As leading lights in the Hymer International Club since the club was founded in 1990, Denise & Vic Avery are particularly proud of their Hymermobil B544. As President of the club, Vic has to make sure that their motorhome is a good example to club members.

Already equipped with a sat-dome from RoadPro, they came to us today to have some more work done on the van. It was a full day’s work but, when they drove off, the Hymer was equipped with a 150W solar panel installation, a Camos tilt rear-view camera and an in-dash Snooper navigation system.

Now, Vic & Denise can not only watch satellite TV with the greatest of ease, they can also see where they’re going, see where they’ve been and they don’t have to worry about finding themselves with flat batteries. Result!

Mike & Val Hooper entered a competition in MMM magazine and won themselves a RoadPro sat-dome. Mike says that they had considered buying a sat-dome but thought they’d be better off if they could get one for nothing – which is precisely what they did.

The unit is now perched discreetly on top of their Autosleeper motorhome and, even though the ‘van isn’t very big, it really doesn’t look out of place at all.

Congratulations Mike and Val!

Trevor and Pauline’s Rapido 799F came to us this morning to have an 85 watt solar panel fitted. Apparently, friends had recommended RoadPro having been impressed by our friendly and professional manner!!! (They must have been thinking of some other company).  Trevor wanted to use the solar panel to charge  both the leisure battery and the engine battery and so we also fitted a Votronic Dual Regulator which, unlike most solar regulators, will do just that.
The cabling already installed in the Rapido meant that the panel was fitted to the roof and connected to both batteries in a couple of hours.

The Camos Dome was fitted to the ‘van when they bought it from Brownhills and it enabled Trevor and Pauline to watch the Eurovision Song Contest Final in Rheims, on their way home from a recent trip to northern Italy. Maybe we should have done them a favour and removed the dome so that they don’t have to go through that experience again next year.

David & Christine Burton bought their superb Burstner Elegance from Becks Motorhomes in Norfolk. They’re delighted with the vehicle and also with the in-motion sat-dome supplied by RoadPro. Because they bought the Burstner with the dome already installed, they weren’t sure what model it was. After visiting us at Daventry, they now know that it’s an in-motion model which means that, if they wanted to, they could listen to British radio stations as they’re driving through Europe.

The Burtons are “really pleased” with their RoadPro dome. They tell us that, using their Sky receiver, they even managed to pick up BBC & ITV in Berlin! According to our footprint maps, Berlin is well outside the dome’s reception range for Astra 2D but satellite TV is a very strange thing and anything (almost) can happen. Sounds as though we need to make a test trip in the Laika.

Mike & Pam Moore were amongst the first people to put one of our sat-domes on their caravan. That was six years ago and, since then, they’ve travelled all over the U.K. and further.

“We spend from April to November in the caravan” says Mike “and we’ve been just about everywhere – from Cornwall to Kent, to the Hebrides and the Orkneys, even to Northern Ireland and into southern Ireland too. Everywhere we’ve been, the sat-dome has worked perfectly. It’s a fantastic piece of kit and being able to just switch it on and watch TV, not having to worry about setting up a tripod or wondering if it’s too windy is great.”

Although Mike and Pam haven’t been to the Shetlands, we do know people who have been to the Shetlands and have had perfect reception using one of our 40cm sat-domes. So that’s just about the whole of the U.K. covered we reckon!

We were happy and proud to help the Irish Garda with their arrangements to look after Her Majesty the Queen on her recent trip to Ireland.

The Garda use one of our sat-domes on their command & control van but the dome cover had been damaged. We were able to ship out a replacement straight away and, as a result, the Queen’s visit was a great success all round (well, that’s what we like to think!!)

We welcomed our first Burstner Ixeo to Daventry recently. It’s being given a long-term test by motorhome magazine MMM and Deputy Editor Rachel Stothert had asked us to install a CTEK battery-to-battery unit in it.

MMM readers will be able to see how the CTEK unit performs in forthcoming issues.

With just a few minutes to look round, we were totally impressed by the Ixeo. It’s only tiny but a really clever overhead bed arrangement means that there’s loads of room for two or even more people.

