12v Freesat

Can I get freesat in my motor home or caravan? All you motor homers or caravaners know that it can be a real bitch getting electronics to work in a caravan. You need devices with 12v input or an inverter. So the question is, can you get a freesat box that has a 12v input so that you can use it in your motor home or caravan and continue watching all those great freesat channels, not to mention all the other non-freesat, but free to air channels that you can pick up with a freesat box.

The simple answer is Yes, you can. There are several freesat receivers on the market at the moment that can be run off a 12v power supply. These are ideal for use in a caravan or motor home, allowing you the pleasure of watching your favourite TV show or keeping up to date on news and sport even if you are on holiday. With digital switchover just around the corner, you might want to take the opportunity to make sure you are up to date with a digital receiver. So which models can you buy that will be compatible? The Goodmans GFSAT200HD box is an excellent choice for anyone looking for a bargain because it currently has £10 off at Argos. The Bush BFSAT01HD is also a great digital box for the budget conscious. Also available at Argos, the box usually retails at around £120 and is a good entry level digital set top box.

Missing guide information on the Bush BFSAT01SD

So a funny thing happened on my Bush freesat box the other day.The programme guide kept listing “no information available” on a whole bunch of channels that were previously fine. Also, attempting to view the channels gave me the “no service available” message and a blank TV screen. Not good at all! I know we have been having bad weather and it can sometimes affect the satellite signal. And I have had the occasional no information available on a few channels before, but this usually rights itself after a few minutes or at most a few hours. But it seemed to be getting worse and worse. More and more of the listed channels were being affected. I wondered whether my father in law’s recent visit had anything to do with it…..He seemed a little at odds with how to use the freesat box, and his lust for watching the cricket on any channel that would show it led to him hitting buttons on the remote left right and centre and getting in a right state about it. Eventually I just set him up with listening to the commentary on one of the radio channels – I can’t remember which one.

Anyway so back to the lack of freesat channels. As you know, I can’t receive terrestrial television because of the rubbish reception I have in my area, so I rely on freesat exclusively for my television. I flipped through a few menus to try and see if what the signal strength was……all good there. I tried manually adding a channel, but for some reason, it wouldn’t let me. The only thing left to do (because the bush has an extremely limited menu system) was a first time install! Yikes….wipe out all my settings – so with some trepidation I selected the option, only to be prompted for a lock code! I’ve never set one up, so either my father in law had somehow managed to create a lock code, or the automatic upgrade to the software has put one in by default! A little worrying really, especially if it was simply upgraded automatically to include one – I mean that would be pretty confusing to the casual user. Anyway, I took a wild stab at an access code of 0000 for my freesat receiver , and hey presto, luckily, it worked. OK off we go with a complete fresh re-install…..or first time install. Typed in my postcode and set it off to find all its channels again. Which it duly did. And hey presto all my tv guide information is once again displaying, and all my channels are back up and running! Thank goodness for that. Even got a few new channels showing up, which weren’t there before. One of which seems to show mixed martial art all day long! Cool!