Starlink

[tomplum]

I watched the Wranglerstar video which I thought was pretty well done as far as a description of what to expect. That is until I thought about trees. How do they affect how this works? Do they give you a general idea which way you would have to point the thing so you know if it might actually work for you?

 

[ponytug]

Trees are an issue; several beta testers have commented on it. More important is a good view of the northern sky. Because the orbits are inclined from the poles, the satellites are in view for more time at the northern (and southern) limits of their orbits. That poleward view that will have more of an impact on satellite visibility, and therefore uptime until the satellite numbers come up.

Here are some tools to help visualize how it works;
Coverage model to see what kind of coverage you might have.
Starlink satellite orbit simulation to see how the incline affects visibility.

All the best,

Peter

 

[cqaigy2]

Interesting links. Thanks Peter.

 

[Alien]

One day Elons rockets will be knocking down his own satellites. Not sure how he avoids them.

 

[RUSTBUCKET BRONCO]

I got an invite in November and have been using it since. its great and id do it again. this will blow up for him and be in cruise ships and airplane and worldwide. he will easily make the profit hes looking for

 

[sd455dan]

I'm still on the Mobley plan with the SIM card in a Netgear 4GLTE modem for a whopping $23 a month.

ping 39
down 68
up 27

Why would I change a thing?

and all you had to do was Give ATT your SS#...

yeah i did to. $23 a month is a great deal.

 

[John_Mc]

That is until I thought about trees. How do they affect how this works? Do they give you a general idea which way you would have to point the thing so you know if it might actually work for you?

Trees are an issue; several beta testers have commented on it. More important is a good view of the northern sky. Because the orbits are inclined from the poles, the satellites are in view for more time at the northern (and southern) limits of their orbits. That poleward view that will have more of an impact on satellite visibility, and therefore uptime until the satellite numbers come up.

Here are some tools to help visualize how it works;
Coverage model to see what kind of coverage you might have.
Starlink satellite orbit simulation to see how the incline affects visibility.

You install the mount more or less pointing up (they say within 40˚ of vertical), and once the dish connects to its first satellite it will orient itself to the best position for maximum coverage. They do want to be able to see a 100˚ wide slice of the sky above, so either mount high or in an open area. They do not have a mount designed for a standing seam roof yet. I might get around to making one using S-5! clamps (designed for mounting solar PV panels and a variety of other hardware on standing seam roofs). We used a ton of those back when I was working with a solar installer. Or I might put it on my garage roof or on a pole. Haven't decided yet. Initially, it will just be on a pedestal out in my yard with the cable run across the ground. I'm not messing around with a roof mount until the winter eases off a bit.

 

[ernemats]

Did you get the dish kit yet and if so how long from the time you ordered it till you got it?

 

[flusher]

One day Elons rockets will be knocking down his own satellites. Not sure how he avoids them.

Low earth orbit (LEO) is a huge volume of space that extends from 100km to 1000km altitude. Elon's Starlink comsats are placed in a shell-like volume of space at altitude 550 +/-50 km. The average separation between those comsats will be about 113 km when and if 42,000 Starlink comsats are launched. The chance of Starship with a volume of 10,000 cubic meters in size colliding with a single tiny Starlink comsat in a volume of space about 113km cubed = 1.4 million cubic kilometers is infinitesimally small.

 

[kcflhrc]

and all you had to do was Give ATT your SS#...

yeah i did to. $23 a month is a great deal.

I don't remember giving them my SS # but maybe. I did everything at Best Buy. Took it out of the store and plugged it into my OBD port on my truck and it was working immediately.