Satellite System Smartsat Oyster
Submitted: Friday, Apr 25, 2008 at 06:56
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AUORA
Patience is not a virtue of ours hence we are going to sell our satellite kit and head off to Sound n Motion to get the Smart Sat. While we are there we are going to have the work done so that we can attach the TV to a bracket on the side of the van for outside viewing. We saw this on a BT that was parked on Fletcher Creek outside of Charters Towers last year. Great idea we thought. Any thoughts or tips on this idea.
Jim and Lyn
Reply By: Goodpal50 - Friday, Apr 25, 2008 at 22:38
Friday, Apr 25, 2008 at 22:38
Jim Na Lyn,
We have the Smart Sat and are very happy with it. Mind you make sure you have a clear view to the north without trees or you won't get the signal.
Also depending on where your box is mounted inside the van you might have to switch off any flouro lights that are near the box. With ours you hgave to switch off the light as the RFI from the flouro seems to interfere with the beam from the remote.
We also have the mount and outlets (both terrestial and satellite) for the TV on the side of the van and sockets for external speakers which were fitted by SIM when the van was built. Great for out in the bush - Try "war of the worlds" CD's one night - Ideal with a nice bottle of wine.
Mike and Margaret
AnswerID:
575026
Follow Up By: NIK `N` OFF - Saturday, Apr 26, 2008 at 03:32
Saturday, Apr 26, 2008 at 03:32
Have recently moved into the World of Sat, bought a system from Access Antenna's here in the West. SIM had previously pre wired the van in preparation and it was a simple matter of just plugging in the leads to the decoder box and running the coax to the external connection, 12v Strong decoder & no interference that i have noticed & fluro's have been on whilst TV was used. Having the 4 way switch box makes it easy to switch from TV - Dig TV - DVD - Sat, also have the external TV mount & outlets & flush mounted marine speakers, good for watching the footy when the fish arent biting :-)
I have just recently added a bracket to the drawbar for a pole to attach the dish too, my 1st attempt wasn't quite long enough, 2nd one gets the dish so clear line of sight with no interference.
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Reply By: Dundee - Saturday, Apr 26, 2008 at 03:44
Saturday, Apr 26, 2008 at 03:44
Jim and Lyn
We got our BT in Oct 2007 and decided when we were in the design stage to just tick all the options we could with SIM ( and worry about the cost later ! ) - anyway by the time they built our van SIM were using another supplier for the Satellite dish - apparently a breakaway group from Smartsat have set up and produced a better product - the old Oyster failed to pick up the satellite in certain locations in Aust - their dish wouldn't get to the extreme angle needed.
If they haven't changed since - its an AUTOSAT 2S - by a mob called INTELLISAT - still a great German product. We were told by SIM that it will get reception anywhere.
Mike and Margaret are right - you can't have an object in front of the dish - we pulled up in a van park last week and after dark I tried to get reception - none - kept trying to locate the satellite - then I checked north and saw that when the dish was up it had a tree directly in its path - moved the van forward the next day to clear the tree and - no problem.
I was also intending to leave the dish up all the time until I realised it was casting a shadow on one of our four solar panels during the day - simple retraction - its takes all of 30 seconds to put up or down. We don't watch TV during the day anyway.
My conclusion is that they are brilliant ( despite the extremely high cost ) - plus a bit more secure re theft - and best of all no set up or packing away.
We have got the external fittings for speakers and TV outside also - haven't really used it much yet - not sure how much we needed it - speakers would be recommended for music etc outside - and depending where the TV is installed it is possible to view from outside through an open window - then the external speakers become useful and you might not need to move the TV outside - personal decision really.
Regards
Geoff & Karen
AnswerID:
575027
