Satellite TV

G'day Steve, Quite a few of us have Sat Tv and I can give a simple over view leaving brands aside. It basically works like this .... You set up a Sat dish (usually on the ground) run a cable from it to a decoder box to turn sat signal into tv reception. The decoder box has outputs to the tv set and sends the signal to it. It is almost the same as connecting a video player to a tv via av outputs and placing a video in and pic comes out except a sat is supplying signal. The dish has to be tuned to the sat to "beam" in on the signal if you like. This is explained in the instructions and involves direction, elevation and LNB alignment. A signal meter is supplied to make this very easy. Coverage is most of Aust so you can get what is called "free to air" tv. There is 7 Central, Imparja, ABC of various regions and last but not least SBS. A smart card is placed in the decoder for this to work and the card is registered to you. This is a free service, that is, there is no cost to view the sat tv signal. There are some Aust Broadcasting Authority issues regarding switching service on and off but these can be explained by sat system suppliers. Regards Anthony Explore this Great Land ...Do it Easy ...Tow a Bushtracker

Thanks for that info. Sorry to be a pain but..... Once the equipment is bought ( a cost of approx $500) do you have to subscribe to a service for the free to air tv? or ??? how does that work?

Thanks Anthony, With all this sat tv going on....would I be wasting my hard earned $ by having a Wyngaurd antenna installed on the BT , do you think?

Baygypsy the cost is a one off charge and there is no ongoing or annual fees involved. You still want to be able to receive terrestrial TV.

Point taken Thanks for the help.

Just had a look at the UEC website.... How do you power the decoder when not on a powered site? Do you have an inverter, or is there a 12volt version?

Steve, I would still have the Wynguard (sp) fitted for when in van parks or major towns etc. Can be a pain setting up a sat dish in a crowded park for one night ! That would be the night fav program is on !! Our BT use doesnt involve van parks only campgrounds so I dont have an antenna fitted but I had the coax, and wall plates fitted in case I want to use one later. It would have to be fitted/attached via the a-frame and in hindsight I'd go the Wynguard for ease of use. Sat is great for campgrounds as you cant get normal signal anyway (at most). Sorry if I seem to be spending ya money for ya but you only get one chance to place things in the walls/roof and that is at build time. I have separate coax (quad shielded from SIM) for the sat connection that uses screw on plugs not push in ... or will have when my BT is re-sheeted this month. As GD says there is no monthly charge to view the "free to air" channels and once admin charges are done its as free as baby kissing before an election !!! [smile] Anthony Explore this Great Land ...Do it Easy ...Tow a Bushtracker

Steve, Depending on your 240v needs when away from power (size) you can use an inverter. I use a small pure sine wave inverter (200w) mounted near the tv/sat decoder that plugs into a 12v socket in the wall and then powers the tv/decoder. This inverter also powers my shaver charger, mob phone charger, camcorder/digital camera charger, hand held elec beater etc up to 200w cont. or 300w/30min. Most BTers have an inverter built in these days and some are huge ! Sat decoder and tv draw about 5amps ...not bad for bit of viewing. I have not heard of a 12v decoder but there might be one .... CobraDave might know of one ? I'm using an Orion 12v/240v tv/video combo but most are using 17/20 inch TFT screens in BTs now. Anthony Explore this Great Land ...Do it Easy ...Tow a Bushtracker

Digital camera charger!!! Yicks, I forgot about that. Looks like an inverter is going on the list. Thanks for that Anthony & GD. I have a much better idea about my creature comfort requirements now. { I'm just visualising myself sitting under the awning in some national park somewhere watching the footy & taking a digital photo of the misses over on the grass using her 'MAGI WASH' bucket she bought at the Sydney show, washing my socks etc..[ huge grin ] }

Steve At this stage in the construction cycle the critical issue is to have F connectors fitted so that you can connect the cable from the dish to the box inside the van. We have just last week purchased a (95cm) dish plus box et al. Because we had only a couple of weeks between a flying trip south & setting off in the van this am we purchased the gear in a bit of a rush although had gathered enough info from the Caravaners Forum to know where & what to buy. We purchased from www.sattv.com.au the after sales support has been great. Living amongst a large number of trees & being short of time we used our Austar dish to set up the box & have the Optus card activated so have not yet really tested the dish setup. If you are seriously going to use this type of system in the bush I think the 4 x battery, 4 x solar panel configuration is essential. Just as an aside, the extraordinary range of radio stations also available via the sat system is a huge plus Andy

You can buy a 12vDC satellite TV receiver from a business in Newcastle that imports the Funtach brand receiver. The problem is he does not recommend and will not warranty them in a mobile situation.

Hi Steve What an adventure! In addition to the "purchase the components separately" approach, there is the "systems" approach taken by some of us. We are going to be full-time liveaboards (yikes 4 weeks to go), and therefore the convenience of storage, setup time, and tune-in time were major factors in our deciding to purchase an Abrolga Satellite TV Reception System (03 9380 2548). The system cost $1793, draws 20 watts, and includes the Strong SFT 4800 II decoder which has provision for two cards - an Aurora card (free to air channels) and either a Foxtel or Austar card. The aluminum case (840x760x155mm) is strong enough that we have it lying down in the back of our Effie and one of our folding bicycles lives on top of the case when travelling. You simply open up the case and point and watch - not quite - but almost. Those that have the unit report 5 minute setup/tune and you are in business. Look in the pictures for Motley pics and you will see a pic of where he stores it under his bed, and a pic of it open in front of his car. Happy hunting. tgintl/jay

Jay my system is possibly quicker and definitly easier to set-up and adjust than an Abrolga dish set-up, and nowhere near the price. I have inclinometer and level all built in with thumb-wheel adjustment screws. If I had wanted a 2 card receiver it would only have added an extra $90.00 to price.

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Steve, Andy hit the nail on its head with the "F" connectors !! These were not put in by me at build time (2.5 yrs ago) and as luck would have it I went sat dish 6 months later. I have a water proof 50mm hatch in floor (cargo bay) ... I had to install it to pass sat cable into BT to get it near decoder. This cable went in through floor in cargo bay and then through bedside door and up to decoder .... very messy with cable in the way all the time ! As my BT is being re-skinned from hail damage I have a chance to install "F" connectors at long last !! This is just a sat cable in the wall of BT with a plate near the spare tyre where the BT curves under ... the plate has a screw on F connector in it. The cable runs to where decoder is and another plate is placed there in wall of BT with screw on F connector. Connect dish to outside connector and then it is only a small length cable to decoder from internal wall mounted F connector. I have a normal tv antenna push-in type in wall now but I believe they have too much signal loss for sat ... wrong cable type also. Hindsight is a wondeful thing ! [smile] Anthony Explore this Great Land ...Do it Easy ...Tow a Bushtracker