Status 530 Arial problem (1 Viewer)

[Diane1969]

Hi, can anyone give us some good advise regarding status 530 Arial (purple logo)
We have had the motorhome for 6 months and can never get a picture to the TV at most sites, we live 3 miles from sandy heath transmitter so can always get a signal at home, it would seem the power pack neon doesn't light up therefore not giving power to the amp inside the Arial, we have been told by our dealer that replacement parts are not available for this Arial as it is an anologue Arial and we need to get a complete new Arial system, digital version !!
My question is, is this correct ? And if so, is there an alternative less expensive solution
Thanks for any help

 

[dave newell]

"we have been told by our dealer that replacement parts are not available for this Arial as it is an anologue Arial and we need to get a complete new Arial system, digital version !!
My question is, is this correct ?"

No its pure bull droppings! There is no such animal as a "digital" aerial. An aerial picks up electromagnetic radiation (radio waves to you and me) of a particular frequency range, TV signals are radio waves. The fact that the information in the signal is in digital form rather than analogue is immaterial, it is still a simple radio wave.

Status aerials can be ok or they can be utter rubbish in my experience but there are a few things to check before you replace yours. The power pack is the amplifier, if its not getting power then its not working and could well be the root of your problem. Also check any aerial plugs that aren't moulded onto the cable ends, I looked at one a couple of weeks ago that wasn't working and an extension cable had been made and fitted but the plug on one end was badly fitted with centre core and shielding touching each other and shorting the whole thing out. Remade the plug onto the cable and got 200 plus channels.

D.

 

[Tea Bag]

Hi.
I am NO tv expert,but from experience. Got onto a CL,set it all up,no signal,moved pitch.nothing. Rang Avtex,full marks to the Tech chap i spoke to and tried everything he asked,in the end,he asked what was the model number....... He then told me "Its an analog? set,put it back up in your attic LOL" Not to be outdone,went to the Elec/TV shop in the narrow lane in Wells next the sea and asked him about a TV,telling him the story. £19 changed hands,and i went back,plugged the ...."Digi Box" in,and away we went.
In various places,when the new then Avtex Bee (Useless) Sting thingy came out,when it would not work,i could allways get a good picture from an OLD Maxview herring bone type arial,(from the attic),made before digital TV's were out.
Some proper member will tell you what you need,and if this would still be the case today,bearing in mind,that the anolog TV HAD been up in the attic,it came free with a c/van,but we still used the old one,till it went to a TV heaven...
Tea Bag

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[DanielFord]

I quite often have trouble getting TV when we pitch up.
Try this little tip, walk around and find a static building and locate it's TV aerial, note the direction it is pointing in, then return to your motorhome and point the aerial in the same direction. The signal finders are pretty close to hopeless in my experience.

 

[Jaws]

As Dave quite rightly says, there is no such thing as a digital aerial as such.. An aerial is a chunk of metal.. It really does not discriminate !
As the digital services are in the same general frequency area as the old analogue it is not even a case of the amplifier not working because it is 'out of bounds'

No.. The dealer is making a pathetic attempt at scamming you**.. Who ever it is they should be avoided in the future as they really cannot be trusted

**
I suppose it is possible he is not actually scamming you, he is just a total moron who has not got a clue of that which he speaks..
Which thinking about it is probably just as bad as a scam.

As you may have gathered what you have been told REALLY makes my blood boil.. Playing on peoples lack of knowledge is never good, and when a dealer does it as far as I am concerned they are little better than thieves

So what is possibly wrong ...

Either the 12v feed to the amplifier has failed or possibly the amp its self has died.. Either way it is a simple and cheap fix, and certainly not something to cost more than a few pounds
This amp will be just fine as a replacement SHOULD it be needed.


