TV reception up the centre

Pelly,
anticipate derisive comments from those less addicted to 'The Bill' or 'Extreme Makeover' than your better half

The Magnavox from Dick Smith for around $60 is the best all round
It is also compact easy to store and quick to put up
If you have a GPS you can get all the coordinates for the TV Stations all over Australia.

Make sure any tv you have can pick up vhf and uhf as in darwin some channels are brodcast on one and some on another. most reasnable sized towns recieve satilite tv (imparja etc) and bradcast them out but you will only get a reception if you are in town or very nearby. You can even watch tv at daly waters

I have a similar problem... she who must be obeyed will stop anywhere as long as there is xtal clear tv reception. I solved the post dinner entertainment problem by using the lap top to play monopoly, trivial pursuit etc etc...a lot safer than a romantic stroll along the beach....( tripping over copulating couples) or a nice romantic midnight swim.. ( bitten by an eel). I have a winegard antenna and it cost me nearly $400 but an inverted coat hanger held aloft in a tree works as well in a marginal signal area.

Look out the side window of your 4x4 for the best TV channel on earth. Craig...........

Pelly,

My daughter and I, when ever we go camping always get a good reception on the bush telly.

It always has a new program on every night, no commercials, but only one channel. The programs always reflect on what had happened that day, and what might happen tomorrow. The bush telly (camp fire) is a very special time for us.

Wayne

Pelly

In my opinion the Explorer C10 is a good quality antenna for use on a caravan

The cost is around the $300 to $400 mark but in the kit you get all the necessary parts to connect to the back of the Television

The Explorer has both UHF & VHF Elements & can be mounted both horizontal & vertical

The kit replaces all existing connectors & coax in the van & requires around a 1/2 inch hole in the outside & about a 2 inch hole to be drilled in the inside of the van as the power supply to the aerial is fitted within the wall of the van(not hard to fit if you take your time) & you need a power point inside the van nearby to plug the supply in to 240 volts

Explorer supply a mast that extends to about 15 feet high & a bracket that attaches it to the draw bar

All the cables supplied are high quality & there is a information booklet supplied that gives transmitter location & type so you know how to position the antenna & also gives a lot of information about tv signals & how to acheive good reception

When we purchased the van it came with a fold up pvc type simple antenna (i won't name the brand)that was fine in populated areas but in less populated areas we had poor reception although it was convienent to use

We put up with this for about 2 years but when we purchased the explorer we were amazed at the difference in reception quality

I think you get what you pay for in most cases

Hope this information helps you

Regards Don

Hi Pelly,

This may be the high cost option but here goes!

My parents have just embarked on a two year caravan road trip NSW/SA/NT/WA/SA/NSW! Mum is a big Bill fan but they also like to keep up with the news wherever they are.

They invested in a satellite dish with an Austar card that picks up Free to Air via the Optus C1 satellite. Cost was $1100 all up but there is no more to pay. They get a dish (square, about 300mm) and a set top box with an Austar card. They can now get a perfect free to air signal anywhere in Australia and pick up ABC, Imparja (mix of 9 and 10) Seven, and SBS and a couple of other channels. This is apparently also upgradable to Foxtel/Austar pay TV is you want to pay the monthly subscription. They are happy wth the free to air, so after the initial investment there are no ongoing costs.

Dad says that the dish takes about 10 mins to set up on a bracket on the front of the van. He then uses a satelite finder (supplied) to align the dish to the satellite and the plugs in the cable to the set top box. After that it is just like ordinary TV.

I'll get the name of the Supplier from them and post it here tomorrow. It is a fellow in Wollongong, NSW.

One thing I was impressed with is that they get all of the ABC TV signals for Australia which means that they can watch ABC from each state from anywhere in Oz. This means that you can "time shift" ie, you can be in NSW but watch the WA 7.00pm News at 8.30pm local time! Mum can watch The Bill at 8.30pm (NSW/Vic), 9.00 (SA/NT), 9.30 (QLD) or 10.30 (WA).

I suppose it is all about how important TV is to you! Personally I like the idea of the Bush Telly (campfire) above!

StevenL