However, with the help of the people mentioned above, this page is currently being developed. So if anyone else would like to email me and give me a potted guide in how to operate these or any other makes of receiver (with or without screenshots), I will be happy to expand this page for the benefit of others. Don't worry about presentation or completeness of content; I can amalgamate any amount of information into a standard format as I receive it. Please note my standard plea to check first before sending any images, but apart from that I'll be delighted with any information you can supply. You can contact me via this page.

In principle, generic, otherwise known as free-to-air (FTA), receivers are the simplest to use. Unlike Sky and freesat receivers which require an EPG (electronic programme guide) in order to work, FTA receivers just pick up any channels they can find and present them as a simple list. So it doesn't matter where you are in Europe, it's virtually certain you'll manage to pick something up, even if it's not the main entertainment channels. The channels are not sorted into order but you can do that yourself and also delete from the list any you're not interested in. Generally, as soon as the dish picks up a signal a picture will appear on the screen but you still need to look at the menu panel to establish what the channel is. Sky boxes always default to the Sky welcome screen, freesat boxes to the channel last viewed. FTA receivers on the other hand display the first channel to be identified which could be completely random.

There are a number of different makes of FTA receiver, each with its own menu display and general presentation. The one I now have is a Ross from B&Q so this page will be based on that. If you have another make, the general system of setting it up will be similar but you'll have to expect some differences.

2. Equipment
So, what equipment do you need? Obviously you need a dish, and a method of fixing it rigidly so that it can't move once it's positioned. You also need a receiver and preferably a signal meter to help aim the dish the right way. Oh, and something on which to watch the programme such as a TV would be good . . .

In the UK, more or less any dish will do, though it must be fitted with a universal LNB (buyers of secondhand European motorhomes with an installed dish beware, it might be analogue only!). For caravanning abroad, it will have to be a compromise between size/weight and what channels you want to watch. Throughout the Low Countries and most of France, a 44cm domestic minidish or equivalent will be sufficient. Further afield, a progressively larger dish will be needed if you want to watch the BBC and ITV, although even in southern Spain you'll get some channels with a small dish. (The reason for that discrepancy is explained towards the end of this section.) So it would seem that larger is better - unfortunately it isn't as simple as that! Small dishes are more tolerant of poor alignment and you'll normally get a signal a degree or so either side of spot-on. A larger dish has to be aimed more accurately and that, combined with its extra weight, will make it much more awkward to handle. The choice is yours but I would advise you to consider seriously whether a large dish is worth the hassle.

And when you've bought it, do make sure you peg it down firmly. However wide the base, your dish will still be top-heavy and I've wrecked 2 by the wind catching the dish and toppling it!

Now for another tip! Satellite cables are usually connected to the dish and the receiver by means of what's known as an F connector. Why 'F', I have no idea (ideas on a postcard please!) but basically they are screw-on connectors rather than the traditional push-fit connectors. This is fine in a permanent domestic installation but can be a pain in the butt for caravanners having to set up each time (and temporarily connect a signal meter as well). So here's the good news - it's possible to buy push-on adapters. They have a threaded male connector on one side and a female push connector at the other. Simply screw on to the end of the F connector and you can connect to and disconnect from the dish, signal meter and receiver with ease. They are available from various places including Satcure (http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/page7.htm#fconn) where they cost (as at September 2008) 64p each or £10 for 20, (although postage is an additional £2.50 regardless of quantity!). They are also available from other outlets such as Maplins but in fact by the time you've added the cost of your fuel to get there and back, Satcure is probably still the cheapest option.

English-language digital programmes are broadcast by the Astra 28 system which is located roughly to the south east (at longitude 28.2º E above the equator), so the first thing is to find the approximate compass setting. Professional dish installers use a satellite finder that specifically seeks out the Astra 28 signal. They are excellent pieces of equipment, and so they should be at over £200 each. The type of signal meter advertised in caravanning magazines on the other hand is a lot cheaper ... and nowhere near as good.

