# Satellite TV in Italy



## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

Hi

I am thinking aloud here - dangerous!

I have seen an advert for a satellite system installed to a motorhome, with a receiver and all cables etc for a whopping £1900.00. Apparantly, as soon as I would switch on, the dish will stand up and point itself in the direction of the Astra Satellite station and hey presto - BBC Radio 2 in Italy.

Now, being a bit cautious with the pounds and pence........

Could I buy a 90 cm dish, some cable, a pole/tripod and simply set it up there and then? This option would cost about £200.00.

Ok I would have to position the dish and so on but.......

Am I missing something? 

I have read quite a few posts on here recently about this kind of thing. I have 9 possibly 10 trips to Lake Garda this year. OK, the dish will be a bit clumbersome to transport but as I am using the same site, I could ask the lovely lady if I could leave it somewhere. 

Any thoughts or comments please.

Rapide561


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## tramp (May 25, 2005)

*sta dish*

hi ,
we used to use a stand alone sat dish with our old "caravan" 60cm worked just fine , all you needed to do was locate the sat signal either manually or with a sat finder inbetween the sat dish cable and digi box. the only problem we had was to stop the dish moving in strong wind,finally clamped it to jocky wheel. a strong scaffold pole hammered into the ground about 18inch has the same effect. we have recently had a "maxview omnisat " dish fitted by our selves [very easy] just £349 works fine .

tramp


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## autostratus (May 9, 2005)

I'm looking for the best/most cost effective system too.
Where was your best price?
Best I've come across so far for the Oyster Vision 85cm is £1850 with £200.00 off if ordered this weekend and for fitting in Bridgewater during Feb.
Adventure Motorhomes in Bridgewater: http://www.adventure-motorhomes.co.uk/page41.html

There's quite a bit of information on different size of dishes and tripods on this site: www.satellitesuperstore.com/caravan-satellite.htm


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## ianhibs (May 1, 2005)

*Re: sta dish*



tramp said:


> hi ,
> we used to use a stand alone sat dish with our old "caravan" 60cm worked just fine , all you needed to do was locate the sat signal either manually or with a sat finder inbetween the sat dish cable and digi box. the only problem we had was to stop the dish moving in strong wind,finally clamped it to jocky wheel. a strong scaffold pole hammered into the ground about 18inch has the same effect. we have recently had a "maxview omnisat " dish fitted by our selves [very easy] just £349 works fine .
> 
> tramp


Which one was it? The Semitronic or the Crank up - they both look interesting.


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## LeeUK (Sep 16, 2005)

I used our UK digibox, bought a 80cm dish in France for about €30 and bolted it to our rear ladder when needed and got all UK TV, we did northen Italy, whilist in southern Corsica we could only get CH4 & 5 so no radio!!

Having said that I believe you can get a small portable dish that is supposed to be a s good as a 80cm dish, think they are sometimes available in Lidl.

Lee


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## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

We used a standard 55cm Sky mini-dish at Lake Maggiore and Garda last year with no problems at all (mounted dish on a pole attached to the bike rack). The whole set-up cost less than £100 (including Lidl FTA receiver at about £60) and we received all the FTA stations just fine. No need to spend a fortune, just use your brain and a little ingenuity.


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Tv in Italy*

Hi Gaspode

It all seems to suggest £1900.00 is a bit pricey.

Can I ask Gaspode how long the whole thing takes to set up? EG arrive at Garda at 1600. How long for a total novice who knows nothing about technology to find a signal etc?

Do you recall what channels/radio stations you could get?

Rapide561


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## DJP (May 9, 2005)

*Sat Dish*



> Having said that I believe you can get a small portable dish that is supposed to be a s good as a 80cm dish, think they are sometimes available in Lidl.


I had a Lidl system. Could not get it pick anything up in Spain (Barcelona) so i went out and bought a 80cm dish. Worked a treat. Picked up most of free to air stations IIRC To hold Dish steady whilst on tripod stand I just put 3 nylon guy ropes evenly spaced between the 3 tripod legs and pegged them to the ground.
This brings me to another point see Members sales for a bargain!

My 80cm dish, heavy duty tripod, LNB, cable, Sat Finder and signal booster.
ALL for an amazing £50 + P+P

All you need to set up then is your SKY box and a TV

I am selling because we have bought another motorhome and are having a Camos Dome fitted.
CLICK Members sales


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## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

Hi Rapide561

I could set the whole thing up in about 15 minutes using a Lidl FTA receiver (much easier to tune than a digibox). Using a digibox and a satellite finder can take longer depending on sheer luck. It might take you longer first time but you soon get used to it. At Lake Maggiore we got all of the Astra programmes (narrow beam included), can't remember exactly at Lake Garda as we only stayed one night so only used the news channel. You might gather from this that we preferred Maggiore! The boss is currently putting the campsites we used onto the databse so if you're heading that way take a look in a couple of days.

Just as a special offer, if anyone wants the pole and fixings that I used to attach my dish to the bike rack they can have it for a tenner if they collect it from Farnham, Surrey. It should fit most bike racks and you can lower it and leave the dish attached whilst travelling. We don't need it now as we have a new van with a roof mounted dish.


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## 96740 (Nov 19, 2005)

*Semitronic*

I bought a semitronic from www.leisurepower.co.uk ,and they installed it . The system works great , with a Satfinder and a compass it takes seconds to get a signal . Price was about 600 , and still is I believe for the basic dish and fitting , I bought a 12v Pace digibox from him as well.
The only thing I would change is mounting somwhere I get more pole extending down from the roof to get a decent grip , mines in a cupboard with limited height, though a piece of gripmat wrapped round the pole works very well.
They are also very helpful , I have emailed several technical queries to him and received detailed helpful replies , handy. If you want he will provide hookup and you can park up outside the workshop. 
Remeber that a dish needs line of sight , I've learnt the hard way to check where the trees are before I park up.


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## LeeUK (Sep 16, 2005)

Hi

When we arrived at a camp or a stop over, it can take anything from 15 mins to 2 hours
Once I had it secure on the ladder (had used camera tripod beforehand) and sussed it, it took 15 mins, had the dish behind drivers seat whilst driving.
You can pick up the wrong satellite very easily, you'll get a strong reception but no numbers, after 2 hours all I had to do was tilt it back a little.
Get a digital compass (lidl) and point the dish south and go east.
I found that working together with the OH as a team did no good what so ever, best to do it on your own.

The above for sale looks good.

Lee


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