The Best Manual Sat Dish ?? (1 Viewer)

scotjimland

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Jul 25, 2007
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Those who followed my post about Maxview will understand my asking this question..

What is the very best manual wind up satellite dish.. ?

If you have one I would be deeply grateful if you give a report here..

Make and Model , cost £

1.. Robustness and construction
2. Reception performance
3. Ease of use
4. Tolerance to wind.
5. Overall satisfaction level.

satisfaction level .. 0 - 10
0 = very dissatisfied
10 = extremely satisfied

If we get enough reports perhaps we can all make better informed purchases..

Thanks in advance

Jim
 

ronidog

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Aug 14, 2008
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van conversion
Hello Jim

I had a camos flat sat crank up installed last week cost £350 (plus receiver and fitting)

Initial thoughts

Robustness 8
Reception 8
ease 9 ( I have only set it up once - it seems easy)
Tolerance to wind - 8/9 based upon Roadpro advice and experience it is small and flat
satisfaction 9 - need to test it in the field l :thumb:

By the way Excellent advice and support from Roadpro and great fitting service from Leuisuretech in Clitheroe.:thumb:

Hope this helps. I hope to come back later and give a more informed review after a few trips out.

Ronidog
 
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scotjimland

scotjimland

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Jul 25, 2007
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Hello Jim

I had a camos flat sat crank up installed last week cost £350 (plus receiver and fitting)

Initial thoughts

Robustness 8
Reception 8
ease 9 ( I have only set it up once - it seems easy)
Tolerance to wind - 8/9 based upon Roadpro advice and experience it is small and flat
satisfaction 9 - need to test it in the field l :thumb:

By the way Excellent advice and support from Roadpro and great fitting service from Leuisuretech in Clitheroe.:thumb:

Hope this helps. I hope to come back later and give a more informed review after a few trips out.

Ronidog

Great stuff , thanks Ronidog, this is what we need... look forward to your full review..

Jim

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ruffingitsmoothly

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Hi Jim have had a Maxview crankup for about 2 years now cost about £320 self fitted

1, The outside seems robust enough but have had problems with the handle falling off a couple of times inside, although I think that only happened if I did not lock the turning in the down position, so possibly chattered against the cradle as we drove along!
Rate 6

2 Reception is good, although even with a brilliant signal strength reading cannot get some channels ITV 2 (I think), possibly have to adjust the skew of the lnb. Have recieved most channels down as far as Pamplona, then further South you lose channels and at Javea no signal at all! ( but it is only a relatively small dish)
Rate 8

3 Very easy to use, with a Sat finder never takes more than a couple of minutes
Rate 9

4 Tolerance to wind is not too bad although if it is too windy I always wind it down, I think that sometimes the wind may lift the lnb arm momentarily and I did leave it up one time and found the dish had turned slightly on our return, I don't think the small toothed locking device will withstand much wind.
Rate 5

5 Overall I am satisfied it preforms ok and it is a damn sight cheaper that an Oyster or the like!
Rate 5

100_0355.jpg



100_0349.jpg


Regards Pat
 
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dave newell

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Oct 31, 2008
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We have a Camos flatsat crank up (although I might be considered as biased as I supply and fit them:winky:) and have found it to be brilliant. Simple to use and very quick to set up once you've got the hang of it. Far less susceptible to wind as the "dish" is actually a flat square box. I also think the wind up mechanism is more robust than the Maxview ( I have fitted them too). I can't say how far afield it will pick up the UK channels but we had perfect reception in Dusseldorf in August/September, indeed it was a bit surreal sitting outside the 'van in Germany listening to Steve Wright on Radio 2.

D.
 

madbluemad

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Hello Jim

I had a camos flat sat crank up installed last week cost £350 (plus receiver and fitting)

Initial thoughts

Robustness 8
Reception 8
ease 9 ( I have only set it up once - it seems easy)
Tolerance to wind - 8/9 based upon Roadpro advice and experience it is small and flat
satisfaction 9 - need to test it in the field l :thumb:

By the way Excellent advice and support from Roadpro and great fitting service from Leuisuretech in Clitheroe.:thumb:

Hope this helps. I hope to come back later and give a more informed review after a few trips out.

