# Status 315 omni-directional aerials



## Motorhomersimpson

Status 315 omni-directional aerials.

I have one of these fitted, and like so many, it is totally useless, it was fitted as part of the offer at the show I attended when buying my new motor home.

I have a perfect picture outside my house, but everywhere else I’ve travelled; I never receive anything that resembles a decent picture.

My thinking, is to change it to a Status 530/5, have read about this one, and I think I have room inside one of the lockers, will be checking this out with the dealer.

Thought I’d get a view about this aerial from you people, before forking out the money, if anyone has other options that work, I’d be interested to hear about them.

I was contemplating the same one as peejays, but no way do I have the space. :lol: 

I’m away Friday to Sunday night, so don’t think I’m not grateful if you reply between those times, I’ll get back to later.

Thanks all.


Homer………….Rob


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## 88724

Hi Rob

First off the 530/5 is an excellent aerial.

There are other cheaper alterantives that will work as well if not better. Normal Yagi array about £40 but a pain to set up. Indoor versions some can be quite good, not as good as a Yagi or Status 530/5 .

URL Earlier discussion on these aerials










The UFO dish 315 type are so bad I amazed at how many are actually out there !

George


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## Motorhomersimpson

Thanks George,

That’s what I hoping to hear, I don’t fancy messing with Yagi or similar.

I Like the idea of setting the aerial up inside.

As for 315’s, I think there are lot’s around because that is the one they tend to give away, as a `special offer` when buying a new van, as in my case.

I did try to pay the difference when I bought the van, and have a 530/5 then, their reply “you will have to pay the full amount as the 315 is a special offer”

So, not wanting to spend any more money at the time, decided to chance it.

My opinion, they just want to shift there stock, because nobody else is buying them, add to this, when some like me, goes back after a while to have a 530/5 fitted, they earn extra money, because they charge for fitting, which they wouldn’t have done, if I had fitted, at the time of buying the new van.

Should have dug my heels in and insisted, they would not want to lose a sale over that.

Thanks again, your opinion is always appreciated.

Homer…..Rob


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## peedee

One possible way of improving the picture with the 315 is to use it with a freeview box. I would not recommend going out and buying a box just for this at the moment because there are too many areas where freeview digital TV is still not available e.g. areas served by repeaters, but if you have a box try it. I have so far had mixed results but where it is available you will get a far better picture, more choice of channels and with no ghosting.

peedee


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## 88726

hi guys
id recommend the 530/5 as i used mine this weekend in a poor reception area in the lake district and the picture was 100%. 
ps:got a good deal on mine at the york show.
cheers
kenny.


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## Malc

Hi,
Has anybody replaced the useless 315 with the 530/5? I am wondering if the fittings ie the roof holes etc are compatable. Seems a shame to have redundant holes on the roof.
Regards Malc


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## 88724

If you are going to replace and there is enough space below current UFO position its just a case of making the hole bigger.

George


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## Malc

Thanks George might give that a try. We carry a small Yagi 5 ele we bought in a supermarket in Wales some time back and it will outperform the 315 any day, come to think of it the vertical telescopic antenna on the set will outperform the 315.
Malc


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## Motorhomersimpson

Hi everyone and thanks for the replies.

I can confirm that a cheap indoor aerial, can outdo these 315's, have just returned from the same site I was at 2 weeks ago in Cornwall, tried the indoor aerial, apart from the fact I had to move it around to find the picture, it would be fine.

I have arranged to have a 530/5 fitted next week, will let you know the difference, although, I think we already no the answer.

Malc, as George, quite rightly mentioned, I checked with the dealer and he confirmed that the 530/5 would use the existing hole of my 315, only make it bigger, I had enough space in the overhead locker as well.

Thanks again.

Homer...............Rob


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## Motorhomersimpson

Just a quick update on my new Status 530/5 aerial.

All fitted and working, and what a difference, as good as at home to be honest.

I stayed at the same site as before, when using the 315, and this time had a perfect picture, as opposed to the 315’s only 2 channels and they were poor.

It’s so easy to use and line up for the signal; I can recommend this type (Status 530/5) of aerial to anyone, excellent.

