New members,Advice on TV antennas etc.

Welcome Ian and Marcia,

How many sleeps to go?

We have found nothing wrong with the Happy Wanderer Antenna supplied by BTI. If you want to go to anything that gives better reception, you've got to look at a Sat Dish. We have an Abrolga System and it works well, but do shop around as I believe there are some cheaper and better alternatives.....with better aftermarket service.

Cheers,

Rob and Liz

Firstly, welcome to the BOG site. It is like one big happy family when you get to know a few other owners.

We have the Winegard antenna and its works pretty good. We were stopped next to others at Kilcoy in January and they said, you won't get any TV reception here. We put up antenna and I think we had 3 channels that were of a reasonable quality. They also have the convenience of being ablr to be rotated from inside the van while you are looking at the picture quality.

Never heard of "Phaselink".

Food grade hose should cost you about $3 per metre. Try Camec.

For terrestial TV I am going to carry a SD(Standard Definition) STB(Set Top Box) in our van. At our house TV has always been an iffy affair with VHF passable and UHF marginal. A friend suggested I try a SD STB. I borrowed his and hey presto, perfect TV......UNBELIEVEABLE (to quote a word opten overused by sports commentaters and TV presenters searching for the more superlative adjective). The box is a Teac DV-B350 and sub $100 from HardlyNormal. It is very small(about the size of a novel) and is powered by a 6 volt plug pack. I will power it from a 12/6v DC-DC converter.
www.teac.com.au
Not all TV stations would be digital yet but will be eventually.......... no more ghosty, snowy terrestial TV.
Sat TV when out in the boonies (or in some van parks) is magic. I am sure van park people do an enviromental study to find the least possible TV reception when siting a park.

Terrestial TV reception and suitable antennas are in the black box category for caravanners. The biggest problem is the polarisation of the transmitted signal. Most are horizontal which means the TV antenna is horizontal but sometimes are vertical which means a vertical antenna. In an area where the two are mixed, the antenna has to be a combination of both. This is no problem when a fixture but it is when portable. All portable antennas(Wineguard included) are a compromise. The Phaselink is a passable antennas and as is the Wineguard. Don't fall for one of those twisty waterpipe gadgets.

TV reception quality in adjacent vans using identical hardware can be entirely different.

So in a nutshell get a SD STB and get perfect TV every time.........or nothing.......so put up the Sat gear.

Ernie and Kay

you may like to look at kansat.com.au which has some good basic explanations for a novice like me
campersat.com.au may be of interest
also offworldsat.com.au sell a caravan pack for $1000 +gst which includes the box dish cable free to air card & a satellite finder i believe have a look cheers

Hi All,
Thanks for the warm welcome to the group and the advice offered.
I will certainly be checking out the set top box as suggested by the NOMADS. I have invested in some satellite equipment.If anyone is interested i got an emtech 1501R sat receiver, 78cm alloy dish with folding LNB arm, LNB, sat finder, aurora card & cables for $600 incl freight from a guy in Adelaide. His name is Vince and his number is 0400 322 320 and his email hwnt@tpg.com.au. He gave me good fast service.
Hope to attend the rally in september and meet you all there.

Ian & Marcia