Someone else who needs to be able to get on-line everywhere he goes is Les Oliver. Les has one of our Crystop 85cm Internet systems fitted to his Hymer and relies on it to run his business, no matter where he is in Europe. “I live in the motorhome and can run the business just as easily as if I was in an office” he says. “It’s a fantastic piece of kit”.

Mr & Mrs Roads brought their brand-new Burstner Argos 747 to us to have a Crystop Internet / TV system installed along with one of our new InovTech 18.5” TVs. Unlike Les Oliver (see following story) they are not using it to run a business but the Crystop dish combined with an IPcopter service package will allow the Roads’ to watch TV and access the Internet (including VOIP services such as Skype) just about anywhere in Europe.

Julian and Valerie are planning to travel as far afield as Morocco and chose to have a Kathrein CAP 910 fitted to their Autotrail Cheyenne 840SE. Although the choice is limited that far south, other CAP 910 owners have reported back to us that they could still pick up some British TV and radio channels.

We looked forward to getting work on John and Melanie Griffin’s brand new Niesmann-Bischoff Arto. As well as running a narrowboat hire company, Wyvern Shipping, John is also treasurer of the Motor Caravanners’ Club so we expect that he knows how to spend his money wisely.

It was a full day’s work but we got it all finished in time for the John and Melanie to have a quick tour in France before nipping up to Scotland for the Motor Caravanner’s Club annual get-together.

The job involved fitting a fair few bits:

130 watts of solar power can make a real difference

• Camos tilt camera & 5.6” monitor

• Camos 40cm sat-dome

• Zehnder satellite receiver

• PWR 130W solar panel

• Votronic solar power monitor

• Votronic Dual regulator

• Sterling 1800W inverter

• Banner 110ah AGM battery

From the outside, this motorhome looks pretty much like any other apart from the extra-wide door on the off-side.  On the inside though, it’s plain to see that this is no ordinary camper. The open living area, the massive shower and the space for a mobility chair where the passenger seat would normally be are all designed to make life in this motorhome as easy and as comfortable as possible for a severly disabled person.

Based on a Fiat chassis, the conversion has been done by a company called Nirvana in Kent. When we saw it, we were very impressed by the way the conversion had been carried out and here are some pictures which show why.

The extra-wide door and electric lift can cope with a large mobility chair.

Shower / toilet area is big enough to accommodate a wheelchair

Mobility chair can be secured when travelling

RoadPro Sat-domes are for Caravans too!

Most of the sat-domes that we supply are fitted to motorhomes but we’ve noticed more and more caravanners are having them installed. The reason is partly because, like the Bailey Unicorn shown here, caravan manufacturers are fitting their vehicles with much stronger roofs. Even so, weight is always an issue with both caravans and motorhomes and RoadPro’s sat-domes are up to half the weight of folding satellite systems and lighter than any other equivalent sat-dome system.

RoadPro sat-domes will pick up all British TV and radio channels all over the U.K. and France and will pick up news stations such as Sky News and all BBC radio stations as far south as Morocco.

Whether you turn up in a caravan, a coach, a motorhome or a truck, we’ve got plenty of room for everyone at our Daventry premises.

If you’re booked in to have work done or you just want to look at some stuff or make a purchase, you’re welcome to wander round our showroom.

Or, you can play around with satellite dishes on our purpose-built mezzanine floor. Bring your own or borrow one of ours.

Derek Redmond became an Olympic legend in 1992 when he completed the 400 metres semi-final in Barcelona despite tearing his hamstring 250 metres from the finish and being helped to the line by his father. After successful stints at basketball and rugby football, Derek now has his own motorcycle racing team which competes in the Hottrax endurance series.

Derek carries his motorcycle in the back of this custom-built transporter which was fitted with just about everything needed apart from a good TV reception system. Now, it’s got that too in the form of a Camos crank-up dish. Good luck Derek and do be careful!!

Stuart, a farmer somewhere out in the countryside, has been having a problem with birds in his fields. What better way to deal with the flying pests than to wave the flag of St George at them? So Stuart happened to be visiting our Ebay RoadPro outlet store and noticed that we had a very good deal on a job lot of 100 St George flags (which an over-enthusiastic but patriotic former member of staff purchased many years ago.)