Thanks again for the help and advice.

Homer…..Rob


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## 88724

Hi Rob

Glad its all sorted, Indoor aerial can be a Cheap solution, I just think the 530/5 or 530/10 are the tops for mobile installations easy to align from inside the vehicle, which makes it far easier than shouting instructions to and from the van (or running backwards and forwards if you are setting up alone) and no packing away aerials and poles, and when the weathers bad you cant beat setting up and packing away from inside the comfort of your van. 

George


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## peejay

The status 530 is a brilliant piece of kit and a 100% improvement over the omnicrap version that came as standard equipment with so many caravans/motorhomes over the years (this must have been a marketing masterpiece as they were utter rubbish but were offered in their thousands as original fit to the leisure/camping market). You can retrofit a 530 into the hole that is left by the omnicrap very easily as long as the locker space is there.

In my opinion its up there at the top for 'accessory of the year'.

pete.


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## Motorhomersimpson

George and Pete,

I agree completely with everything that you have said.

It has now become a personal crusade of mine, to inform as many first time buyers of new motorhomes, what is going on with these 315's.

Homer...........Rob: D


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## peedee

I agree the Omni is a load of rubbish for receiving analogue TV and in fact I think some manufacturers have switched to installing the 530 as standard. However for those who already have these aeirals or who don't want to be bothered fiddling around with directional antenna it is worth trying digital reception.

I recently sent the following to [email protected] :



> Well I have had mixed results using the Status Omni. I visited 4 sites. At two sites I could get no digital signals at all but I could not get a
> good analogue picture at one either and absolutely nothing not even analogue at the other. At another two
> sites I definitely got far better pictures from the digital than the
> analogue with the benefit of the extra channels. Unfortunately I did not experience any ghosting on any of the analogue channels I could receive so I was not able to fully compare this effect. Although I had mixed results you can get better pictures from a Status Omni using a freeview STB. The pictures wouldn't be better with the Status 530 but once pointed in the right direction you should get improved reliability. However the cheapest 530 is £109 and STB are available for under £50 with a
> good one costing round about £80. I will plan to continue testing with more trips planned before Xmas but I am of the belief that it is cheaper to buy a STB with RF loop through rather than an immediate move to a 530 especially because it gives you the option of the extra channels and good radio reception. RF loop through will give you the option of analogue reception where digital signals are currently unavailable but note also that initial cutover to solely digital transmission is scheduled to take place in the Border region in 2007 and will then be progressively rolled out nationwide.


Understand Tescos are now selling STB's for £29

peedee


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## 88724

The 530/5 is sold as a package with a STB at my local camping shop, they reckon its a good system, the only problem is that not all area's are covered. but with a 530 at least you would get the best reception on the usual stuff

Use it with a with a UFO (315) and stb, if the digitals not covering the area you are in,you are then hoping for a normal TV signal and with a 315 UFO it needs to be good and in the correct polarity.

George


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## peedee

What price is the package please George? By the way the Status Omni is capable of receiving either horizontal or vertical polarised signals without any adjustment.

Whilst like you say, you will get better analogue sigs with the 530 setup, I think it will be more difficult to optimise on a Freeview signal. Its a little bit like satallite reception in that you are going to have to find a way of pointing the aerial in the right direction fairly accurately in the first place to get a signal and secondly to optimise it when the picture qualtity will not change as you move the aerial about. It will either be there or it wont. I think the Omni will in time prove to be more useful and convenient for the reception of digital sigs purely because no alignment of the aerial is required. Don't forget analogue is being phased out and as they do so, I hope not only will they increase the power of the existing digital transmissions but there will be more transmitters.

peedee


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## 88724

If I remember rightly around £125 including a set top box

The onmi cannot pick up signals from all directions and in all planes the reason its so naff is that it does try to hence the ghosting on all but the purest of signals

315 reminds me off camping in yesteryear, 530 is just like being at home (picture wise)

Also the shop shows it operating with a 530 and the set up is easy they reckon pretty naff with 315 UFO aerial



George


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## peedee

GeorgeTelford said:


> If I remember rightly around £125 including a set top box
> 
> The onmi cannot pick up signals from all directions and in all planes the reason its so naff is that it does try to hence the ghosting on all but the purest of signals
> 
> George


Thanks, I am surprised more techies than me have not picked up on your last note. I have never seen a radiation pattern of the Status Omni but by its very discription and that of vendors, it is supposed to pick up signals from all directions whatever the polarisation. This is its major failing with regard to analogue signals and is in fact what largely causes the ghosting.
i.e if it failed to pick up from all directions like the 530 you would more than likely not get any ghosting. Perhaps we are saying the same thing ?

