Satellite TV on board.

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BAtoo

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Going to liveaboard for a while. Thinking of going onto Satellite TV as only get v poor Terrestrial signal. Probably going to use the Maplin Portable Satellite kit. Will the normal movement of a boat in a marina affect holding the signal unduly?? Its a smallish dish (45cm), would a larger dish hold the signal better?? Not intending to use at anchor.
 
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My experience of using a larger dish on a camper van is that direction is critical, both horizontal and vertical. I would be very surprised if a boat in a pontoon berth could receive a constant signal, even in calm conditions the crew's movement aboard would disrupt it in a small boat. As Elton says, most liveaboards attach them to the pontoon or quay.
 
BAtoo said:
Going to liveaboard for a while. Thinking of going onto Satellite TV as only get v poor Terrestrial signal. Probably going to use the Maplin Portable Satellite kit. Will the normal movement of a boat in a marina affect holding the signal unduly?? Its a smallish dish (45cm), would a larger dish hold the signal better?? Not intending to use at anchor.
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No, a smaller dish is less directional, so less affected by pointing angle.

However, it receives a smaller signal, which may be below the threshold.
 
I set Sky dishes up for friends out in Greece, you are simply wasting your time unless you fasten the dish to an imovable object (in borderline reception areas it is critical) sorry, fasten it to the Port Police office building, that Will work.
 
At Sant Carles I find that I can get one Astra satellite using a camping dish clamped to the wheel. Unfortunately it does not give the main BBC etc, but I can get Sky news, BBC World, CNN and France 24. I think it is Astra 19°E.

The other one has a small footprint and needs a much larger dish for Spain.
 
BAtoo said:
Going to liveaboard for a while. Thinking of going onto Satellite TV as only get v poor Terrestrial signal. Probably going to use the Maplin Portable Satellite kit. Will the normal movement of a boat in a marina affect holding the signal unduly?? Its a smallish dish (45cm), would a larger dish hold the signal better?? Not intending to use at anchor.
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Wouldn't be so fast to buy from Maplins.I got a satellite finder (kit you need)from ebay for a fiver, same satellite finder from maplins was £25.
 
BAtoo said:
Going to liveaboard for a while. Thinking of going onto Satellite TV as only get v poor Terrestrial signal. Probably going to use the Maplin Portable Satellite kit. Will the normal movement of a boat in a marina affect holding the signal unduly?? Its a smallish dish (45cm), would a larger dish hold the signal better?? Not intending to use at anchor.
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You will get all the UK channels - all FTA (Free To Air) on the UK east coast - on Astra 2D at 28.2 degrees East. But you will almost certainly have to mount your antenna on a static base, not the boat - it will depend on your mooring and how calm and fixed you are, including if tidal. It is easy to try and if you lose the signal then fix to the pier - or whatever.

The footprint for this satellite is deliberately fine-focussed just for the UK but one can get the signal well into Europe with sensitive receiver equipment and a larger antenna (I get a good signal in Switzerland with a 60cm dish).

On the boat in Italy I cannot receive this signal with any practically-sized antenna and consequently resort to Astra 1 at 19.2 degrees East, which has a large selection of mainly German channels (including really excellent ones such as Arte and 3Sat) plus English-language news feeds such as BBC World, Sky News, Aljazeera, CNN, CNBC and Bloomburg.
 
TV Aerial

I live aboard in Southampton where the signal is not great. A couple of the other boats have shore mounted aerials on long poles and say they struggle for good terrestrial reception.

I started with powered aerials on the boat varying from in the saloon to mounted 10ft up the backstay. Cheap ones first and progressively more expensive thinking I would improve reception. All went back for refunds as terrible reception

Finally someone lent me a little 4" long omni-directional antennae from Maplins and a cheap signal booster. Perfect!

I now have the same Maplins aerial with it's magnetic base sitting vertically on the top of the sail cover on the boom and a £9.99 signal booster just before the TV and get almost perfect reception of all the freeview digital stations. Just occasionally the signal degrades when the weather is bad but last time more than a month ago now.
Total cost about £20!
 
