Satelite info for a dummy

[Robert Clark]

Hi Guys

I'm undecided whether to add an 85cm Oyster dish to my van or to stick with streaming via a smartphone (we've plenty of data) or watching donloaded programs.
We don't have a Sky subcription at home any more so dont watch satelite TV in the UK

In simple terms, what English speaking channels will we be able to pick up in France and Spain?

Thanks
Robert

 

[Badknee]

We managed to watch British telly into northern Spain on our moho system. Since then we’re streaming through our phones to our tv. When we get to our winter quarters we will watch through a 2mtr fixed dish.

 

[eddie]

Hi Guys

I'm undecided whether to add an 85cm Oyster dish to my van or to stick with streaming via a smartphone (we've plenty of data) or watching donloaded programs.
We don't have a Sky subcription at home any more so dont watch satelite TV in the UK

In simple terms, what English speaking channels will we be able to pick up in France and Spain?

Thanks
Robert

Nothing you can't stream. You will be wasting your money Robert. bought a new camper last August and debated whether to bother fitting one as we stream everything and hate adverts.

Hardly used the Satellite and when we took the camper back to Signature RV for some warranty work, we very nearly did a deal on a 2020 model, and the discussion we (Lyn & I had) was it was pointless swapping over, and a waste of money to install a new one, even though it is easy for us and cheaper, than for most people

 

[Robert Clark]

We managed to watch British telly into northern Spain on our moho system. Since then we’re streaming through our phones to our tv. When we get to our winter quarters we will watch through a 2mtr fixed dish.

Is that on Freesat?
Which satellite do you have to point at?

 

[Jaws]

Hi Guys

I'm undecided whether to add an 85cm Oyster dish to my van or to stick with streaming via a smartphone (we've plenty of data) or watching donloaded programs.
We don't have a Sky subcription at home any more so dont watch satelite TV in the UK

In simple terms, what English speaking channels will we be able to pick up in France and Spain?

Thanks
Robert

That is what we have.. Got down to Zahora below Cadiz and thought no chance.. But it worked ( apart from the beeb and ITV channels )

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[Hagstrom]

I think sat dishes on MHs are virtually redundant these days. 4g and 5g services are up to the job and data plans are becoming much better value. In conjunction with a Firestick or similar I don't think there's many channels you won't be able to get.

 

[Phil 748]

Hi we have a Dish and have not used it now for over a year after getting a Fire Stick and side loaded Virgin TV to GO on it we can watch all our Home TV in the MH.

 

[sallylillian]

As others Robert a vote for a streaming solution, we did not have a satellite dish this time. Instead installed hi gain LTE and WiFi antenna on the roof and Firestick, Chrome Cast with HD PC monitor. Netgear M1 with Vodafone 100gb sim. This 10 week trip has proven that it is the ultimate solution for our occasional evening entertainment.
Michael

 

[Just smiffy]

Even if you pay £24 a month for 100gb (we pay £13 on a deal) and a new sat system costs £2000 that’s nearly 7yrs of data.... you would have changed the van by then....?

 

[Soozywoozy]

We have both. Satellite was transferred from old van to new as it did cost a fortune, but worthnoting that transfer is possible if you change mh. Both ways of course rely on signal. For satellite in europe anything east of Munich and further south is a no go. Large trees and mountains can also be problematic If staying in uk only and not going very remote locations eg some parts of wales, scotland devon/ cornwall i would stick to streaming. Thus it depends on your travels

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[pappajohn]

Even if you pay £24 a month for 100gb (we pay £13 on a deal) and a new sat system costs £2000 that’s nearly 7yrs of data.... you would have changed the van by then....?

But not everybody is too idle to turn a knob to raise and turn a dial to point a dish and it ain't going to cost £2000.

 

[Neil S]

Hi Guys

I'm undecided whether to add an 85cm Oyster dish to my van or to stick with streaming via a smartphone (we've plenty of data) or watching donloaded programs.
We don't have a Sky subcription at home any more so dont watch satelite TV in the UK

In simple terms, what English speaking channels will we be able to pick up in France and Spain?

