not ask

 

about the need for television coverage or indeed owning a TV

for opinions on the quality of programming

about the importance or unimportance of television to others

about using Freeview

or for instructions on how to set up the dish which he already owns.

Exactly....well said thank you.

 

FWIW I like to watch the cricket on skysports and F1 too, my wife likes films of an evening.

 

I like the options suggested re vu dome etc just concerned about air draft so one of the lay flat dishes might be good. EG Camos crank up flat twin lnb. But struggling to do research with crap internet connectio at moment.

[DeanS]

I bought a cheap Wilkinsons tv aerial 3 years ago. It hangs on by the merest of threads, and by now all the things are bent and twisted (it's fallen off the roof many times...and in a lock today), but in 3 years, we've never not had a perfectly tuned signal. Getting a signal is simple...takes me about 5secs.....I just look at one of my kids and say...."go point the aerial".....

 

 

works every time