Silvercrest 803 Satellite System

[Tamela]

Lidlhave a satellite set on sale for 59. 99 from 23rd August. As I am a complete novice as far as satellite is concerned, has anyone used one of these? Can you just set it up and receive stations in this country-and abroad eg Holland,France Switzerland etc. Do you need anything else apart from the telly? It does not have a stand and I think I read somewhere that you can make one from one of those washing whirlygig things!!! Some help and advice would be much appreciated before I buy another useless piece of kit. Thanks. David.

However for Switzerland and southern France etc. I use a 64cm folding arm dish rather than the little Lidl dish. The instructions are generally cr@p. There's a post of mine in the SAT-TV thread on caravanning4u concerning the setting up of such a system.

I don't know how far away from the UK foot print it might work for the UK Astra satellite, but a few months ago I bought a complete system in a small suitcase from Maplin at around 80 all in, just needs a TV and a 12v or 240v supply. It is the receiver + dish +LNB + cable and plugs and a rather neat sat finder making it very quick to set up on your choice of satellite.

It also comes with several methods to mount the lightweight plastic dish - suction cups, a clamp on and simply leaving it in the suitcase. I left the suitcase and mountings at home, preferring to use a mount of my own design. I made up a length of awning pole I could just hammer into the ground with a screw clamp on top for the dishes adjustable bracket.

You will be able to watch lots of UK channels (hundreds - 90% rubbish), but not at the moment Ch4 & 5. You get all the local BBC and ITV area channels, plus the extra BBC and ITV ones - but you only get 4 & % with a Sky system plus a working card. It worked superbly during this years annual hol, so Iwill not be bothering with analgue or digital terrestial again.

I did look at those Lidl units before I bought the Maplin one. Aside from the fact that the Maplin one is designed for portability, it has the built in sat finder making it much quicker to set up. I wasn't initially too impressed with this gadget, but it works quite well. ..

It is just a combined compass and elevation gauge - very cheap and inaccurate looking, but it works to getting the dish pointing roughly in the correct direction. You dial in your location, then turn the the dish so the compass points to the satellite you want, adjust the elevation - Then finally sweep it around that setting until you get the satellite. The receiver has a built in tone generator, it gets louder the better the signal. 10 minutes setting up and we have a perfect picture.

I don`t understand that bit, it is in the same moulded case, has the same fittings and attachments yet`is designed for portability` implying the LIDL one is not. Do I detect a little brand snobbery creeping in here, or are you trying to justify paying more than is necessary?

The Maplins and the Lidl units are sourced from the same far eastern source if you really want brand snobbery buy the Maxview unit 99. 99 for just the dish and finder no receiver also sourced from the same supplier.

To receive channels 4 & 5 you will need a 'FreeSat' card from Sky which costs 20 and lasts for 3 years, but obviously if the receiver does not have a card slot then this is not possible, although you can receive all other channels of course.

Someone mentioned fixing the dish to a pole mounted in place of the jockey wheel - is it OK to remove the jockey wheel and allow the caravan to bear all its weight via the running wheels and corner steadies?

Just how good is this system in France and what will I be dependent upon to receive a signal the further south I go - I read on this forum (or somewhere else) that someone was getting reception from as far south as Avignon !!

Incidentally, for those that said the instructions which come with the unit aren't very good, Maplins have published a better set of instructions here maplin. co. uk/module. aspx?ITAG=S. ..p;doy=12m9#spec.

I understand it offers a lot of channels Freeview doesn't (although most are supposedly rubbish) but doesn't supply CH4 or 5 and their sub programmes. It also provides all of the BBC & ITV regional programmes.

Tried mine today and after a fair bit of fiddling around, managed to get a signal. I could get all of the BBC channels and almost all of the ITV channels but not much else. Most of the pre-listed channels simply said no-signal. Am I doing something wrong? Was I slightly off signal, or on the wrong satellite or should I have updated the channel lists?

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