Drop in and dribble on about nothing serious. Seriously a mad place to hang out. Better to avoid it if you're not in the mood!!! If you're determined to be sad, bad, mad & angry then move along!!!
Lesley,
we were sold our foxtel dish by the lovely serviceman. I think he was being a big bit cheeky as he is retiring from foxtel very soon and doesnt really care about the company any more.
The dish is mounted onto a short, fat bit of pipe. We currently use our jockey wheel clamps for the pipe to stand up and use a stand for the A frame to sit in. We are still learning about all this too, but gee it was great over Christmas to be able to watch a bit more interesting stuff than the reruns on free to air!
Good luck with your hunt. If you talk to people who have dishes on their roofs, you may find someone who is happy for you to remove it! Our son was talking at work about how we had set up ours and a co-worker said he had one on his roof and did not ever want foxtel, so go ahead and take it. Hope you can find someone just as sweet.
Thanks, Deborah. We actually have a dish at home as well but I won't be taking it off the roof everytime we travel. As our suburb does not have cable (no idea why) everyone with Foxtel has a dish. Maybe I should put up a notice at the local supermarket asking if anyone has one to get rid of.
So, does Foxtel have a specific type/brand of dish or is it the same as the portable ones you see on the back/front vans travelling around the country, then set up & aligned each night for the location they are in?
Pretty sure they are all the same Chuck. Obviously the LNB focussed at the satellite is the only difference.
I have noticed that most of the ones sold in the VAST 'kits' are slightly egg shaped but I've been told that a round one has a bit of the area not used so to reduce the size a little bit they make them out of round a little bit.
As long as the dish focusses the signal from the sat to the LNB it'll work. The bigger the dish the more signal get's caught. Ever noticed how big the dish is out the back of some hotels?
******************* BruceS
Mannum, SA
********************
So if 'any' dish can be used that broadens the options considerably.
When we had our Coromal, used a piece of water pipe in the 2nd jockey wheel clamp with a smaller diameter piece inside - to allow for elevation - a hole drilled through the outer pipe with a stainless steel bolt /nut judiciously placed to prevent the inner pipe from falling all the way through. Various other holes at different heights on the upper part of the outer pole permitted the inner pipe to be raised accordingly. An old screwdriver through the chosen 'height' kept it there. Dish was fixed to the inner pipe & a Hessian bag made up for covering the dish whilst travelling. The dish was turned facing the front of the van for travelling.
Someone advised me that you can carry it that way but it's best to pin it to the ground when in use as a strong wind will cause loss of signal. I can't comment from my experience.
******************* BruceS
Mannum, SA
********************
When we first bought our system we had it pegged down at each stop... then we came across the pipe system & with subtle use of 'ocky straps' from the rim of the dish to the draw bar of the van we were able to leave it on the pole all the time.
Admittedly, in really strong winds then the signal is simply gone.
The instruction for my current satellite receiver on the roof of our van advise that in winds exceeding 60kph to lower the receiver until they abate... for the same reasons.
I like your thinking Lesley, I dont really know if the dish is any different to the ones that you can buy at caravan places, but at $200 for the whole lot fitted, we got a real bargain. I think that the decoder is the important thing and that is why you need to take the box (with it's little card in it) from the house when you drive out.
Apart from all that, it seems to be a great system. Good luck getting that dish.
The foxtel dishes are slightly smaller than the portable ones, not an issue if you can line them up accurately on the satellite 85cm is the reccommended traveller dish and that will cover you all over Aus The LNB needs to be 10700 to tune in properly.
Cheers,
Wobblybox on wheels
Pace Arrow. La de da, property in two continents..
The Foxtel dish size depends on which part of the country you live in. They used to be larger in FNQ. I don't know whether they still are. Having satellite TV in Cairns was a waste of money during the wet season. You'd lose signal every time it rained heavy.
As our suburb does not have cable (no idea why) everyone with Foxtel has a dish. Maybe I should put up a notice at the local supermarket asking if anyone has one to get rid of. 
