The Mitsubishi Pajero Owners Club®

[minesapasty]

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[mungodog]

Hi Minesapasty,
I know your qualifications - you've been a massive help to me in the past!  As most of our travelling experience is with the small portable "dish in a case" which we mount onto a tripod, and we tend to go up and down the west coast of wales, this would probably explain why we only got freeview as we would not have had enough signal for all channels, we definitely only got free to air channels though with the full package paid for to Sky and the box and paired card taken from home.

To be honest, although we have the set up in the motorhome and it takes only a few minutes to set it all up, as we're away we tend not to use it much anyway, so the free to air stuff is more than enough choice for us.

If Stoney is reading this and has the small satellite dish and thinks he may not pick up what he wants, I have another larger dish in the shed which you're welcome to free of charge if you'll cover cost of postage / courier (it's quite light, but biggish), you do need a tripod or something to mount this onto though.

[Jimbro]

We thought about Sky in our caravan but decided we'd just fit a Freeview box as we've got a spare one
That way, it's just a "normal" aerial required

[minesapasty]

[Jimbro]

We're horizontally polarised here but I have seen vertical in some places.
We also had to get a new Sky dish fitted when we moved in as it was a small dish fitted
Apparently, only good for some parts of S England and Europe and I kept losing signal

I think I've got a 48 element digi aerial lying in the loft doing nowt so it would fit the bill nicely

[minesapasty]

Not necessarily, it depends upon the type of aerial it is......... Group A, B, or C/D are the normal ones....... then there are universal aerials, where the spacing between the dipoles alter as you measure along the length of the aerial.

Group A aerials are used for lower band frequencies of the spectrum that we use in the UK. (Ch21uptp about Ch40)

Group B aerials are mid band (Ch37 upto about Ch55)

Group C/D are the upper end. (Ch50 upto Ch69)

I used to know the Mhz off the top of my head, but can't think just now.  

The spacings of the dipoles are calculated to be able to receive the max signal according to the wavelengths used in that band of frequencies (   getting too technical yet?).

When you are roaming about the country in your "nomads palace", you need a universal aerial, as they are designed to work in any area, it is just a matter of point and shoot (some need a twist) Have a look at the Argos catalogue and compare the Gain (in dBs), the higher the gain, the better the signal you will receive, as long as there is one there to receive...... a good one shouldn't be much more than £20

Stop crying Jimbro, it's only money  

[Jimbro]

Cheers Tony
I'm pretty sure the one I've got has evenly spaced dipoles

Looks like I'll be hitting AVC(local sat/tv place) before we go out in the tin tent

[minesapasty]

No probs...... always happy to help if I can, even if I am several thousand miles away at the moment....... I am a great believer of being forewarned can save you a lot of money.

An example of how the general public can be ripped off so easily

An ex-customer of mine, phoned the wife the other night. Her system had failed (motorised dish)...... and wanted me to go sort it out for her...... obviously the call out charge from here would be far too much  

Anyway, I was chatting to the dragon wifey on Yahell Messenger last night, when she phoned again, so after she had explained everything to her, Alina typed it all out. It turned out, that as I am not available, she had phoned another local company, they had turned out in their nice new van and after burgering about for a while, told her that she needed a bigger dish

Now, this system has been working faultlessly for the last 3 1/2 years. A new dish would also need a new motor, as they come in different grades to cope with the extra weight and force that bigger dishes will cause, so it would basically cost her a lot of money, also setting up a motorised system is far more involved than a standard fixed dish....... so I told her, via Alina, that she doesn't need a new dish, they are talking borrox (Eastern language time   )......... I told her to follow a procedure, typing it out, and dutifully Alina passed the information on...... 10 minutes later all is working again.

If she hadn't phoned back, she could have been out of pocket by a few hundred notes........ and I very much doubt that they knew how to do a motorised system anyway........   Seems I am guilty of Post Hi-Jacking again

[Turvey]

[jockinleeds]

Been running SKY in our 'van for over 7 years now.
I have a rare PACE JAVELIN 12v MiniBox hooked to a Sky Minidish on Tripod.
I just use sky card to get most channels - for full subscription you need the box. I do it sometimes when on 2 week hols.
I also have a Quad LNB which means I can run 2 boxes or SKY+ if I want to.
I usually hook up a 2nd TV for Kids etc..

[minesapasty]

The pace box that you are talking about was designed as being a second box for multiroom....... they are a great little box, but like you say, they are like rocking horse poo now....... the transformer plugs give up the ghost for a pastime, and were swapped out for standard boxes if under warranty. If you ever have a problem, let me know, as I have a couple of the transformers at home........ the boxes themselves rarely gave any problems at all.

[bandb666]

we used to take box & card from home, then picked cheap box up of that auction site & all worked as minesapasty said - not all channels unless card paired to box but was ok for us.

[dulux]

Got a pace mini box in my caravan. never had any probs.  easy to set up with or without sat finder.