Starlink

[Fallon]

The idea isn't to be a magnetic sweeper. It is to attach to a piece of debris tightly enough to push it into deorbiting in a controlled manner. This is zero gs, so it might not take much, and, rather than magnetic attraction, eddy currents might do the job. I've seen proposals to use harpoons. TBD if any of these ideas work, as the deorbiting satellite has to run down the debris, attach, and have enough propellant left over to get the whole shebang out of orbit without hitting anything else.

Definitely in the "lesser of two evils" category to me as I can't imagine what the insurance looks like.

All the best,

Peter

It actually takes a lot of energy. As much as it did to put it into orbit. Most of the energy in a satellite launch isn't getting it up out of the atmosphere it's getting it sped up to orbital velocity. The satellites are going a couple miles per second, 10-20,000mph. Slowing one down hundreds of miles an hour changes its orbit very slightly, but doesn't make it fall out of the sky.

 

[cqaigy2]

It actually takes a lot of energy. As much as it did to put it into orbit. Most of the energy in a satellite launch isn't getting it up out of the atmosphere it's getting it sped up to orbital velocity. The satellites are going a couple miles per second, 10-20,000mph. Slowing one down hundreds of miles an hour changes its orbit very slightly, but doesn't make it fall out of the sky.

Good point. Near earth orbits can take advantage of atmospheric drag if the satellites are able to maneuver to lower orbit.

 

[Oaktree]

The starlink birds are in low earth orbit. Low enough there is a very little atmospheric drag. That drag will deorbit them after a few years if they don't periodically do maneuvers. Their operational lifespan is only 5-10 years or so. So unlike a lot of the geosynchronous or high altitude birds & boosters starlink is only a short term debris problem at worst.

Shorter term maybe, but SL alone will account for thousands of low orbiting satellites, presumably a lot more chance that one will come down in your backyard. What kind of liability do the owners of these birds have, and who picks up the tab for damage/controlled destruction if the entity that launched them is no longer in business?

 

[IXLR8]

Shorter term maybe, but SL alone will account for thousands of low orbiting satellites, presumably a lot more chance that one will come down in your backyard. What kind of liability do the owners of these birds have, and who picks up the tab for damage/controlled destruction if the entity that launched them is no longer in business?

The Starlink birds are small enough that they will burn up upon re-entry and no pieces will make it back to earth.

 

[shooterdon]

Got the kit today.

Took about an hour to temporarily set up. Wanted to see if it was worth keeping first.

Speed test was 140-180 compared to 6-10 with JetPack. Looks like it is worth keeping.

Now to do a permanent install.

 

[BigBlue1]

Congrats! You'll love it.

After it's been up a day or so check the debug data (via the app or http://192.168.100.1/ in a browser) under Support, Advanced, Debug Data and look for the two arrays of obstruction data. If they are not all zeros (0) you may experience some connection loss. Once you get the dish mounted with zero obstructions it will be very reliable. Maybe once or twice a week I get a momentary blip that disrupts an on-line meeting. Pretty rare.

Rob

 

[TheMan419]

Sadly not available at my address currently.

Is it possible to mount the dish on a pole? It looks like it is just placed on the ground or mounted on the roof.

 

[civilian]

Got the kit today.

Took about an hour to temporarily set up. Wanted to see if it was worth keeping first.

Speed test was 140-180 compared to 6-10 with JetPack. Looks like it is worth keeping.

Now to do a permanent install.

Those numbers make it enticing to me. It is either wait for Truestream by Great Lakes Energy to come to my area, or jump to Starlink. Wondering! Jon

 

[BigBlue1]

Sadly not available at my address currently.

Is it possible to mount the dish on a pole? It looks like it is just placed on the ground or mounted on the roof.

Many options available. A pole is fine if it is stable.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Anyone tried the Starlink smartphone app to check for signal obstructions?

 

[BigBlue1]

Yes, many have. It isn't entirely obvious or intuitive to use but it does work. You just have to know that you must place your phone at the planned location of the dish (same spot, height and everything) and rotate the phone around the potential field of view of the dish. I found it best to use the selfie side camera because the potential locations I was checking were either on the ground (initially) or on the roof, so low down. And you need to view the screen as you move the phone/camera around.

If the app indicates any obstructions, even on the fringes of the field of view, you are likely to experience connection disruptions. When you find an unobstructed mount location then you should be good to go with very low frequency of drop outs.

Rob

 

[TheMan419]

Those numbers make it enticing to me. It is either wait for Truestream by Great Lakes Energy to come to my area, or jump to Starlink. Wondering! Jon

I would jump on those numbers if it was available to me. I will have to DL the app to see where I would need to put the dish. I have a couple poles currently set outside the house. If either of those work it will be easy to install. However if it needs to go on the roof I'll need someone to do that.