Ronidog

Hi

great fitting service from Leuisuretech in Clitheroe

I'm afraid that my dealings with this company were appaling. If anybody from this company can be bothered to pick up the phone or even acknowledge an email I will tell them why, although they already know :Angry:

Jim :Smile:

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madbluemad

Banned
Jan 26, 2008
3,327
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just looking
Exp
since 1980
Hi Jim have had a Maxview crankup for about 2 years now cost about £320 self fitted

1, The outside seems robust enough but have had problems with the handle falling off a couple of times inside, although I think that only happened if I did not lock the turning in the down position, so possibly chattered against the cradle as we drove along!
Rate 6

2 Reception is good, although even with a brilliant signal strength reading cannot get some channels ITV 2 (I think), possibly have to adjust the skew of the lnb. Have recieved most channels down as far as Pamplona, then further South you lose channels and at Javea no signal at all! ( but it is only a relatively small dish)
Rate 8

3 Very easy to use, with a Sat finder never takes more than a couple of minutes
Rate 9

4 Tolerance to wind is not too bad although if it is too windy I always wind it down, I think that sometimes the wind may lift the lnb arm momentarily and I did leave it up one time and found the dish had turned slightly on our return, I don't think the small toothed locking device will withstand much wind.
Rate 5

5 Overall I am satisfied it preforms ok and it is a damn sight cheaper that an Oyster or the like!
Rate 5

100_0355.jpg



100_0349.jpg


Regards Pat

Hi what reciever do you use with this dish

Jim:Smile:
 

keith

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Aug 25, 2007
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Hi Jim

You may recall I bought the Camos flat crankup dish earlier this year.

Then I wrote "In the end I have fixed the new Camos crank-up & so far no problems even in high winds. It's much smaller than the Maxview, & flat so dosn't catch the wind as much. Tuning is a piece of cake so I'm very pleased with it."

Nothing to add but to add to your request for a score:

Cost = £330 Fitted it myself & was simple.
1.. Robustness and construction = 9 Would be 10 but the plastic that covers the 'dish' seems a little flimsy, but I assume it is only a cover for the gubbins underneath.
2. Reception performance = 10 Better than my previous small dish. Get 95% signal strength, my home one is 98%
3. Ease of use = 10 Never failed to tune into the satellite
4. Tolerance to wind = 10 Never had it blow off tune.
5. Overall satisfaction level. = It must be 99%

satisfaction level .. 0 - 10
0 = very dissatisfied
10 = extremely satisfied

The fact that the camos is not an offset dish means that it points straight at the satellite. When aligned it will be at a lower angle than many dishes you see & this makes it less likely to be moved by wind. I see this being the biggest problem with any offset dish because they stand almost upright & therefore catch the wind more.
 

JockandRita

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Hi Jim,

Our dish was already on the MH when we bought it, however, due to one or two of the light alloy brackets becoming stressed, we have replaced like for like. From Roadpro they are expensive for what they are, however, we bought ours direct from the manufacturers in Denmark for €150 including shipping, (£110). That won't be the case with the current rate of exchange today. :whatthe:

With the Sky receiver, it was a pain (without the audio signal finder), due to the 2-3 second delay, but with the Technomate receiver, the visual signal meter is instant, and I now set it up manually within seconds, once I have established South East on my compass.
We too have had a signal at Dusseldorf,as well as at La rochelle, Vienne, Namur and Mimizan, :winky:

It is clamped internally, and withstands a good wind, but not the gales we experienced at Mimizan, (remember them?)

C47Ken, (MHFacts), fitted a Maplins/Lidls mini receiver to our dish at Brean, as an experiment, and without moving the dish, we picked up more than one satellite.
Even Glenn, (TinaGlenn) was impressed, and he has the Maxview crank up.
Link Removed

Globesat DK Link Removed

It certainly suits our needs, but I wish that I had never started out with a Sky receiver.

HTH,

Jock.

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scotjimland

scotjimland

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Hi Jock

Yes, I remember the gales ay Mimizan.. soon had you running for the Med .. :)

Glad you have sorted out the dish.. not half expensive for brackets .. !

Safe travels pal

Jim
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Manofvision

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Dec 1, 2008
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Hi Jim,
My experience of the Maxview wind up is a little older than most on here as I had one fitted to my last motorhome about 4 years ago. Doubtless there have been some improvements since then.
I purchased mine separately and Marquis installed it for me. Maxview are an excellent company to deal with and their after sales are first class. The handle fell off once and unfortuneately it must have fallen out of the door when I stopped for fuel - But maxview replaced it FOC and I had a problem with the turning gear and they replaced that FOC the next day.
In operation I would say:-
1. Robustness 8
2. Reception 8/9
3. Ease of operation 9
4. Resistance to wind 6.
On this latter point, the ratchet in the turning equipment on mine was only plastic and in windy conditions you would suddenly hear a clicking sound and it had been blown off course. A number of times in high winds 15/20mph+ I have been woken during the night with the same ratchet sound indicating it was time to get up and lower the dish!
Providing you take heed of wind conditions you shouldn't have a problem.
Now by the way, with the acquisition of a new motorhome I opted for the Camos dome which so far, touch wood has been fine and of course is not affected by wind at all.
Hope that helps
regards
Tony
 