If you are going to Peterborough look me up and I will come take a look and check out what is going on

As a temporary measure you could simply plug the lead from the aerial in to the lead that goes to the tv thereby bypassing the amp.
Not as good as if the amp was working but better than it is at present ( with the amp not working it is actually behaving as a signal blocker ! )

 

[Old Codger]

My "Status 530 Digital Antenna System" came fitted to my new caravan in 2012. Like reported above, sensitivity of the system gradually faded until it was worse that a short length of bare wire. My Guarantee has expired and the comments on the various forums suggested that a replacement would be expensive and that the antenna is designed as a sealed unit.
To cut a long story short; the power supply was OK, the preamplifier functioned correctly, but, the antenna did not provide any signal. I took my antenna off the roof together with its feed to the pre-amp so as to determine the cause. The loss of signal was due to a co-axial cable defect compounded by inept fitting of the end plug. The central core of the cable is broken where it passes from the antenna dome into the mounting foot, such a fault is hardly surprising as the cable used has a solid core (as in SAT-TV antenna leads) which is hardly appropriate for connection to an antenna that is to be rotated and changed from horizontal to vertical polarization each time the RV is taken to a new location.
I have replaced the original co-axial cable with flexible RG8 and expect no further problem.
I have taken photos of the co-ax and my Antenna Dome during the repair process, this will facilitate my writing of an article describing the dismantling/repair/assembly process if there is enough interest.

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[ambulancekidd]

My experience of newer Status aerials has been really poor. We owned two different new caravans on which the Status aerials failed due to water ingress. This is totally contrary to our experience of older versions. I can't remember the maker of the aerial we have on our moho that I fitted but it works flawlessly. I'll check it in daylight tomorrow & let you know.
One oddity that I've noticed is that on a little CL near Castle Douglas that uses the Calbeck transmitter is that most channels were available when the aerial was on the horizontal orientation but pop it over to vertical & it picked up channels that didn't show up on horizontal!
We're currently looking for a new moho, but me thinks it'll be a satellite dome instead.

Ah got it, its a Teleco aerial. Superb bit of kit.

 

[tonyidle]

My "Status 530 Digital Antenna System" came fitted to my new caravan in 2012. Like reported above, sensitivity of the system gradually faded until it was worse that a short length of bare wire. My Guarantee has expired and the comments on the various forums suggested that a replacement would be expensive and that the antenna is designed as a sealed unit.
To cut a long story short; the power supply was OK, the preamplifier functioned correctly, but, the antenna did not provide any signal. I took my antenna off the roof together with its feed to the pre-amp so as to determine the cause. The loss of signal was due to a co-axial cable defect compounded by inept fitting of the end plug. The central core of the cable is broken where it passes from the antenna dome into the mounting foot, such a fault is hardly surprising as the cable used has a solid core (as in SAT-TV antenna leads) which is hardly appropriate for connection to an antenna that is to be rotated and changed from horizontal to vertical polarization each time the RV is taken to a new location.
I have replaced the original co-axial cable with flexible RG8 and expect no further problem.
I have taken photos of the co-ax and my Antenna Dome during the repair process, this will facilitate my writing of an article describing the dismantling/repair/assembly process if there is enough interest.

Worth using 75ohm cable - RG8 is 50ohm.

 

[Old Codger]

Tony is correct, if you can get a very flexible 75 ohm cable. In my installation the cable length is less than 2 metres making flexibility take priority over impedance matching.
In my case the use of a solid core was the main cause of signal loss, it had broken where it passed through the 'hinge'. It had only been flexed from horizontal to vertical polarization about a dozen times from new.
The correct cable impedance for the Status 530 is 75ohm, unfortunately the type available locally has a flimsy solid core. Multiple strands are needed to facilitate frequent flexing; if you have a long run, seek out multicore 75 ohm cable then use an old style TV aerial and adapter to fit the TV amplifier.
Good comment Tony.
Regards, Rolande EI6CZ

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[Old Codger]

As for water ingress - -I used lots of silicon sealant to join the two halves of the antenna dome and added a drain hole at the lowest point.

 

[Old Codger]

Error correction - sorry about my typo at 9.59AM today
"plug" added to text

Tony is correct, if you can get a very flexible 75 ohm cable. In my installation the cable length is less than 2 metres making flexibility take priority over impedance matching.
In my case the use of a solid core was the main cause of signal loss, it had broken where it passed through the 'hinge'. It had only been flexed from horizontal to vertical polarization about a dozen times from new.
The correct cable impedance for the Status 530 is 75ohm, unfortunately the type available locally has a flimsy solid core. Multiple strands are needed to facilitate frequent flexing; if you have a long run, seek out multicore 75 ohm cable then use an old style TV aerial-plug with an adapter to fit the TV amplifier.
Good comment Tony.
Regards, Rolande EI6CZ[/QUOTE]