A little while ago I was in conversation with the Practical Motorhome team and was asked what plans I had for 2026 in terms of upcoming DIY upgrades.
One thing I mentioned was the fitting of a 5G-4G LTE filter that had been sitting on my office desk for ages, alongside a simpler 4G LTE filter which had been there even longer.
LTE stands for Long Term Evolution. Any the wiser? No, neither was I. Here, I’ll talk you through how I went about fitting one, as well as the difference it has made since being installed.
Don’t miss how I went about upgrading to the Vision Plus Status 570 antenna with Wi-Fi, either.
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So, what is an LTE filter?
Basically LTE is the standard for wireless broadband and was introduced to succeed the now pretty much defunct 3G, bringing faster data speeds. Although often linked with 4G, it’s not quite the same thing.
Anyway, rather than getting bogged down with techno-babble, which these days often goes over my head, let’s concentrate on what it does and see what difference it could make for those who own the best motorhome TV.
Mobile phone and internet signals are all around us and can interfere with TV signals, especially if the TV signal is weak. I know that nowadays many people stream TV programmes via the internet rather than by using an antenna, and we recently upgraded our ’van to have Wi-Fi; but we also still use the TV in the traditional manner, too (if you do, see our pick of the best motorhome TV aerials), and on occasion have seen the TV screen pixelate as the signal has seemingly ‘broken up’.
Having had this happen, I came across the filters and thought that it would be worth giving one a try. That’s when I got the 4G version. They’re cheap and are simple to fit.
As I explained above, it’s so long ago that I got the 4G version that by the time I thought about it again, I saw that there was a 5G-4G version, and that’s what I’ll be fitting here.
Fitting a 5G-4G LTE filter
Where does the filter fit? Between the TV antenna and the TV/amplifier/receiver. Let’s do it.
Start by disconnecting the lead from the antenna at the amplifier (if fitted). In our case, the ’van is fitted with a splitter, where there’s a lead from the antenna and another from a satellite dish connection that connect to one side with a single output on the other that goes to the amplifier – so it was the latter connection that was disconnected.
The splitter has F-type (screw-on) connections, as does the amplifier. With no splitter fitted, you’d only need to detach the cable from the amplifier.
Because the filter unit has the usual co-ax TV-type connections, you’ll need adaptors to connect these to the F-type connections on the lead, or will have to alter the connections appropriately.
Attach the appropriate adaptor to the lead from the antenna (or in our case, to the splitter) and then plug that into the ‘Aerial In’ socket on the filter.
You may choose to secure the filter to the ’van wall using double-sided tape, as I had done with the original lead from the splitter to the amplifier.
You might need to make up a second lead and, rather than using an adaptor on this side of the filter, fitting the appropriate co-ax TV connector to the lead.
I fitted another adaptor between the filter (to ‘TV Receiver’) and the original lead. And that’s pretty much it.
I said it was simple! To keep things secure and tidy, I attached the lead from the filter to the amplifier to the ’van wall using P-clips and short screws – obviously you need to
keep them short so that you don’t accidentally penetrate the outer skin of the ’van!
Performance after fitting the filter
So have we noticed an improvement? On the couple of occasions that we’ve been away since fitting the filter, we’ve not noticed a huge difference, but there were reasons for this.
The first time was at a site where there are many trees and buildings which interfere dreadfully with the TV signal, so there’s not much that can be done about that.
At the second site, we had brilliant reception – however, we’d never been to that site before so have nothing to compare things with.
The biggest difference was when I first fitted the filter and tested it. We store the ’van at home, and although TV reception is OK, it’s not great, especially in the back garden; so the ’van doesn’t receive the best of signals, possibly due to the proximity of buildings.
When we installed Wi-Fi in the ’van, we also upgraded to a suitable Smart TV . Knowing that the signal wasn’t perfect I didn’t have great expectations for the TV reception, and I wasn’t wrong. The picture was constantly breaking up and pixelating.
I then fitted the filter, and my goodness, what a difference it made. The ’van hadn’t moved, the TV antenna was in the same place, but we had a crystal clear picture and no interference at all.
So, maybe it wasn’t the signal after all, but possibly all the mobile signals in the area that were interfering?
In conclusion, considering that the whole project cost less than £20 (including the filter and the adaptors), we feel that this was money well spent.
For those of you who are currently unsure about the type of television to use in your ‘van, we’re on hand to help, as we answer “can you use a normal TV in a motorhome?”.
Future Publishing Limited, the publisher of Practical Motorhome, provides the information in this article in good faith and makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. Individuals carrying out the instructions do so at their own risk and must exercise their independent judgement in determining the appropriateness of the advice to their circumstances. Individuals should take appropriate safety precautions and be aware of the risk of electrocution when dealing with electrical products. To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither Future nor its employees or agents shall have any liability in connection with the use of this information. Double check any warranty is not affected before proceeding.
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