I'm David Sullivan, Manchester born and bred. (If any Americans are reading this, that's Manchester England, near Russia .)

My wife Marilyn (aka Mandy) came from Golborne, Lancashire, and we've spent all our married lives in Urmston, south Manchester. We have caravanned for over 25 years with occasional trips into France but after I took early retirement some years ago, we began taking the van abroad more frequently and for longer periods. The one drawback was the complete lack of any news - yes we had a car radio but my schoolboy Franglais was nowhere near sufficient to keep up with a French newsreader firing on all cylinders!

Each night thereafter the story was the same until, a week later, we reached our final destination at Mojácar in the southeastern corner of Spain. I had one final desperate attempt to get a signal, no more successful than the previous ones, and the dish then lay in disgrace on the ground behind the caravan. A day or so later another Brit on the site strolled past, noticed the dish and asked me about it. A lucky meeting - he was a retired Sky installer and knew 'The Trick'. Back up went the dish and a short demonstration later we had a signal and Mandy & I were happy bunnies!

Since then, the equipment has gone everywhere with us, even in this country. It's usually easier to set the dish up than to retune the TV for different transmitters and the picture quality is far superior.

So why the website? Well it seemed to me that others might have the same idea as us and be equally unsuccessful with a signal meter. Others might not have had the idea but be encouraged to have a go if they knew how. Initially, I wrote the article for possible publication in the Caravan Club Magazine. Compared with how the website is now, that original article was naïve to say the least; nevertheless, the editor agreed to publish it (a little reluctantly because he didn't think there'd be much interest in the subject) . . . . and was immediately inundated with requests from club members for more information! All the correspondence was of course forwarded on to me and I realised there was sufficient interest in the subject for it to be worth developing further - hence the website.

It started off as a fairly simple thing; it certainly wasn't a huge undertaking at that stage. I wasn't even sure it would catch on to any great extent. A month after launch in December 2001, out of idle curiosity, I installed a hit counter. It crept up at a rate of perhaps 40-50 hits a week and I thought that was reasonably satisfying. But then in March 2002 the rate suddenly began to accelerate after the site was mentioned on an internet forum (not by me!) and by June/July it was averaging between 100 and 200 hits every day. For the last few years it's been running at between 2000 and 3000 hits each week, of which roughly 25% are return visits. I was also receiving something like 50 emails a week, although fortunately it's since dropped to a more manageable level! Keep them coming though - I always enjoy reading them.

So there you are folks. If I've helped you, spread the news. If I haven't, look out for a light blue/grey ("Aqua marine" to quote the brochure!) Hyundai Tucson parked next to a Lunar Clubman with a dish alongside. Call in and say hello - I'll be glad to help if I can. Oh, and the car's pronounced Tooson, like the city in Arizona! I've heard it pronounced Tukson and Tuscan, and also (by an insurance agent who should have known better) as a Hyundai erm!

Finally, from my mailbox it seems most people like this website but I fully understand that it's impossible to please everyone. So if you don't like what you've seen, do please write and let me know. But be gentle - I bruise easily!