"I now have the same Maplins aerial with it's magnetic base sitting vertically on the top of the sail cover on the boom and a £9.99 signal booster just before the TV and get almost perfect reception of all the freeview digital stations. Just occasionally the signal degrades when the weather is bad but last time more than a month ago now.
Total cost about £20!"

Sounds good to me!! Any idea of part numbers???
 
satelite dish technology

After 6 years of mediocre satisfaction from our satelite dish, cable, LNB and various set top boxes we have recently discovered that technology has moved on. We now have great interactive free TV and movies aboard with skype and internet access. Follow these easy steps before spending money on satelite dish setups.

1. Buy a Novatel mifi 2352 cell phone wifi hotspot, about the size of a cigarette package. Available from computer shops and some cell phone providers. Prices range from free with a data plan up to 160 euros outright. Make sure it is unblocked. Mains power or 12 volt cigar charger available. Internal battery life is about 3 hours.
2. Buy a data enabled 3G or better simcard from a cell phone supplier. The price of this is up to 50 euros a month for unlimited data.
3. Put the simcard in the mifi and connect the mifi to your computer.
4. You now can use up to 5 wifi devices(you can sell these to your neighbours), everything is 12 volt operated and you have interactive TV, internet access and Skype.

What makes this work now is that with 3G and the mifi device you have enough speed to stream TV and movies. You can stay with the overwhelming amount of free programming or you can go the premium route if you want more. We have opted for joining one of the many VPN's so we can watch continental European, UK and USA programming. The VPN cost is 7 euros/momth.

Satelite dish technology is old and not very dependable. This new internet capability gives us telephone, TV and internet access in our boat. All in all it is one stop shopping and we can take it with us anywhere in the world there is 12 volt, mains power and 3G which as time goes by is growing rapidly.
Good luck
Sunshine sailing
 
Maplins Aerial

Part number for the aerial is A29GY - £9.99
Can't remember where the signal booster came from but it was the most basic in the shop and cost £9.99 I think.

Hope it works for you as well as for me!
 
I have a small Maplins type dish and Easyfind LNB mounted on the radar arch of a 45 foot Mobo in Sant Carles, and the reception is perfect when tied up to the pontoon. A bit of swinging on the ropes and anyone walking around does not affect it at all.

I made up a small post that locks into the Courtesy Flag mount, and whenever we take it down when leaving port, it simply lifts out and goes back in the same place when returning, and does not need re-aligning at all.

I have run the cable to a switch (again Maplins £4.50) in the radar arch that allows me to direct the signal to either of the onboard television sets.

Great system and very happy for a total outlay of about £120 including the second set top box.

As James says in an earlier post, can get Sky News, BBC World news, and about 15 other various English channels, and a huge number of Swiss, Austrian and German channels.

So despite what others say, they work just fine when mounted on the boat in a Marina.

Graham
 
Thanks for all the replies; think I will start simply as per Passarell's advice as I have a booster somewhere IIRR. If not then think again....
 
GSL said:
I have a small Maplins type dish and Easyfind LNB mounted on the radar arch of a 45 foot Mobo in Sant Carles, and the reception is perfect when tied up to the pontoon.

So despite what others say, they work just fine when mounted on the boat in a Marina.

Graham
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I suspect that the stability of a 45 ft mobo may be somewhat greater than that of a small sailing boat.
 
vyv_cox said:
I suspect that the stability of a 45 ft mobo may be somewhat greater than that of a small sailing boat.
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And it depends on the marina and position in it. I am on an outer box mooring and large mobos pass me, almost without exception, well above the marina limit of 2 knots, with such a wash that I am constantly pitching and rolling. An on-board antenna would never keep aligned.

A normal sailing vessel of comparable size (although they are generally more courteous and keep the speed down) when they are too fast they never produce the disturbance that a mobo does.

P.S.
My boat is a solid motor sailor of 7 tonnes displacement in cruising trim, so not such a "small sailing boat".
 
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Hi everyone. We are new to the forum so i hope you don't mind me jumping in with my tuppence worth. We use the small maplins dish all the time when moving boats for a hire fleet company around burgundy. Its really portable, easily temporarily fixed to the boat and when used with a simple compass find no problems in locating and keeping the satellite.
Regards Nollie.
 
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