I am considering getting a Fifth wheeler made for us, and have been putting thought to the additions that can/should be installed. One of those accessories is the fixed digital TV aerial. Your van is parked in the site and there are hills and trees, do you get reception, or does it cut out all the time?
Should I go for satellite TV, then there is the question of a dish permanently mounted on the roof of the van, and trees etc.
Would I be better to not have a TV aerial installed on the roof of the van at all, instead use the money to go straight for a "Vast" system, and should I opt for a portable dish rather than a fixed mount?
I use a dish with vast and foxtel. If you stay in parks there is usually trees near you and if you free camp you will want to park under trees for shade. The free standing dish allows you to move it to get the best reception. The new vast box has built in hard drive and allows you to link programs. Linking means that any programed linked will be automatically recorded with or without the TV turned on.(as long as you have the sat connected). The roof top sat dish is easy to set up but you still have the tree problem. It takes me about 10-15 minutes to unpack the dish, set up and find the sat.
We have both on our caravan. If we are in a reception area for FTA we use the roof mounted antenna. If bush camped or in a poor signal area(lots of CP's like this) we will use the portable dish for Vast and foxstar(dont tell them you are taking it mobile). We have been using a portable dish for around 12 years now and can always get a signal by moving the dish on its tripod to get a clear signal from the satellite.
We use a tripod so I don't have to get down on my knees or bend over to make adjustments. I always peg it down as a slight wind can push them over. We also use an 85cm dish which is easier to aim and also works better in rain and will gather enough signal anywhere in Australia.
The VAST system with travellers registration is a very good system that does not cost$ to run.
hope that helps
frank
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Avagreatday.
Kathy and Frank currently at Home near Quirindi NSW
As others have said satilight is the best way to get 1/2 decent television and l holey agree with the others in what they have said, with the vast service you can now get televisions that also have the vast reciever built in as also having a full digital tuner as well. The best part is the 24 cm set is 12 and 240 Volt model, so the best of both worlds . While the 32 cm set is a 240 Volt only version. I think ( and stand to be corrected here ) is there is no dvd bult in on these models, this would be the only down side.
Have the manufacture of your caravan install good quality RG6 cable from the wall plate to were you are going to connect your sat dish ( or FTA ). Others have said to get a ground mounting dish as it is easyer to move when you have a tree problem, I have found that the auto sat dishes that are mounted on the roof are more trouble than they are worth, some cost over $3000.00 so a lot of money that could be used else were in the build of your 5th wheeler.
Dont forget to include a stereo system that can also take the sound from the television and put it through you stereo speakers ( modern televisions have lousy sound ) and while you are at it also have cables run to the master bedroom, you may never use it ( for now) but it's a real pain in the neck to try and run cables after you have taken delivery of your new toy.
-- Edited by valiant81 on Wednesday 31st of December 2014 02:09:40 PM
Thank you all for replying. You have basically confirmed what I thought. I estimate that an aerial will cost about $500 to install, I think it would be better spent on a "vast" system that is portable, or semi portable?
PS thanks for the input so far.
Hi Lana,
The dish is the way to go. We have a pole mounted permanently on the draw bar of our van to put the dish on. If there are trees in the way we use a tripod.
I know you are going 5th wheeler but this might give you and idea.
We thought of a roof mounted dish but trees can be a problem.
If you have Wiki camps on your phone there is a sat finder with the app; really good; only had it a few months but don't know how I did it before.
Hope this helps.
Happy New Year
As for mounting the dish, l was forgetting that you were haveing a 5 th wheeler made till after i posted, from what i have seen, some 5th wheelers have a double bar bracket that is mounted on to the drivers side rear of the 5 th wheeler and swings out when setting up your camp, the bracket can lock into place, out from back of your van, ( some already have the dish mounted on the bracket ). it's only a matter of finding the dirrection to find satilight, adjust for the elevation and skew, and all set. when it's time to pack up just loosen off the clamps and push the dish back in to the back of the 5th wheeler and lock into place, of course have the arm for the lmb pointing away for the rig.
I've seen this type off setup in Darwin last year
These brackets look alot like a swing out spair tyre carrier on the back of a 4x4. It's a bit hard to explain.
Failing that it would be easy to remove the dish off the arm and use a trypod stand for when you are parked under trees.
Mine is roof mounted.. Thank goodness it comes down as soon as park break is taken off..
The amount of times we have left the TV areal up is amassing we havnt lost it!!
There is no low trees etc between Top Ryde and St Clair.. Lol..