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scotjimland

scotjimland

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Hi Tony
It's still the same plastic brake, mine is two year old and when Maxview inspected it recently they made no mention of any design changes., I agree with your assessment,
it's a good dish but has the potential to be a great dish if it had a better locking mechanism .. but as Maxview are in denial there is little chance.. :-(

Jim
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Geo

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If I recall Jim, that price was for a complete replacement system,:Eeek: I had the same on my Kontiki and Jock(Traitor to the Scotts myth) gave me his old unit FREE for spares:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO: which i passed on to the new owner when I sold it
Geo
 

Manofvision

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Hi Jim

Glad you agree with my assessment but a great pity that Maxview haven't seen fit to make any improvements as its a very good alternative to those that don't want to pay for the auto seek variety.

Tony
 

JockandRita

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not half expensive for brackets .. !

Jim
Posted via Mobile Device

Och no Jim. :winky:

As George has commented, that was the cost of the complete system, including shipping. RoadPro did quote for the brackets, (around £35 + VAT and postage), but it was so much easier to just replace the whole system. As it turned out, there were slight differences between the old and the new, so replacing the brackets wouldn't have been so practical.

These Globesat dishes are quite popular amongst our French and German MH'ing cousins. :thumb:

Jock(Traitor to the Scotts myth) gave me his old unit FREE for spares
George, I was no doubt having a senior moment that day, which you obviously took advantage of. :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

Jock.

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Aug 20, 2007
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Hi to all
I'm interested in the globesat dish as it appears to have a smaller footprint on the roof than say the maxview, but I can't find any technical details to support this. So a question for jock and rita : have you got these details and where did you get your dish from ?
regards
Allen
 

JockandRita

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Hi to all
I'm interested in the globesat dish as it appears to have a smaller footprint on the roof than say the maxview, but I can't find any technical details to support this. So a question for jock and rita : have you got these details and where did you get your dish from ?
regards
Allen

Hi Allen,

Have a look at Link Removed for the mobile installation. There is a larger dish, (80cm), but that is for a static installation. As said earlier, it is available from RoadPro, but much dearer. Mind you, with the current £ to € exchange rate, there might not be a lot in it now. :Sad:

Click on "Profile" and scroll down for contact details. They were very trusting, by having shipped the two boxes before they received payment to their bank. They shipped on the Monday from Denmark, and it was at our door on the Wednesday afternoon.

Give me a shout by PM Allen, if you need any more info. If no joy with contact details, I have an alternative email address for you, which I don't want to make public.

HTH,

Jock.
 
Aug 20, 2007
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Hi Jock
thanks for that quick reply. I take it, like me, work is a nasty 4 letter word that I last experienced over 2 years ago. Although she keeps me very busy with diy-ing etc.
I've sent Globesat an email, hope they reply especially with footprint details.
My set up (temporary) is an aluminium pole fixed to the rear ladder with a spare sky dish fixed to it, then a maplin 12 volt decoder in the van. I was getting reception all the way down to St Tropez but bbc was failing / blocking after dark.
regards
Allen

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Bryan

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JockandRita

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Hi Jock
thanks for that quick reply. I take it, like me, work is a nasty 4 letter word that I last experienced over 2 years ago. Although she keeps me very busy with diy-ing etc.
I've sent Globesat an email, hope they reply especially with footprint details.
My set up (temporary) is an aluminium pole fixed to the rear ladder with a spare sky dish fixed to it, then a maplin 12 volt decoder in the van. I was getting reception all the way down to St Tropez but bbc was failing / blocking after dark.
regards
Allen

Hi Allen,

Normally I would be working , (2-3 days a week for pocket money :Cool:,) but the situation in the transport industry right now is dire, and the usual Christmas rush is nowhere in sight yet. Fleet hire and trailer rental firms have normally had all their stock booked up by now, but that doesn't seem to be the case this year. :Sad:

Anyway, back on topic. :winky: I've been told that I should be able to pick up BBC on Astra 1, when Astra 2D is out of range. I'm not sure myself, but Astra 1 appears to cover a larger area.
The experts will be along shortly, and put us right. :winky:

Jock.
 
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scotjimland

scotjimland

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Hi Jock

None of the BBC or ITV channels are on Astra 1, but you do get the BBC World News .. plus a lot of other stuff ,,

Jim
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JockandRita

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Hi Jock

None of the BBC or ITV channels are on Astra 1, but you do get the BBC World News .. plus a lot of other stuff ,,

Jim
Posted via Mobile Device

There we go, I knew somebody would be along.

