The Motorhome Satellite Dish.
If you are the owner of a Motorhome then you are in a very good position when it comes to installing a satellite dish.
The main advantage to the motorhome owner is that your vehicle has a walk-able roof unlike a caravan.(Caravan owners should read the Caravan Satellite article)
So as the owner of a motorhome what do you need to think about when selection a motorhome sateliite system.
We have put together a list of things that you may want to consider before choosing your motorhome satellite.
- What channels do you want to receive?
- What area do you want to use your satellite system in? (UK, Spain,France)
- What is your budget?
- Are you able to use a manual system?
- Do you have space on your roof?
- Will the height of your satellite system be a problem on the ferry?
What Channels Do You Want To Receive?
The first thing to establish when purchasing a motorhome satellite dish is what you are looking to get out of it.
Do you want to be able to just take your Sky digibox along for occasional use or do you want a satellite system that can receive all channels from all satellites available.
If you are a person who likes to watch a little bit of news from time to time to keep up with current affairs then you may want to consider a portable satellite system that you set up manually when you need it. If this is the case then you would recommend the Multimo Satellite Dish or even the Multimo Twin LNB system if you have a Sky Plus box.
However if you want to be able to watch a lot of channels from a lot of different satellites then you will find it very difficult to do this manually. It's not impossible but be prepared to be messing around with your dish for a long time. Although it is easy to locate the Sky satellite system with a manual dish, you may find it a little more difficult with Hotbird and Sirus. Take a look at the Camos Dome Satellite System or perhaps the Autosat Satellite Dish.
What Area Do You Want To Use Your Satellite Dish In?
If you are looking for a satellite system that will receive a good quality signal within the UK, then you are not going to need a large dish.
In the UK we are lucky enough to be at the focal point of the Sky and Freesat transmission. This means that we are able to receive Sky and Freesat with only a small dish. If you look at a dish that is used on the side of your house to receive Sky, you will notice that it is very small in comparison to some of the dish's you may have seen on houses in other country's.
The rule to follow is that if you want to watch Sky or Freesat outside of the UK you will need a bigger dish the further away from the UK you travel. For example if you wanted to watch Sky on the Coast of Spain, you are recommended to use a 1.8 meter dish.
You will also find that the signal is reduced in strength and harder to find with a manual system.
What is your budget?
Just like Caravan and narrowboat owners, your budget will dictate the type of system you can purchase.
If you require a manual portable satellite system the you will be looking at a satellite system costing around £150 and above.
For automatic satellite systems you should budget around £1300.00 and above.
We Have sorted our full range of satellite dishes in order of price.
Are you able to use a manual system?
Some people find it easy to use a manual satellite system and can set up a dish within an couple of minuets whereas others a never able to master it and end up disposing of their system with a few weeks.
The key to setting up a manual satellite system is having your system on the flat to start off with. Set your elevation between 20 and 25 degrees from the UK then rotate the dish clockwise until you get a signal. The first weak signal you will come to is the Astra 1 satellite as Astra1 and Astra 2d are on the same elevation. At this point most people think they have managed to locate Sky or Freesay and try to watch television. What they don't realise is that the Astra 2d satellite is in almost the same location and by moving the dish another couple of millimetres they will be able to lock the correct satellite. Once they realise that they are not getting a signal they go back and start over only to locate the same satellite again. This is the most common problem when setting up a manual system.
Our recommendation is to set up your satellite in the back garden and practice locating the satellite before going on holiday.
Do you have space on your roof?
Manufacturers of modern motorhome always try and make the living area of your motorhome as light and airy as possible. This is normally achieved by adding more roof lights. This may be superb for the lighting of your vehicle but reduces the space available on the roof, to install a satellite system or solar panel.
Before paying out for your satellite system we would recommend getting on the roof with a tape measure and physically measuring things. The last thing you want is to purchase a system and find it catches your vehicle when it turns or that it overhangs the side of your vehicle when down. You must also remember that most dish type systems need to be mounted with the dish behind the motor when the system is parked.(Down)
Take a look at the specification of each of the systems you are interested in and locate the measurements of the dish or dome, before you make your purchase. If you are purchasing a manual system you may wish to establish the size of the unit for storage.
Will the height of your satellite system be a problem on the ferry?
At TSW Comsat we do deal with insurance replacements on behalf of many insurers. The most common claim by far is for damage to satellite systems caused as a result of crushing the system against the roof of the ferry.
Please ensure that you know the height of your motohome with satellite and make a note of this.
To Conclude.
Please be aware of the following.
- Manual satellite systems will require you to set them up and have some knowledge to locate the satellite.
- Automatic satellite systems do not need any knowledge to use.
- You must establish your budget and shop around for the best deal.
- Decide what you want to watch and where you want to watch it.
- Check the space available on your roof and ensure you understand how the system will fit.
- Will the additional height be a problem on the ferry, channel tunnel or even petrol stations.
The final point is you must only purchase your equipment form our shop. HAHAHA.
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