Stuart sent us some pictures of the flags in their new location including this one. Can you see any birds? NO!!

Another practical and efficient product from RoadPro.

CTEK, the company behind (probably) the world’s finest battery chargers has published a new blog today and, if you have an interest in batteries, it’s very good indeed!!

You can get to it by clicking on this link: http://blog.ctek.com

Of course, now’s the time to be thinking about getting your vehicle batteries fit for winter – whether or not they’ll be used, they need to be looked after. Whatever the vehicle, whatever the batteries, whatever the weather and whatever they’ll be doing, using a CTEK charger to keep them in good condition is guaranteed to save you money and grief. For more info on the CTEK range, click here.

The Dusseldorf Caravan Show has been and gone for another year. The biggest show of its kind in Europe, it attracts people from all over the world who want to see what’s happening in the world of caravanning & motorhoming. Attendance was up and, apparently, there were more visitors on the first day than there had been for 20 years. In the temporary campsite, around 3,000 motorhomes and caravans parked up – nose to tail in a manner which would give a British club warden a severe attack of apoplexy!

For many visitors the first stop is Hall 13 where the accessories are on display. Satellite TV systems seemed to be the flavour of the year with new models and variations of old models all over the place. The Camos stand was busier than it’s ever been before with eager visitors wanting to find out about the new PAPSA units and the new Camos sat-dome – the first to have auto-skew.

The PAPSA system was on view in several other halls including Hall 17 which featured only caravans and motorhomes from Hymer. Many Hymer models are fitted with Camos TVs but one of their new models also had a PAPSA unit prominently display on a specially constructed frame. As you can see from the picture, it attracted a lot of interest.

You can see the PAPSA on our website by clicking here.

On the same vehicle there was a first sighting of a new Camos rear-view system which uses a camera hidden inside the high-level stoplight housing: very discreet and very effective.

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A: There isn’t one! It’s a nice idea but there is no connection at all between the Curtiss-Wright Corporation whose history goes all the way back to the time of the Wright Brothers’ pioneering aviation work and Curtis Wright who started making “travel-trailers” in Los Angeles before the Second World War.

Wally Byams worked with Curtis Wright but left the company to set up his own Airstream manufacturing facility. Curtis Wright sold up in 1949 but the trailers continued to be made under the name Silver Streak into the 1970s.

Curtis Wright trailers (as the Americans say) are as rare as a very rare thing indeed but, at a secret location in the very heart of rural England, I found two today, along with what seemed like dozens of Airstreams in various states of repair.

Although it’s just a shell at the moment, one of the Airstreams is being fitted out with the very latest in caravan technology – a Crystop Internet system, a Rolls AGM 145Ah battery, a Sterling inverter / charger combination and a 2kW iNEO generator. I couldn’t take a photo of it so this one of a Curtis Wright model will have to do.

When the Airstream is finished, we will hopefully be able to put up a post showing it in its finished glory.

Respected magazine Auto Express gave out its annual awards recently, featuring products ranging from screenwash to tyres, top-boxes and GPS navigation systems. CTEK’s Multi XS3600 model won the best battery charger category but, things got even better for CTEK; the range as a whole was selected to be “Product of the Year” award. This is what the magazine said:

“Innovation has always been at the heart of the premier prize in our Product Awards, and the CTEK range of smart battery chargers are groundbreakers.  When the units arrived from Sweden, they spelt the beginning of the end for the big, boxy units we had relied on for decades.  By comparison they were tiny, barely bigger than your hand, and many found them hard to take seriously.  How could something that small be better than the traditional large box of tricks?  Plug one in you soon discover it can – and that these little marvels can revive flattened batteries considered beyond hope.

CTEK was the first specialist to bring smart chargers to motorists in big numbers, offering a compact device that could not only rescue batteries from low levels conventional rivals could not touch, but also condition and maintain them once revived.  Don’t look for big charging numbers on the packs, as the key to this new generation is how the current is delivered – precisely matching the power to what the battery can take to avoid gassing and long-term damage. This same precision also pays off when maintiaining power packs on little-used cars such as classics, constantly varying the current to keep the battery healthy and ready for use.

