dmac wrote:

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Has anyone got suggestions or recommendations for the reliable auto sat dish?  What is the SatKing Orbit like?

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 Hi, and welcome to the forum

I have the Sphere unit on top of my van and it works fine. When I first got it I had problems with it aligning and the service from their agent in Sydney was first class. Fixed in no time.

When speaking to others with the Satking Pro unit they claim that they work fine and they take up less room on the roof if that is a consideration but the size may limit receiving in the north and west of Aus. Do some research if you can.

The Vansat unit is a bit more expensive than the Sphere unit but it boasts a stronger gearbox (brass gears) and it apparently has a damper system for strong winds.

All units are expensive and it is a hard choice. My decision was taken from me because my current van came with the Sphere from the factory.

I will add that if you are under trees then the satellite signal may be hampered or unable to receive. For this reason I carry a portable folding dish as well and use it if I am having trouble with a signal from the roof unit. By doing this I elliminate the tree problem as well as the problems of receiving  the myriad of varieties of terrestrial television signals that currently exist in this country.

I should add that I have seen where some have actually imported auto dishes and saved a lot of money but I do not know what brands were involved or from where they came.

Good luck with it. I love my auto dish, just press a button and you have tv.

Desert Dweller wrote:

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We love watching automatic dishes seeking stations.

They raise their head, twist around, change angles etc then if they can't find a signal they hang their head in shame & retract.

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 Much better than wandering around for an hour moving your dish, fiddling with it, going inside, coming out and moving it again and then kicking it when you finally give up.    We had a portable unit, was a pain in the proverbial.   Now have a Vansat which we love, push one button and it's done.   Yes if you have close trees to the north you can get a blocked signal, but its normally easy enough to make sure the site suits before setting up if you want satellite that day, wouldn't ever go back to a portable unit.

We have a portable sat dish and it takes about 5 minutes to set up and get working.

Once you get used to using it and have a good signal finder it becomes easy.

I have a 10 meter lead which allows us to park the van under shelter and have the dish out where it can get a signal easily.

dmac wrote:

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Thanks Everyone for your opinions, We are still doing our homework on this and appreciate your input. We do have a portable one also, so thats a good idea to take that as well. We Must watch our Footy :) CHeers

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 Hi dmac,

If you do decide to have the option of your portable dish in addition to the roof mounted auto dish you will need one of these switches unless you want to keep swapping wires from one dish source to the other.

high-isolation-satellite-switch

These can also be used to switch two decoders as you may have with vast and Foxtel.

I found them a bit cheaper on eBay but I got mine from Satplus because mine was a tricky installation as my decoder is built in to the van and John from Satplus in Qld helped me with two alternatives for wiring with drawings indicating the "how to". He also supplied me with the cable and the fittings to complete the job.

No affiliation just excellent service..