Sat TV Question

[admillington]

Have just ordered a new Fairline Squadron 55 at the show and wanted to have a Sat TV installed - our cruising area is South Coast and Northern France.

But which one?

KVH
Intellian
Raymarine
Digital Yacht

I want as small a dome as possible but it has to work!

Advice please.

-Andrew

 

[aquapower]

I would go for the KVH as imo its the best made one and the most reliable, also it you on south coast the supplier (ca clase) will be nearby if you do need anything.
They are available in many sizes so probrably best to have a look at their stand at the show if you can and see which one suits your needs.

 

[jfm]

Have just ordered a new Fairline Squadron 55 at the show and wanted to have a Sat TV installed - our cruising area is South Coast and Northern France.

But which one?

KVH
Intellian
Raymarine
Digital Yacht

I want as small a dome as possible but it has to work!

Advice please.

-Andrew

Congrats on the boat!
I'd go with kvh or ray. Both very easy to operate and install. Just in those regions the tiny 37cm dish would be fine mostly for the usual satellites, but I suppose you might as well fit a 40cm. I don't think you need a 60cm

 

[Hurricane]

Definitely go for the Intellian
I've got the Raymarine 60cm one and it is a rebadged Intellian.
From my experience the Raymarine/Intellian kit is more sensitive to weak signals.
The Intellian has a few extra features over the Raymarine - noticeably a built in GPS receiver.

The big point to consider IMO is the LNB's skew adjustment.
For example if we were to go from our home berth in Spain to the SoF, we would need to change the skew to get the best out of the kit.
Thankfully our Raymarine/Intellian system has an auto skew feature which doesn’t require any adjustment.
Most systems require manually removing the dome and then manually setting up the skew - not a job for the novice.

This may be the reason that my system out performs the equivalent size KVH system on the boat berthed next to me.

However, you say you will cruise the south coast and northern France so any dome will work - even the smaller 45cm one. But if you do venture further south (round to Biscay) or even the Med, you will need a bigger dish and my comments above IMO are relevant.

EDIT:
I popped into the Intellian stand at the boat show - one of their selling points is that their kit is quieter than the KVH kit.
Some people have said that their domes make a lot of noise - mine is very quiet and we dont even know when it is on but you may want to check this out.

 

[rafiki_]

Congratulations on your purchase. I look forward to seeing the story of the build, now that JFM has set the standard. No need for a TV, i would just keep gazing at the boat. Nothing worth watching these days anyway.

 

[volvopaul]

I have just fitted a trakvision M3 for a customer, very easy as I know the boat well, (phantom 46) that one will cover uk and northern France, will also track on the move, if your not bothered about watching tv on the move then the M2 will do the job.

 

[Powersalt]

I have a new tracvision and to be honest its not quite what I expected. It often looses the signal in the middles of a programme, only for a few seconds but enough the cause annoyance, and then it whires round finds the signal again and your back. Sometime when not loosing the signal you can hear it hunting too and fro trying to stay locked on.

Having said all that its much better that the normal reception which in our marina was very poor, but its not like what it says on the tin!!!!

 

[Hurricane]

I have a new tracvision and to be honest its not quite what I expected. It often looses the signal in the middles of a programme, only for a few seconds but enough the cause annoyance, and then it whires round finds the signal again and your back. Sometime when not loosing the signal you can hear it hunting too and fro trying to stay locked on.

Having said all that its much better that the normal reception which in our marina was very poor, but its not like what it says on the tin!!!!

I wonder if it is set up properly.
I had to really get to understand ours.
For each satellite ther are 4 frequency settings - hi freq band and low freq band for each each vert and horizontal polarity.

In the UK the manufacturers tend to set them up with the vert and horiz settings for low band set for Astra 2D which is what we all use in the UK. I'm only working from memory here but I think I fooled my system by setting both the high band and low band frequencies to very strong Astra 2B transmissions. This has the effect of making it easier for the system to track by using the stronger signals. Have a look at this site and - all the satellite transmissions throughout the world are listed here www.lyngsat.com .

Lyngsat is a complicated site to get your head round. Somebody told me that the guys who know what they are doing use BBC News 24's transponder to check things because it is such a strong signal throughout Europe. From memory, I think I used BBC News 24 for my horizontal freqs (11954 - transponder 13 - both for high and low bands) and then trial and error for the vertical ones - I probably ended up with the next transponder (14) at a freq of 11973 .

This Lyngsat page might help http://www.lyngsat.com/astra2b.html explain my point.