Thanks Jim,

That must have been what the person said. :Doh:

I have just been out in the MH having a play around with our satellite system. When tuned into 19.2E (Astra 1), the receiver also picks up 26.0E (Arabsat/Badr3), and 56.0E (Bonum). :whatthe:
When tuned into 28.2E (Astra 2D), it also picks up 19.2E (Astra 1), and 4.8E (Sirius). This happened with C47KEN's receiver too. Now although it's not a good enough signal to watch, it is good enough to scan and load channels into the memory. :whatthe:

I can't figure that out. Any ideas please Jim?

Jock.
 
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scotjimland

scotjimland

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Hi Jock

I've had the same thing happen, I've been trying to figure out the 'black art' for three years ..
At present I'am tuned into Astra 2 but also pick up Astra 1 with a weaker signal but still viewable.. which is quite good as you get more rubbish to choose from..
I guess it will depend on the size and shape of the dish and how precisely it's aligned, ..(the Maxview is 65 cm elliptical) ..
I can also view channels on Eurobird, albeit mostly the same ones.. lol and have channels stored but not viewable, which is probably due to the signal quality being poor.

Jim
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Geo

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Hi Jock
thanks for that quick reply. I take it, like me, work is a nasty 4 letter word that I last experienced over 2 years ago. Although she keeps me very busy with diy-ing etc.
I've sent Globesat an email, hope they reply especially with footprint details.
My set up (temporary) is an aluminium pole fixed to the rear ladder with a spare sky dish fixed to it, then a maplin 12 volt decoder in the van. I was getting reception all the way down to St Tropez but bbc was failing / blocking after dark.
regards
Allen
Allen in case you hadn't noticed .
If thats a pic of your aluminium pole in your reply, it has a boat attached:Eeek::Eeek:

Bryan I may be completely wrong which I doubt:Blush: his reference to "foot print" means the space taken up by the sat system on his Motorhome roof, and no matter how hard I stare at or zoom in on that little map I cant see Allen's Motorhome on it:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
Geo

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Last edited:
Aug 20, 2007
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Geo
not sure what little map you & Brian are looking at but you can't fail to see the alu pole(s) that I'm on about ! They are here (below) but where is the van ?
Allen
 

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Geo

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Jul 29, 2007
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Hi Allan on Bryans post he put a footprint map for the globesat signal,
I assumed you meant the area the sat takes up on the roof,one of us is wrong:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 

tuscancouple

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We've been a little concerned that a dish fitted to the roof would limit where we could either place the RV or receive a signal. So we've opted for a tripod mounted Maxview from Towsure at a cost of about £60. So far we've had very few problems other than gaining a signal through trees. :Smile: We frequently visit the New Forest.

Recently we've opted for terestial digital with a serious aerial which works a treat and only use the satellite with Sky box on European trips.

Mick

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keith

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Aug 25, 2007
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Hi Jim

You may recall I bought the Camos flat crankup dish earlier this year.

Then I wrote "In the end I have fixed the new Camos crank-up & so far no problems even in high winds. It's much smaller than the Maxview, & flat so dosn't catch the wind as much. Tuning is a piece of cake so I'm very pleased with it."

Nothing to add but to add to your request for a score:

Cost = £330 Fitted it myself & was simple.
1.. Robustness and construction = 9 Would be 10 but the plastic that covers the 'dish' seems a little flimsy, but I assume it is only a cover for the gubbins underneath.
2. Reception performance = 10 Better than my previous small dish. Get 95% signal strength, my home one is 98%
3. Ease of use = 10 Never failed to tune into the satellite
4. Tolerance to wind = 10 Never had it blow off tune.
5. Overall satisfaction level. = It must be 99%

satisfaction level .. 0 - 10
0 = very dissatisfied
10 = extremely satisfied

The fact that the camos is not an offset dish means that it points straight at the satellite. When aligned it will be at a lower angle than many dishes you see & this makes it less likely to be moved by wind. I see this being the biggest problem with any offset dish because they stand almost upright & therefore catch the wind more.

Just a further update Jim, we are in Southern Spain & we have the Camos up & running. The signal is obviously not very strong, but I get as many channels as I did with my small dish other years.
I follow the satellite for caravans web site recommendations & have always managed to get something from Sky.
It would be nice to get more channela but no way am I going to carry a wopping great dish just to watch a bit of tele, so we will stick with this one.
 
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scotjimland

scotjimland

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Just a further update Jim, we are in Southern Spain & we have the Camos up & running. The signal is obviously not very strong, but I get as many channels as I did with my small dish other years.
I follow the satellite for caravans web site recommendations & have always managed to get something from Sky.
It would be nice to get more channela but no way am I going to carry a wopping great dish just to watch a bit of tele, so we will stick with this one.

Hi Keith

hope you are getting warmer weather than we are.. brrrr ..

thanks for the update.. and I agree about not carrying a whopping great wok of a dish..

all the best to you both, wishing you safe travels :Smile:

Jim
 

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