However because of the method of transmission and coding of digital signals, if you can pick them up with the Omni you should not get any ghosting and a perfect picture. In weak digital reception areas the 530 *may* have an advantage over the Omni in that it can still pick up sufficient signal to allow decoding to take place where as the Omni will fail because of its lower if any gain. In even moderate digital reception areas where the Omni works the 530 will be no advantage whatsoever. I guess it all boils down to how many areas you encounter poor TV reception. So far my limited testing in one of the more sparsely populated areas of the country has found it to be a 50/50 experience. I will be disappointed in more populated areas if there isn't a swing in favour of digital with the Omni.

In conclusion here is one traveller who will not be spending £125 on a 530 until the results of an Omni and the cheaper option of a STB have been full assessed over at least a years use.

peedee


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## Malc

Ghosting in received pictures are usually caused by slightly out of phase signals being captured by the set, this effect can be caused by high buildings reflecting the signal, hills, multi path signals being received from other transmitters (rare) sporatic E back scatter, tropo ducting, high pressure weather systems.
Normally main transmitters are horizontally polorised and repeaters are vertically polorised so if the 530 can be rotated (which I believe it can) if the signal is not available horizontally, it should then be rotated to vertical and checked.
Yagi antennas are the best bet with multiple elements, however dont forget the more elements you have the narrower the beam. Antennas are sometimes specific to an area as well, the failings of the 315 are that it is trying to be all things to all people and failing generally. All broadband devices are a compromise of sorts, but the 530 looks as though it has some directional (yagi) layout. Finally dont forget amplifiers only amplify the received signal, so crap signal in, amplified crap signal out.
Regards Malc


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## 88724

Hi Malc

Yep bout sums it up

Hi Peedee

Thats more or less exactly what I am saying it tries to get signals from both polarities, but this is the cause of the dire (sometimes) reception.

Geo


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## 89122

I have a 530, had one for the last two years and I have never had any problems getting a good signal. I use it on a freeview box and find it very easy to align, just by turning the aerial and watching the screen.
Eddie


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## peedee

malc said:


> Yagi antennas are the best bet with multiple elements, however dont forget the more elements you have the narrower the beam. Antennas are sometimes specific to an area as well, the failings of the 315 are that it is trying to be all things to all people and failing generally. All broadband devices are a compromise of sorts, but the 530 looks as though it has some directional (yagi) layout. Finally dont forget amplifiers only amplify the received signal, so crap signal in, amplified crap signal out.
> Regards Malc


Yup agreed but don't forget digital signals can be received with a much lower signal to noise ratio than analogue, another reason not to give up on the Omni just yet.

Eddie.
Do you set up the received frequency first before adjusting the aerial?

peedee


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## 89122

Hi Peedee, I set the box up indoors first, then I connected up to the motorhome turned it on and adjusted aerial for best picture.
When travelling all I do is turn on and adjust aerial to best picture, if the picture is not great then I get the digibox to search for stations and Bingo I get a good picture, I hope this helps.
Eddie


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## peedee

ehmcc said:


> When travelling all I do is turn on and adjust aerial to best picture, if the picture is not great then I get the digibox to search for stations and Bingo I get a good picture, I hope this helps.
> Eddie


I assume you adjust for best analogue picture via the RF loop through
facilities which most STBs seem to have then switch to digital and tune in the STB. I'll have to try that using my old caravan Maxview wideband yagi
and see what the difference is between that and the Omni.