Another thing to look at - the Sat system "locks on" by "swinging" the direction of the dish focus a small amount. If the signal drops in strength, it knows which way it moved it so it can work out which way to steer the dish to get a stronger signal. To test the signal, our satellite dish controller (Intellian / Raymarine systems) listens" in one of three methids - either by simply checking the signal strength or by decoding the digital stream or by decoding and confirming that it is "seeing" the correct satellite. I had to decide which method was best for my system. For a while, I was using a low power satellite transponder to tack and, like you, I was getting poor results so I had to use the first method. But now that I've got a strong signal for the system to track, I use the full decode.

Whatever I did works reall well - just switch it on and it locks on every time - even at sea.

If that all sounds a bit confusing the manual should shine some light.

Sorry - a bit technical and deep.

 

[oceandrive]

I'm Running KVA M7s "I think" which work OK down In the Med (Balearics) But I do Loose the Beeb at about 9pm ( But if I go to BBC London 974 I can keep watching untill about 10.30. Its all a bit hit and miss due to being on the edge of the sat footprint.

I get massive improvements by tuning to Horizontal 12.188. Strange thing is that when at sea It all seems to get better than when berthed, even if I go further south? The only problem I have is, I have to keep re setting up the system. If the signal gets too week the system goes to default as if its someware in the UK.

As for the small domes and dishes you asked about they should work well for the SOF as I know they certainly work around the Barcelona area.

 

[EddieBlue]

We sell and install lots (running into hundreds) of satellite systems for RV's and motorhomes.

I reserached the market decided that the KVH M3 would be perfect. I had a M3 installed on my boat and am delighted with it.

The back up and service from CA Clase the KVH importers is first class for their land and sea based systems, I know this from our dealings with them regarding the land based systems will install

Eddie

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Congratulations on the new boat! All I know is that if you've got any thoughts about ever taking your new boat to the Med, you'll need to consider as large a dome as possible. I looked at fitting a M3 sat dome in Majorca but I was advised that it would be a waste of money. Talk to the suppliers, they're very helpful

 

[Nick_H]

I have a new tracvision and to be honest its not quite what I expected. It often looses the signal in the middles of a programme, only for a few seconds but enough the cause annoyance, and then it whires round finds the signal again and your back. Sometime when not loosing the signal you can hear it hunting too and fro trying to stay locked on.

Having said all that its much better that the normal reception which in our marina was very poor, but its not like what it says on the tin!!!!

Powersalt, you don't say where your boat is based. If the UK, you shouldn't have any problem with signal with any of the KVH domes, even the smallest one. Do you mostly experience the problem in the marina? If so, you may find there is a yacht mast in the way, or even your own radar arch, its worth taking the dome off and seeing which way the dish is pointing to check for any obstructions. You should also set the skew angle manually for the area you are based in, its fairly easy to do as long as you can access the dome OK.

If you're not in the UK then you may just have too small a dome, but I get by OK in SoF with just the M3, although can't get Astra North channels.

 

[Powersalt]

Powersalt, you don't say where your boat is based. If the UK, you shouldn't have any problem with signal with any of the KVH domes, even the smallest one. Do you mostly experience the problem in the marina? If so, you may find there is a yacht mast in the way, or even your own radar arch, its worth taking the dome off and seeing which way the dish is pointing to check for any obstructions. You should also set the skew angle manually for the area you are based in, its fairly easy to do as long as you can access the dome OK.

If you're not in the UK then you may just have too small a dome, but I get by OK in SoF with just the M3, although can't get Astra North channels.

Professional installation by Princess on the new boat and I have done no more that switch on, but I have to assume they have got it eight !!!!. Someone said it might be all the yacht masts in the marina but for sure its not perfect and as someone else said a bit noisey as it hunts for signal

 

[volvopaul]

I have a new tracvision and to be honest its not quite what I expected. It often looses the signal in the middles of a programme, only for a few seconds but enough the cause annoyance, and then it whires round finds the signal again and your back. Sometime when not loosing the signal you can hear it hunting too and fro trying to stay locked on.

Having said all that its much better that the normal reception which in our marina was very poor, but its not like what it says on the tin!!!!

I would set up from scratch, the required skew angle will be displayed on the kvh box, so id check it, its easy as long as you can get at the dome, 3 screws.

Just remember that anything in the LNBs way will disrupt the signal, before fitting this one I researched the install, the less amount of aerials, lights etc the better anything inline will scatter the signal, which meant moving quite a bit of equipment on the stainless part of its arch.