I used to view most such devices as a waste of money but to be fair I have to say that a number of people didn't agree. In any case, prices have now dropped dramatically (below £10 in some cases) so the economic argument has all but disappeared and there now seems little point in denying yourself that extra level of help. I don't wish to discourage anybody from buying one but if you do decide to buy one remember they vary widely in price and in my view anything over £20 is a rip off - I can see no reason for paying more than the £10 mentioned above but my only recommendation apart from that is to choose one with a rise-and-fall tone, I think you'll find it easier to use. (Some have a clicking noise where the speed of the click increases as you get closer to the satellite but I find that less precise than a variable pitch tone.) A list of suppliers can be found on my Links page.

Despite the fact that signal meters have come down a lot in price, their instructions for use are still rooted firmly in the Dark Ages, with the result that I continue to receive emails along the lines of "My meter shows a very strong signal but there's nothing on the TV. What am I doing wrong?". I have therefore written this separate page that spells out precisely how to use the things. (Now if only the manufacturers would pay me for doing their job for them . . .)

As for dishes, you have a wide choice and it might not be necessary to purchase a large diameter dish - even in southern Europe a standard domestic minidish will enable you to watch some channels such as BBC News. The BBC (apart from BBC News), ITV and Channel 4 will require a larger, more powerful dish in southern Europe and only you can decide whether it would be worth carrying! (See here for more information).

The Astra 28 system consists of 3 satellites close together in space so that your dish will 'see' all of them as if they were a single unit. All 3 transmit signals aimed at Europe but the coverage on the ground varies considerably. Two of the satellites - 2A and 2B - can be thought of as flood lights, lighting up a huge area of Europe. They each transmit a north and a south beam. The other, the 1N, is more like a spot light focused on the British Isles. For the sake of convenience the signals are referred to as the north beam, south beam and narrow beams.

All the beams cover the UK so all channels are viewable. However, as you travel further away from the UK, some channels can only be obtained with a large dish. The terrestrial channels will be the first to be lost - the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, all of which variants transmit on the Astra 1N, the narrow beam satellite.(Incidentally, some people might have heard of the Astra 2D satellite in connection with satellite TV. In fact, it's now been taken out of service and the 1N is its replacement. Luckily for people touring on the continent, the 1N has a wider footprint than the 2D it replaced. However, don't get too complacent - it's only temporary until the longterm replacements are launched in late 2012/early 2013.)

There is also a 4th satellite used to carry a few UK channels. It's Eurobird 1, located at virtually the same point in space as Astra 28. To all intents and purposes, it can be regarded as part of the same system.

The following diagrams show the footprints of the different beams that carry the free-to-air channels. A standard Zone 1 oval minidish (the type you'll see on houses across England and Wales) will be OK in the inner pale blue area, whereas for the outer yellow band a 1.2 metre dish is recommended. However these Astra maps are somewhat pessimistic and although you'd be wise not to stretch them too far, you'll probably get away with a smaller dish than recommended - many people have written in to say they got BBC/ITV on the Côte d'Azur with a Zone 2 domestic minidish (the slightly larger oval dish used in Scotland). I've even had a report from someone who got ITV1 in Gibraltar with a 90cm dish whilst someone else got it in Faro, Portugal, with a 60cm dish but they're exceptional - don't rely on doing the same!

3. Setting up using a Ross SD satellite receiver

To align a mobile dish using this receiver, go to the end of this section. With a new Ross receiver, it is first necessary to do a channel search in order to load all the available channels into its memory. Thereafter it's only necessary to do it occasionally. From time to time, channels will move around from 1 frequency to another, or new channels may come on stream and others may disappear. A good indicator is if you try to select a channel to watch and it doesn't appear.

To do a search, proceed as follows. First click the Menu button on the remote, make sure the dish symbol is selected and the title line says Installation, and press OK twice. On the next screen, select the required satellite system by tabbing down to 22 Astra/Euro1, and press OK again. Before going any further, check the signal bars at the bottom of the screen and adjust the dish alignment if necessary. Strength and quality should both be at least 50%, and preferably higher.

Press OK twice and you'll be presented with a huge list of channels. Depending on where you are in Europe, you could have around 300 channels to choose from, including a number of apparent repeats such as several copies of Channel 4. These are regional variations but the only difference between them is the local adverts they carry so you can safely delete any duplicates. Do this by highlighting the channel you want to delete and pressing 1 followed by Menu. Press OK and repeat as necessary. To sort the channels into some kind of order, highlight each one in turn and press 2. Move the channel up or down until you get to the desired position and press Menu. Highlight the OK bar and press OK. Repeat the procedure for the radio channels if required. Fortunately the process only has to be done once unless you do a channel rescan at some time.

