When you’re out and about you might just dip into television for the news and weather or you might want to keep up with your favourite programmes. Either way you don’t want to waste much time setting up your TV reception on-site.

For campers in the UK, terrestrial TV through a roof aerial can provide the answer although in some rural areas this can have disappointing results. Or, perhaps like me you have a fixed rooftop satellite dish where your sight of the satellite is sometimes spoiled by a tree next to your pitch. For these situations and for those who currently have no way of receiving TV signals a portable dish is a good option. They can be relatively cheap and can be located to facilitate a good line of sight to the satellites.

The Maxview Precision dish system claims to be taller, stronger, lighter and easier to set up than any other satellite system on the market, so it seemed a good idea to test it.

The kit (which is supplied without a receiver) comes in two main parts – the robust and lightweight aluminium tripod and the dish complete with the LNB (the receiving device) and mounting support. The compact tripod folds out quickly and is secured to the ground with the three steel pegs provided. Use the compass to align the marked leg to face south and use the spirit level on the base of the tripod to try to get it as level as possible. It’s not essential to get the tripod dead level but it does help to ease the location of the satellite you want to receive.

Then it’s simply a matter of sliding the dish unit on top of the tripod post. The dish is then connected to your satellite receiver with the provided 10m of cable, which gives good scope for locating the dish for alignment to the satellite. The blue cable is claimed to be extra flexible and it was certainly easier to coil up compactly than a standard extension cable. With the dish elevated according to the instructions you can then turn it around in a horizontal plane to align with the satellite and clamp it in place.

Finally use the precision adjuster screw in conjunction with the built-in signal strength meter to achieve the correct elevation of the dish for maximum signal strength. Having used cheaper dish systems that require assembly and then having the hit-and-miss task of adjusting elevation by crude clamps, the elevation screw eased the process of tuning in to the maximum signal strength.

The system comes with two zipped bags that neatly store the dish and tripod and enable the kit to be packed away and stored quickly. The LNB folds forward and is held against the dish by a magnetic catch.

The dish is available in two sizes – 55cm and 65cm – and can be bought with either a single or twin LNB if you like to simultaneously record one programme while watching another. The 55cm version is more than adequate for receiving Freesat in the UK and should be okay for northern France, but the larger size would be better for travelling further south.

Verdict: It does what it says, is quick and easy to set up and adjustment can be achieved in a precise manner. If you’re looking for a portable satellite system and you want to keep the hassle of setting up to a minimum this portable satellite dish is worth considering.

Specification
Dish size: 55 or 65cm
LNB: single or twin
Weight: 6.1kg (55cm) 6.6kg (65cm)