FULL-TIME caravanner Robert Tew usually gets a great reception wherever he goes.

Since hitting the road with wife Linda more than a decade ago, the former radio and television engineer from Tasmania has been helping grey nomads and other travellers all over Australia to enjoy better television pictures.

Frustrated caravanners and motorhomers beat a path to his well-travelled 18ft Spaceland caravan after spotting his hanging sign offering assistance to anybody suffering poor television reception.

"I get quite a few requests for help, including faults as well," the former Telstra worker told Caravanning News. "I do get satisfaction out of helping people."

He now not only shares his knowledge with other grey nomads at caravan parks and camping areas but has also published exhaustive guides on the internet, including his Grey Nomads Guide to Australian TV Reception.

Ronald said that during his early years with Telstra he was employed as a radio technician but went on to train in television and radio transmitters and receivers before transferring to telephone network installation.

"With the theory I had acquired in my early training I had an advantage over most travellers which enabled me to tinker with different types of aerials to enhance my practical experience," he said.

Ronald and Linda ... and the sign offering help to frustrated TV viewers

"After a few years my son created our web site, The Wandering Tews, with the idea of us posting our travel memoirs.

"And with me acquiring all this knowledge about TV reception I decided I should try to share it with fellow travellers by putting it into booklets and publishing them on the web site under a page called TV Reception.

"These are now available free for download as PDF documents to anybody interested."

Ronald said it has been very enlightening getting emails from people with questions about the problems they were experiencing.

He was often thanked by travellers for providing answers to their television reception problems.

Ronald and Linda have been cruising around the country for almost 11 years since selling their house in Tasmania and say they will probably continue for "quite some time".

"So far our decision to travel has been a good one," Ronald explained. "With the relaxing times and lack of work pressures, I now consider my health has actually improved since leaving work."

The couple became full-time grey nomads when Ronald took redundancy after 35 years with Telstra.

"We have adopted the Wandering Tews travel logo and placed it on the front and rear of the caravan in lieu of the original brand name," Ronald said.

"The caravan is our very first 'van and we are very happy with it and intend continuing using it. We did a couple of hundred thousand kilometres towing with a Ford Falcon panel van until it developed rust rather badly, so we upgraded to a new diesel Ford Ranger 4WD and have never looked back.

"Most of our travels have been on the eastern side of the continent but we are now in the Darwin area for the first time. We intend travelling from here to WA to spend a couple of years having a good look around."