G'day Mark & Deb,

These days we travellers have acces to ALL the digital free to air TV stations through a system called VAST (Viewer Access Satellite Television)

The only provider is the Australian government through an organisation called VAST administration

To access this system you will need the following:

VAST certified decoder
Satellite dish and tripod OR a roof mounted automatic sat dish(expensive) I prefer the tripod mounting because I can set it up away from trees and I do not have to get down on my knees or bend over to aim the dish.
Satellite finder to aim and fine tune your sat signal(preferably a digital one)
Cables to connect it all to your accommodation
possibly a "through the wall connection" to get the signal inside your RV
A TV set with HDMI input.
A list of aiming co-ordinates for the Optus C1 satellite
A compass to find north
Some patience while you practice aiming the dish.
Register(at no cost) as a traveller on the mysattv.com.au website. registration link here: www.mysattv.com.au/travellers.aspx



ALL of this(except the patience) is available from a supplier that has an excellent reputation among GN's for providing quality components, great service and support backup and good prices.
Have a look at these sites:
www.satplus.com.au
www.accessantennas.com.au
www.vansat.com.au

I very highly recommend you DO NOT purchase from a WA company called Itech World. We have seen many issues with the deals they advertise and also with the lack of support after the sale is made.

I hope this helps

frank

Hi all;

       KFT is spot on. Just a little bit to think about, There is now on the market acouple of lcd televisions that already have a vast reciever built in 24" & 32" ( as well as a full analog / digital tuners ) and one of these would save having to have seperate unitsand cables running every where. Uncertain if these sets have a dvd player as well, but the best part of these sets is they are made for 12 Volts and when you need to use 240 Volts these sets also come with there own power supply. Haven't purchesed one as yet..........But l'm thinking about a early christmas present.

Problem with these combined tv/Sat units is if one item fails you are stuck with it, and will have to replace with a separate unit anyway, bit like the tv/dvd players, where the dvd fails but tv is fine.

Also they are not a cheaper option, most sat boxes are a very small footprint anyway nowadays so can be fitted in somewhere.

Thank you everyone for your input.
A lot easier than I thought and cheaper.

M&D

The decoder/TV combinations are a bit pricey with current TV prices very low IMO.

For setting up your sattelite dish the app in WIKI CAMPS is ideal to site the dish clear of obstructions and the aid in aiming.

Alan

-- Edited by Brenda and Alan on Monday 24th of November 2014 11:25:40 PM

Have a look at these

I understand many use this one to aim a dish because it will actually receive the free to air channels

sat-link.com.au/satlink/ws-6906.htm

frank

Hi Molluscan,

We use a 75cm dish which is far easier to aim at the satellite and does not have as much signal fade in rain.

have a look here: www.satplus.com.au/products/SatPlus-SP75-White-Mobile-Satellite-Dish.html

The dish pictured is made of a thicker metal than most others so it will not distort over time like some do when constantly packing and unpacking etc.

hope that helps

frank