While CTEK chargers have been around for a few years, new pricing makes them a realistic prospect for even more drivers.  The latest XS4003 moves the technology on even further: it can rescue long-dead power packs through an innovative eight-stage process monitored via a series of lights.  Also incorporating the long-running, test-winning XS 3600, the range easily merits our Product of the Year Award.”

Our new range of SDMO generators is generating a lot interest! They’re a great compromise between expensive models and really cheap ones which are noisy, unreliable and come with little or no parts back-up or technical support.

(C9805) 900 watt SDMO generator

SDMO is a French company with a long history of designing and producing generators and we are confident that we can supply any technical support that our customers might need. There are three models: 900 watt, 1,850 watt and 2,600 watt and all are designed specifically with boaters, caravanners and motorhomers in mind.

The 900 watt and 1,850 watt models are in stock at RoadPro now (we expect the 2,600 watt model shortly)  and, if you visit us at Daventry, you can see them working for yourself. If you prefer, ask your local dealer about them and tell them that you saw them here first!

Just got an e-mail from EdExcel – one of the organisations that arranges GCSE and A-level exams in British schools. They want to use some material from our website in exam papers and we are happy to oblige. I think a few new subjects should be added to the school syllabus: Operating a satellite TV system on a boat or in a motorhome, Calculating which inverter would be needed to run a hairdryer and, maybe, healthy cooking and eating in a truck.

The product that EdExel want to incorporate into their test paper is our 12V beverage heater.

At RoadPro we were giving away Camos sat-domes this week. Well, just one to be strictly accurate. The lucky people who we gave it to were Terry and Muriel Rickson who won a competition in the Caravan Club magazine.

We installed it for them too on their 1997 Eccles Diamond 2-berth caravan. Terry and Muriel chose from RoadPro’s range of auto satellite systems and decided on the Camos sat-dome because of its light weight, ease of use, performance and the fact that it’s completely unaffected by wind. The only downside they can think of is having to explain to curious folk why they have a white bubble on top of their caravan.

Caravanners since 1984 and VW combi campers before that, Terry and Muriel will be travelling all over France as well as in the U.K. and, although they don’t plan to spend all their time watching TV, they’re now fully prepared for those occasions when the weather keeps them inside or when they want to catch up with what’s happening, no matter where they are.

On a recent trip to Wales their current aerial couldn’t pick up anything at all. That won’t happen again!

At the beginning of May, we decided to get out on the “cut” in N.B. Windhover, the RoadPro narrowboat.  Apart from it being great fun to get out on the water again, we wanted to check that everything was working properly after a winter in which icebergs were seen in the canal and the boats in the marina were seized solid for what seemed like months.

Fortunately, the ancient Lister engine started first time and chugged us out onto the Grand Union as if we’d last used it yesterday instead of almost a year ago! Down to Braunston, through the tunnel (hope the forward light works!), loads of locks, eggs, bacon, beans and  mugs of tea – perfect. Then to work: cleaning the accumulated green algae and general muck that comes from who knows where. Windhover is 61ft long so cleaning it inside and out is a serious undertaking. But we did it and, all ready for the long, hot summer ahead, she’s sleek, shiny and ready to cruise: all we need is some spare time.

Our first delivery of Camos’s “Portable Auto Positioning Satellite Antenna” arrived yesterday and I couldn’t wait to see one in action. Taking advantage of our indoor satellite testing area, it took just 10 minutes to unpack the box, check the contents, connect the dish to the controller, the controller to the receiver and the receiver to a TV. Then: switch on, choose Astra 28.2, select the appropriate elevation angle (25 degrees) and watch the dish rise up, scan the sky just twice and lock on for a perfect picture.

This is the most sophisticated of three PAPSA models, with access to lots of different satellites and, as a result, thousands of channels. It comes with a carrying bag and looks really good too!

I think that this satellite TV system will appeal to all kinds of people who want a completely reliable method of accessing TV just about anywhere in Europe – on tests in Spain, the PAPSA picked up BBC and ITV as far south as Barcelona. Boaters, motorhomers, caravanners and truckers can all have a fully automatic satellite system for less than half the price of most fixed automatic models.