Thanks
Robert

The below map shows approximately

where we lost the mainstream channels on a recent trip to France using an 85 cm dish with Autoskew

 

[Lenny HB]

I wouldn't bother with a sat dish again. Price of an Oyster pays for a hell of a lot of data.
We have a dish but also an Android TV box which we also download programs & films to.

 

[Robert Clark]

Thanks guys
Looks like we’ll stick with streaming rather than a sat system

 

[Badknee]

Is that on Freesat?
Which satellite do you have to point at?

Astra 28 south Robert through a Humax box.

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[Figaro]

a Fire Stick and side loaded Virgin TV to GO on it we can watch all our Home TV in the MH.

Don`t mean to hijack thread but I`ve just got a firestick and finding my may around it.
Can you explain your comments in simple terms eg "side loaded Virgin TV"
Does that give you live TV from main channels ?
I have Virgin TV at home.
Thanks

 

[Just smiffy]

But not everybody is too idle to turn a knob to raise and turn a dial to point a dish and it ain't going to cost £2000.

Does oyster make that type John...?

 

[Bdeners]

Nobody has mentioned the maintenance costs of a dish, spent over £300 with Oyster getting the Y motor replaced in May when the dish went right over and wouldn’t retract, 2 months later same thing happens. This time Oyster thinks it the brains unit, £300 if it can be repaired or £500 if I need a new one. I won’t be forking out anymore cash on it and down it will stay until I can get it removed.

 

[Phil 748]

Don`t mean to hijack thread but I`ve just got a firestick and finding my may around it.
Can you explain your comments in simple terms eg "side loaded Virgin TV"
Does that give you live TV from main channels ?
I have Virgin TV at home.
Thanks

Hi Figaro, if you have an Android Phone it is quite simple to do,
1 Put Virgin TV to GO app on the Phone
2 Install APPs to Fire App on the Phone
3 Install the App Mouse Toggle for Fire Stick on the Phone

Then on the fire Stick follow the instructions from the APP to Fire to open developer option on the fire stick to enable ADB over Network this will then let install the Virgin TV to GO app onto the fibre stick, then you have to install the Mouse Toggle App,
You will find that the picture is squashed when the Virgin TV app starts but once you have selected the Channel it fine as the App was designed to work on Phones

You need to have the Phone and Fire Stick on the same network to do this,

This will let you watch all Virgin TV like at Home apart from BBC which you watch via IPLAYER
I use it to watch BT sport and Eurosport when in MH to watch the Motor bikes
feel free to PM if you need help doing it

Phil

 

[GAVLAD]

Can anyone explain streaming please?
We have iPhones and iPads and haven’t a clue how to stream
Do you have to plug into your tv?

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[Phil 748]

Hi Basically
Streaming is watching TV over the Internet on you IPHONE, IPAD or TV via a dongle

 

[Camping Gaza]

When you watch tv or listen to radio using the internet (even on a mobile phone) its called streaming. If you connect to the internet on your IPad and go on the BBC Iplayer to connect to radio or TV its known as streaming.

I need satellite, and landline wifi/internet. Come to my house where there is no mobile phone signal! NONE! so much for data plans on mobile!

 

[sallylillian]

When you watch tv or listen to radio using the internet (even on a mobile phone) its called streaming. If you connect to the internet on your IPad and go on the BBC Iplayer to connect to radio or TV its known as streaming.

I need satellite, and landline wifi/internet. Come to my house where there is no mobile phone signal! NONE! so much for data plans on mobile!

I assume you have tried a high powered hi up antenna for mobile connectivity? Like DBK my roof LTE antenna will often pick up a signal that my phone cannot and deliver a very useable speed.