peedee


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## peedee

I have just got back from a long weekend visiting the Somerset Carnival. Brilliant and if you haven't been you are missing a real spectacle. It was an ideal opportunity to do some more testing of the Status 315 for receiving Freeview television and as luck would have it I could actually pick up TV signals from two transmitters, Mendip and Stockland Hill. I also took along a Maxview wideband yagi aerial (similar to a 530 but without a booster) and a mast on which to mount this at the same height as the 315. I have no figures for the gain of this aerial but optimistically I doubt it is more than 10db. The 530 has a gain of only 7db refer to http://www.gradeuk.co.uk/products/antennas/status.asp

*Reception with the Status 315.*
I could pick up all analogue channels with a good picture from Mendip with occasional minor ghosting but very poor pictures from Stockland with more severe ghosting. Using the same aerial I could pick up digital transmissions from both with crisp excellent pictures from over 90 channels but with better reliability from Mendip. I could also pick up 48 radio channels.

*Reception with the wideband yagi*
As a comparison I used the yagi to tune into Mendip but without a booster and using a low grade coax feeder. It gave nearly the same signal strength as the Status 315 with the booster but it was not easy to optimise for the best signal although the signal quality was better. (suspect more noise from the Status) Given that the Status booster is supposed to have a gain of 17db i.e. 7db better than my optimistic estimates of the yagi, I am suspicious as to this claim or else its installation is suspect. I intend to check it out IDC and reinstall it with good quality coax.

In conclusion unlike analogue, it is not easy to optimise a directional aerial to digital transmissions although in practise this is probably not critical with this aerial or the 530. This was my fifth test site and it shows you can most definitely get good picture quality with the 315 even if it is poorly installed.

peedee


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## spykal

*Freeview Digi box*

Hi
Question for Peedee ( or Jabber) or anyone experimenting with a freeview digital box:

Do you have to retune (autoseek) it every time when changing locations? and if so how long does your box take to retune?

Mike


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## 88724

Hi Mike 

the one I tried autotuned and then ordered ie bbc1 2 ITV etc etc

George


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## 88724

Hi Mike

Yes you need to retune, 1 min or so but it does the lot easily, set it off and go make a cuppa.

George


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## spykal

Hi George

Yes, I follow what you say, I have one at home and it autotunes, ordering the stations by channel number. Occasionally I re-autotune it to find and add any new programmes that have come online since the last re tune. This process just adds the new stations and is quite quick. with my box, an original Pace ON Digital one, the complete re tune takes quite some time to complete.

What I was interested in was when in the motorhome and changing locations ( and transmitters) is the Freeview box able to add the newly found stations into its memory or does it have to be completely re tuned from scratch for every new location?

Mike


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## 88724

Hi Mike

Its a complete retune, did one 40 miles away from original location, but it didnt seem to take long, mind you I was chatting, what impressed me was that it does the whole job including putting the channels in order !

This is far easier than the method I had to go thru before ie check whats on BBC1 in TV Guide find BBC , Repeat for BBC2, For ITV C4 and C5 the adverts always seemed to be running Just to make search and find more "fun"

George


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## 88790

Hi Mike,

Afraid I have not been away since I got the STB but it seems to tune fairly quickly and set all up in the right order.

Hope you had a good Christmas and all the best for the New Year!

John 8)


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## spykal

Hi
Thanks to both, I should have a digibox to play with soon. One of the main reasons for giving digital a go was the fact that I will know which channel I am watching! My LCD TV does not have teletext so , just as George has described, each time I set up the TV I have to sort the channels out after it has retuned, by looking up what is supposed to be showing. The other plus point is I will be able to have subtitles on when watching. I find this a great help when the plot of a film is complicated, so many films have actors that are incomprehensible without subtitles :lol: or maybe my hearing is not as good as it was :wink: 

Mike


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## billywhizz666

*hi guys*

gutted im a trucker an ive just bought a 315 but its still in box,,cannot take it back got it off e-bay,,i have avtex tv with avtex aerial an was not gettin signals in places were i had signals before with a 29,99 aerial....readin wot you have said any suggestions lads as im out 3 nights a week


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## gj1023

Stand outside a TV shop for now , normally have a good picture in the windows

and put yours back onto Ebay

Gary


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