This particular version costs £899.99 but the basic model – which is designed to work with the Astra 2 satellite only – comes in at a touch under £700.00.

The first 3 people to order any of the PAPSA models and mention that they’ve seen this blog will receive a 12V receiver complete with USB recording function and selling on our website for £89.99. It’s our product D2348 and you can see it if you click here.

Richard arrived at RoadPro HQ on Wednesday to have a Camos sat-dome fitted to his Autocruise Starlet – a Marquis special edition. We provide mains hook-up for all our visitors as well as water and, although his dome installation was straightforward, he liked our N.C.L. so much that he stayed for another night.

If you’re passing by and looking for a safe and comfortable place to park up, feel free to visit us. There’s no charge and no obligation. Facilities are limited but we always have tea, coffee and biscuits to hand. To find us, click here.

Be seeing you!

It can’t stay like this for ever and, at RoadPro, we are eagerly looking forward to the Summer which is bound to be blisteringly hot and sunny for months on end.

The Shepton Mallet Show may have been cancelled or postponed but, if you click here, you can see that we’ll be taking our roadshow to other places as well, starting with the NEC Boat & Caravan Show in February. See you there?!

A few weeks ago, we had a visit from David and Mary Vinall who use their Burstner motorhome as a base to help the charity Link Romania which aims to help poor and needy people in Romania and other East European countries. (Having recently driven in our motorhome through some of these countries, we know that there are a lot of people who are in real need of assistance).

David and Mary’s motorhome is equipped with a Kathrein CAP200 satellite system which was originally supplied by RoadPro in 2003. We’ve updated its software and tweaked it a bit and Dave and Mary still use it on their travels through England, France, Spain and Portugal as well as when they’re parked up in Worthing and helping to get parcels of clothes and other goods to Romania.

You can contact Link Romania via their website: www.linkromania.co.uk.

Today we’re installing a Kathrein CAP900 Satellite Dish on a Fifth Wheel trailer built by the Fifth Wheel Company in Denbighshire.

Fifth wheels are common in north America but in the U.K. and Europe they are still a bit of a rarity. One look inside though, especially when the slide-out living area is extended, gives a good idea of the advantages of this kind of set-up. The amount of space really is very impressive and the completely separate bedroom and bathroom reminded me of an American RV. However, there are several advantages over a conventional R.V. For a start, they tend to cost a lot less. Then, there’s the ability to easily unhitch the trailer from the towing vehicle, ease of towing, lower running costs and easier maintenance. Definitely worth looking at!

Camos 40cm sat-dome

It seems as though every portable satellite TV system manufacturer is bringing out new satellite domes. After five years of distributing the Camos range of sat-domes this is very gratifying to me personally. When we first started selling sat-domes we had to put up with accusations which ranged from the “fact” that they wouldn’t work at all to suggestions that, although they might work in Great Britain, they were certainly no good for use in Spain for example.

Now, five years later, Camos sat-domes are one of the best-selling types of portable satellite system in the U.K. and most owners wouldn’t even think of changing back to a conventional folding model.

During those five years, Camos have improved and refined both the hardware and software of their domes, making them more efficient and more reliable than ever. The result is that, when compared side by side with the latest crop of competitors’ domes, the Camos models are still superior in almost every respect.

Here are some checks to make when comparing sat-domes:

• Weight: Camos sat-domes are lighter by several kilos when measured against competitor’s models.
• Height: Camos sat-domes are available in versions which are 40cms and 30cms high
• Efficiency: Camos sat-domes locate and lock on to the desired satellite usually in less than 30 seconds

It was with a little trepidation that we set out our stall at the recent show. We’d been moved from last year’s spot and we didn’t know whether people would be able to find us. So, we put up our biggest flags and put out a little pile of  Multimo satellite dishes.
We needn’t have worried: almost as soon as the doors opened, we were inundated with customers old and new and things remained pretty much like that for the whole six days. According to the organisers, this was the busiest show yet and, judging by the crowds of people that we saw, we have to agree.

Several people were kind enough to bring packets of sweets as requested in last month’s newsletter – Thank you! – and we gave out several thousand catlaogues. We now have so few left that it will shortly become a collectors’ item (which reminds me, I’d better get started on our 2010 model!)