 

[PeteH]

When we went to Spain, back in the 90`s, it was possible to get BBC/ITV on the first Generation 80cm dishes. Astra in their wisdom (or maybe Sky?) then re-aligned the satellite (s) signal some time in the early "Naughties". 4 of us "regulars" clubbed to-gether, and we had a 6ft dish installed, which we shared using a Multi LNB. Wether or not you get UK TV south of the Pyrenees now is something of a lottery on a standard setup. Or so I am advised. BTW, higher ROAMING charges could come back after Bre8it, be advised.

 

[Gellyneck]

Put a second user (ex another Funster) Snipe on the roof and glad we did as when touring Northern \ Western Scotland a couple of weeks back we had intermittent terrestrial TV and for around 50% of the time no mobile access (EE or 3). We're off tomorrow to another area with patchy mobile access. Currently awaiting arrival of an O2 sim to see if this may fill in some of the gaps.
Whilst you talk about 4 \ 5g services there are fairly sizeable areas of UK where even 3g access is suspect.
Given the cost of data vs the cost of the Snipe it'll pay for itself in around 12-18 months.
Guess it's horses for courses dependent upon where you are and availability of infrastructure.

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[sallylillian]

Robert just to remind you here is a picture of my current roof mounted antenna on the Morelo. The large one is a dual Hi gain LTE antenna and the smaller is a hi gain (8dB) WiFi antenna. Both are on Diamond motorised mounts (12vdc). The Dual feeds from the LTE go to my Netgear M1, the WiFi goes to a Uniquiti Bullet. Through a manual switch I can select either the M1 or the Bullet to feed the WAN port on a TP Link travel router. If you chose for example to negate the need for a powerful WiFi option you could just use the M1. However I am finding on this trip so far that many of the site WiFi's are capable of streaming through my setup so saving my Vodafone data. So I choose these if they are free, but if I have to pay I might as well use my Voda data. Its cheaper in most cases for our usage volume.

 

[Camping Gaza]

I assume you have tried a high powered hi up antenna for mobile connectivity? Like DBK my roof LTE antenna will often pick up a signal that my phone cannot and deliver a very useable speed.

Thank for the tip, I do have a mobile wifi in the van that's all ok when on the move , its home that's the issue as its actual phone reception I need. There is nothing at all! I am in a total deadspot.

I have an 80cm dish on the side of the house which is great for UK tv and radio reception but I cant send or receive calls or text on my mobile phone that is the problem. (or mobile data).

I have internet broadband and a landline and its a pain when online shopping or banking when they need to send you these activation codes via text or to simply get a mobile call.

There seems to be no answer to this problem!

 

[sallylillian]

Thank for the tip, I do have a mobile wifi in the van that's all ok when on the move , its home that's the issue as its actual phone reception I need. There is nothing at all! I am in a total deadspot.

I have an 80cm dish on the side of the house which is great for UK tv and radio reception but I cant send or receive calls or text on my mobile phone that is the problem. (or mobile data).

I have internet broadband and a landline and its a pain when online shopping or banking when they need to send you these activation codes via text or to simply get a mobile call.

There seems to be no answer to this problem!

My post was perhaps a bit oblique, what I was suggesting is that you get a mobile signal repeater device used for boosting the mobile phone reception by the usage of three units: a reception antenna (external high up), a signal amplifier and an internal rebroadcast antenna. The latter is very much similar to the mobile phone mast used for broadcasting by the network providers. The only difference is they are much smaller and usually used in one building. Modern mobile repeater amplifiers ‘repeat’ or to be more exact rebroadcast mobile signal inside the designated area. This type of systems usually uses an external antenna to collect the best mobile signal, which is then transmitted to an amplifier unit which strengthens the signal and retransmits it locally. So positioning your external hi gain antenna high up a pole for example you may pick up distant signals that your mobile devices cannot.
That was my thought.

 

[sallylillian]

Camping Gaza Maybe something like this?

 

[Langtoftlad]

Being on a budget... I'd personally being doing a trip with just the mifi... to see whether it suits/meets your needs.
If it doesn't, then stick a sat dome up on the roof.

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