Posted 31 October 2023

Watching TV in a caravan

Hi, I've recently bought a caravan privately. It's a bailey ranger 550/6 2007. I bought a cheap small TV for it but I've just noticed that my caravan doesn't have the small dome shaped aerial thing on the roof.

What are my options for being able to get a picture on my TV on an electric hook up site. I'm a total caravan newbie btw. Thanks
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  1. abigsmurf's avatar
    You can get a cellular wifi router, sign up to a data plan and use that to stream. You may frequently be caravanning in locations with terrible signal though.

    You can get indoor ariels but I've never had much luck with those inside of a house, let alone a big metal box. There are outdoor multi-directional ariels you can get, either fixing it yourself or getting a magnetic temporary one.
    mart321's avatar
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    Well I'm going to be away with it tomorrow. I currently have a Chromecast, firestick etc? I have a data plan on my phone of over 200gb , so I presume i can just use these to watch TV?
  2. EndlessWaves's avatar
    It's the as your house basically, aerial on a pole that you raise up and point towards the local transmitter. Satellite dishes are an option too, especially if you're going to Europe, but trickier to line up.

    Log periodic aerials seems to be the design of choice these days, and they're also pretty compact for storage.

    You can fit a small roof top omni-directional aerial which doesn't need to be set up each time, but it's a lot less sensitive and will pick up a signal in fewer locations.
  3. hubcms's avatar
    If no TV Ariel can you not use a domestic Ariel on an aluminium pole through the jockey wheel clamp.
  4. gari189's avatar
    If you are a caravan newbie - I suggest you look at The Trudgians youtube channel. He covers most of the basics. Most importantly you MUST know how to hitch up safely (including breakaway cable) and how to check you have hitched up safely (by lowering the jockey wheel and raising the back end of the car). Everything else you will figure out as you go along!

    As for aerials - I've found satellite dish is a real pita to get aligned properly but sometimes its the only option in mountainous areas with no tv signal.

    Some sites have aerial connections on their electric hook up bollards.

    If you can get a terrestial signal I suggest one of the caravan leisure aerial kit from Toolstation (can't link as they are banned from HUKD) This will clamp on to your A frame. You can feed the aerial cable through a window with a flat aerial lead amazon.co.uk/ele…FGY I have the kit from Toolstation (with a slightly better aerial) and its not very steady as the aerial is way above the anchor point. I now suction clamp it to the side of the caravan ebay.co.uk/itm…661 with the bottom of the pole anchored into the ground. A tv signal finder will help you to point the aerial in the right direction.
    mart321's avatar
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    Thanks for the tips. Yes Ive watched a few videos on hitching so that's going to be the main thing I'm concerned with tomorrow. It's got an alko hitch and seems fairly straightforward. I will check out that YouTube channel though, thanks
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