Foxtel in the van

[Mike7]

Hi everyone,

I've just ordered a foldable 75cm dish from satplus.com.au (John at the shop was fantastic to deal with, very patient with my questions, cant recommend them enough, no affiliation with shop just happy customer).

Im going to use my foxtel box in the van and as it has a 12v IN I am planning to running it thru a 12v power supply. My problem is the 12v IN on the box seems to be a proprietary plug. I know guys here have used their foxtel boxes on the road so was hoping someone could point me in the right direction of where to get the plug.

Ive checked Jaycar etc but no luck.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Burnsy]

What about asking foxtel? They won't care that your taking your box with you!

 

[AndrewC]

What about asking foxtel? They won't care that your taking your box with you!

Actually they do care. I know everyone does it but when my father mentioned it to them when ordering another box for the house and telling them what it was really for, they cracked the sads.He quickly retracted his comment. Apparently its something to do with the licensing of the box or something and not able to be used a s a mobile device blah, blah,blah.

Anyway, don't tell them your intentions!

 

[Burnsy]

What a load of crap......Bloody Foxtel!

 

[macca]

I could be wrong but I think it is safer to run it through an inverter and use the 240 plug that comes with it.

 

[john hayward]

I agree with both - don't tell foxtel and use inverter.
Also recommend John @ Satplus Maroochydore who is great to deal with and any problems he will fix.

 

[fishinglizard]

If you read the fine print, I am pretty sure if they find out your using the box in your van or someone elses house they will disconnect that box, not your account, they still want your money. They dont care.

 

[Mike7]

Thanks guys, will keep it incognito and see what I can come up with.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Stan Lee]

Ha ha funny

Tell them nothing! They rnt even wanting to employ local Aussie staff anymore! Claiming $$$$$. Do the Aussie thing and save yourself money!!

 

[macca]

I will be interesting to see how you go Mike. Have thought about doing that myself. Is it an expensive exercise?

 

[bigman0510]

when I moved from the old house I "accidently" removed the old Austar (foxtel) dish and took it with me. Now to mod it and make it easy to fold up. We will only be taking the extra box when we go on extended camping trips.

 

[Stan Lee]

What do the mods involve @bigman0510 ??

 

[Mike7]

@maccayak, You can actually do this very cheaply if you want, you need nothing more expensive that a $60 dish, $20 cables and a $35 LNB and have all that connected to your foxtel box and it works fine. I use a free augmented reality app on the iphone to find the Optus satellite.

I spent almost $500 getting a snowflake antenna and a sensar pro panel so I could easily tune in free to air TV but its still painful and not too reliable in my experience, around major centres the snowflake works ok.

I always figured that satellite TV would be too exey or fiddly but it takes way less time to tune in the dish than it does tuning the snowflake antenna. Im getting lazy in my old age mate

Now having said all that I have opted for a fibreglass folding in half dish so it is easier to store but is more expensive, comes with all the gear you need to set it up including an adjustable tripod. However mine is gonna go on the drawbar in a jockey wheel clamp. I don't do much TV watching to be honest so am really doing all this for the technical challenge, oh and for the kids.

Hope this helps

Cheers
Mike

 

[Stan Lee]

Ta mate. I ll have to pull to the old dish from an investment property

 

[bigman0510]

What do the mods involve @bigman0510 ??

Yeah mate, I have to make the arm that holds the LNB foldable and make/buy a nice quick mount system. But after putting up a 6m x 3m patio by myself on the weekend, satellite dish mods in low on my list...