To aim your dish, connect the dish cable to the threaded socket at the back of the unit and switch on. You'll see a panel saying 'Bad or no signal'. Now point the dish roughly to SSE or use a compass and the dishpointer.com website to determine the exact compass bearing. Aim the face of the dish towards the horizon initially and slowly turn the dish to either side of the given compass bearing. If you're very lucky you'll get a signal straightaway and a picture will appear on the screen. That's happened to me just twice in 10 years! On your first time of trying you're more likely to end up cursing me to the end of the world but don't give up! If you're using a meter, by turning the dish from side to side and up and down, you should hear the meter's tone alter in pitch. When it reaches a peak, check the TV to see if you have a picture. If you don't, try moving the dish further to the east. Initially the tone will fall away but you'll then pick up another signal. Get that to a peak and check again.

Whilst this procedure applies specifically to the Ross receiver, it should apply more or less equally well to any other FTA receiver. Some models, such as the COMAG SL65 below, have a built-in signal meter. Others, including the Ross, don't and you'll need to connect an external one between the receiver and the dish.

One of the most popular satellite kits, especially for caravanners, is the camping kit. It contains virtually everything you need to get set up, all contained within a convenient carrying case, and is available from a number of different suppliers, including Maplin Electronics and some branches of B&Q. It varies quite widely in price from about £100 down to occasional special offers at around £40 so do shop around - I don't intend to keep up to date with the prices on this website! You might find it's badged differently depending on where it's sold but the contents are essentially the same.

The dish comes with various mounting options, from sucker attachments that clamp it to the caravan side, to struts that allow it to sit on the ground using the carry case as a base. The tiny receiver (dual voltage, 12v/240v) is pre-programmed for a number of different satellite systems, one of which is claimed to be Astra 28 (sometimes Astra 2, same thing), but which might not be! If you look for that, you might find yourself looking at the Astra 1 channels, with only Sky News and BBC World in English.

Astra 28 is a little further round to the east so turn the dish a little to the east and you should then acquire another signal. Now put the receiver into Autoscan mode, and Robert's your father's proverbial brother. The autoscan will take about 5 minutes, at the end of which you'll have a channel list containing all the main channels and 200 or so other TV and radio channels. Then it's a case, as above with the Ross receiver, of deleting any unwanted channels and sorting the rest into your preferred order.

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You might see it badged as COMAG or SilverCrest, or even as Maxview. In that latter guise as the Maxview MXL020, you'll often see it in caravan accessory shops along with other Maxview equipment such as Omnisat dishes. It's a dual voltage model, making it ideal for caravan use.

The receiver is tiny (it has been described as about the size of a VHS video tape in its box if anyone can remember that far back!) and therefore ideal for caravan use. It also has a built-in signal meter to help with dish alignment.

Please note that the following instructions are for guidance only. I don't have one of these boxes and my only experience of them, including the following screen shots, was on a holiday when I met someone who does use one. Therefore these instructions, based on rough notes I made at the time, are probably not correct in every respect.

For installation, go to the Installation menu and choose the Antenna Setting sub-menu. Select Satellite (should be set to 28º East). Use CH+ and CH- and V+ and V- to navigate around the menus and confirm selection with OK. Note that these screen shots actually only occupy the centre portion of the screen. The rest of the screen will be black to start with, and a picture will appear when the dish is aligned on to Astra 28.

Select a pre-programmed channel (eg ITV1) from the channel list and then press INFO to pull up the menu screen. Press 1 to switch on the audible satellite meter (through the TV speakers). A stronger higher pitched tone indicates the dish is close to the correct direction. Turn the dish a fraction at a time, pausing for about 3 seconds each time to allow the receiver to react to any signal it finds. When signal quality is about 60%, a picture will appear on the screen. It might not be an English-language channel. The receiver will process signals from a number of different satellite systems and only one of them, Astra 28, carries the UK channels. If the menu screen is displayed, press EXIT to leave it.