# Status 530 Antenna (& TV monitor )



## 107621 (Oct 14, 2007)

Hi all

I'm new to this community, and new to the world of Motorhomes. I purchased an Autotrail Apache SE 4 weeks ago and I have been out in it at every opportunity with the family. We love it and it has been one of the best buys of my life. However, I am a complete novice to this new world and am learning slowly.

My van has a freeview box hooked up to a Status 530 Antenna. And the system is hooked up to a small monitor (also doubling as a reversing camera) above the rearview mirror. For the life of me, I cannot get the TV monitor to work, despite having the showroom technician instruct me on how it worked, before I drove off from the showroom.

So anyone out there who can help a technically challenged new comer to the community wopuld be helpful. Any clarification on the points below would be great

1 When I turn on the system I keep getting the message on the monitor "poor or no signal" despite raising and turning the antenna, and using the gearing to move from horizontal to the vertical (which again, I don't understand). I know that there must be a signal, cos other users on the sites visited are happliy viewing Ant 'n Decs Big Saturday Night.

2 Is there an easy way that, if I did actually manage to get a signal, I could plug tghe system up to a proper sized TV monitor, rather than the small overhead monitor?

Any help that can be given would be greatly appreciated.

Jimbo96


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

Hi Jimbo

Welcome to MHF

The answer to the problem you have will I hope be answered by one of our Autotrail owners... I know that the video/TV systems in the Autotrail can be confusing when setting them up.

I will be moving this thread to a more suitable forum ( it is in Insurance at the moment :roll: but don't worry we all have done that sort of miss posting when we started here). I think it will be best put into the Autotrail Forum ( a section of the Generic Hints and Tips.)

Hope you get some answers soon...

mike


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## safariboy (May 1, 2005)

You need to make sure that the aerial is pointing towards the transmitter and is the correct polarity(there is a small crank at the base of the aerial tube to change this).
Then make sure that the amplifier is turned on (red light). Slide switch underneath.
Then that the gain is set high. The other slide switch on the amplifier.

Make sure all plugs are firmly in.

It is still likely to show no signal because it only shows stations it is tuned in to.
In menu go to automatic tuning or set up or something like that and set it on that.(likely to be a sub menu) This should give you some sort of picture.
Now go to manual tuning and you should see a bar display showing signal strength and quality. Swing the aerial until you get at least 30% strength and 95%+ quality. (The higher the better on both of them but quality is the most important.

If it does not now work there is a fault.

You need to reperat when you move sites as they use different frequencies.

Hope this works OK if not come back to me.


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## Motorhomersimpson (May 9, 2005)

Hi Jimbo96

it sounds as if the power is not switched on to the aerial, it's a little white box close to the aerial and a lead into it from the aerial, when on, it will show a red light.

MHS...Rob


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## 107621 (Oct 14, 2007)

*Status 530 Antenna*

Safari Boy

Thanks for the info. I'll follow up immediately.

One obvious question...or not....how do I find out where the nearest transmitter is? Or is it just a matter of trial and error?

Jimbo


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

*Re: Status 530 Antenna*



Jimbo96 said:


> One obvious question...or not....how do I find out where the nearest transmitter is? Or is it just a matter of trial and error?
> 
> Jimbo


Hi Jimbo

Easiest way to start with is to look around as you get near to the site ...check out the local houses for which direction their aerials are pointed. If you forget to do this :roll: then just take a look at where the other vans have theirs pointed... and the vertical / horizontal is set according to whether the station is a MAIN transmitter ( horizontal ) or a repeater station ( Vertical) :wink:

If you have Autoroute there is a downloadable file for all the UK TV stations in our download section. There are maps and location info about all UK TV transmitters HERE << or if that is too tecchy try the postcode one as described in THIs <<  post.

By the way I do hope someone with an Autotrail like yours does come into the thread as I am sure there are details about your set up that they will be able to help with.

Mike


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## 107621 (Oct 14, 2007)

Mike

Thanks for the help. I've already had a couple of useful replies...which is great...and very impressive from a User's POV.

I've also just tried to subscribe, to access the benefits of subscription, but I think that my attempt fell over at the last hurdle...I got to the stage of paying but on Stage 3 something seemd to go wrong.

As moderator, can you check to see if my subscription has been successful or not?

Challenged as ever.

Jimbo 8)


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

Jimbo96 said:


> can you check to see if my subscription has been successful or not?
> 
> Challenged as ever.
> 
> Jimbo 8)


Hi Jimbo

You are not shown as subscribed yet... if you had been successful there would now be a little gold crown showing next to your username in the box on the left of all your posts and the details of your membership would show to you on the home page.

Details of ways to subscribe can be found 
Here <<<

No need to reply ... or you will have used up another of your free posts :wink:

Mike


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## 2kias (Sep 18, 2006)

Hi Jimbo
I think you have the same system as us. The monitor is controlled by a separate remote control from the Freeview box and the radio. You have probably got 3 remotes.
Switch on the aerial on the white box and make sure that the booster is on. Difficult to see if it is the cupboard.
Switch on the two switches in the control box by your power unit.
Make sure the radio is changed to EXT1.You say are getting at least a message so the problem is the lack of channels in the box.
Use the remote control for the freeview box to clear all channels and then start a search. You should be able to pick up all the channels if your aerial is pointing in the same direction as everyone else. Unfortunately you have to do this everytime you move.
Any problem come back to me.
We find it a pain in the neck too!!!!!!
If you want to plug into a normal TV then just change the wires over in the control box and put another scart lead in back of the freeview box and feed to the scart on your TV.
By the time you have done all this you will have missed the rugby!!!!!!!! :evil:


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## GerryD (Sep 20, 2007)

Jimbo,
I cannot help you with your Autotrail system but as stated earlier make sure that your aerial amplifier is switched on.
To get the best signal without faffing about. If you know the postcode of the location that you will be at in advance, put it into the postcode checker on www.digitaluk.co.uk tick the box to say that you are an aerial installer. The result screen will show you exactly which mux's are available at the locatio that you are going to and also give a compass bearing for the best transmitter. All you have to do then when you arrive on site is to point your aerial in the direction of the transmitter using your compass. Never turn your aerial to the vertical position unless you can see most houses in the area with vertical polarisation of their aerials. Very few digital transmitters use vertical polarisation.


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## 2kias (Sep 18, 2006)

Jimbo's problem is not the signal but the installation by Auto-Trail.


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## 107621 (Oct 14, 2007)

*Status 530 Antenna*

Just a quick thanks to all who posted hgelpful advice on this topic. I have been out on the drive this afternoon and have managed to get the Freeview box working and receiving. Big challenge will be next weekend in the Lakes. But at least I seem to have cracked the basics.

Big Thanks again

Jimbo


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

spykal said:


> You are not shown as subscribed yet... if you had been successful there would now be a little gold crown showing next to your username in the box on the left of all your posts


Well done Jimbo ...welcome to the fold :lol:

Mike


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