We are very rural so the cost per month is consistent with what we are paying for 10mb service.

 

[shooterdon]

Those numbers make it enticing to me. It is either wait for Truestream by Great Lakes Energy to come to my area, or jump to Starlink. Wondering! Jon

Jon,
My speed tests are fluctuating between 80-210. Not sure if that will level out but even at 80, the performance is excellent. Like you, I am a Great Lakes customer. I am in the middle of the state forest so not sure they will ever hook me up to TrueStream. If they do, I can decide at that time which option to go with. I am thinking TrueStream might be better because.....

You know we get a lot of snow, so that is a concern with the dish. It is sitting at about a 25* angle so it will get loaded with snow. Time will tell. It will be mounted where I can easily get to it. I have plenty of room so no need to mount it on the roof.

 

[shooterdon]

Anyone tried the Starlink smartphone app to check for signal obstructions?

I gave up on it. I was not smart enough to figure it out.

I have a decent sized deck so I put the dish on it and plugged it in. Not a big deal to move around if need be...would be different if mounting to a roof....obviously.

I did the obstruction check as the link provided by BigBlue1 and I am partially obstructed but it is still working great. BTW...thank BigBlue1!!!

 

[bdhsfz6]

I used the app in various locations. Most said to expect service interruptions every 30 minutes but it does not say how long these interruptions last. Does anyone know?

I did find a spot which was clear with no interruptions but it is on the garage roof. I'm going to have to run the wire through the air to the house. The span is 50'. Is the provided wire weatherproof and capable of aerial routing?

 

[Fallon]

I used the app in various locations. Most said to expect service interruptions every 30 minutes but it does not say how long these interruptions last. Does anyone know?

I did find a spot which was clear with no interruptions but it is on the garage roof. I'm going to have to run the wire through the air to the house. The span is 50'. Is the provided wire weatherproof and capable of aerial routing?

You couldn't mount dish outside where it needs to be if it weren't weatherproof & UV resistant. I wouldn't count on it being self supporting for any significant distance though. Trivial to work around that though. Run a reasonably strong galvanized wire then secure the dish cable to it every 8' or so. Use good black UV resistant zip ties or something metal to secure things if you want it to stay up for more than 6 months or a year.

 

[shooterdon]

I used the app in various locations. Most said to expect service interruptions every 30 minutes but it does not say how long these interruptions last. Does anyone know?

I did find a spot which was clear with no interruptions but it is on the garage roof. I'm going to have to run the wire through the air to the house. The span is 50'. Is the provided wire weatherproof and capable of aerial routing?

The "interruptions" I get are momentary and not significant. I am too lazy to put any effort into having zero obstructions if the thing works...and it does. Supposedly, I should be getting interruptions every 0-20 minutes in the locations I have tried.

Just hook it up at the simplest location and try it out...that is what I did. It is sitting on the back deck for now until I mount it.

 

[BigBlue1]

I used the app in various locations. Most said to expect service interruptions every 30 minutes but it does not say how long these interruptions last. Does anyone know?

I did find a spot which was clear with no interruptions but it is on the garage roof. I'm going to have to run the wire through the air to the house. The span is 50'. Is the provided wire weatherproof and capable of aerial routing?

The cable is weatherproof. It has to be rated as such because every install is outside. No idea on the 'aerial routing', but I'd suggest stringing some type of light cable (wire rope) for support and wire-tie the Starlink cable to it. That would seem to be a fine setup to me.

An alternative if you have power in the garage is to place the Starlink controller and router there and then connect to house via point-to-point wireless or fiber.

Rob

 

[ponytug]

I used the app in various locations. Most said to expect service interruptions every 30 minutes but it does not say how long these interruptions last. Does anyone know?

I did find a spot which was clear with no interruptions but it is on the garage roof. I'm going to have to run the wire through the air to the house. The span is 50'. Is the provided wire weatherproof and capable of aerial routing?

The cable is weather proof, but that is really too long to span with just the cable. My two cents would be that you should run a support cable (1/8" or 3/16" aircraft cable) and either wrap the Starlink Ethernet cable around the support cable pretty frequently, or zip tie it to the cable. (Use black UV rated zip ties, if you don't want to redo it often.)

All the best,

Peter

 

[John_Mc]

You know we get a lot of snow, so that is a concern with the dish. It is sitting at about a 25* angle so it will get loaded with snow. Time will tell. It will be mounted where I can easily get to it. I have plenty of room so no need to mount it on the roof.

The dish is heated, so it does not load up with snow. Ours made it through several heavy snow storms since we installed it. Never a problem,and the dish was always empty every time I checked it.

I read they tested it down to some well below 0˚F number (I forget exactly what the number was).