Starlink

[ponytug]

Did you guys see this?

Elon Musk's SpaceX says a a geomagnetic storm wiped out 40 of the 49 Starlink satellites it launched into orbit last week​

Business Insider|28 minutes ago
SpaceX said 80% of the satellites it launched Thursday are expected to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere instead of reaching orbit.

I saw that. Yikes. The stated reason was that the atmospheric drag was too high to get the satellites into orbit.

 

[rekees4300]

What is a geomagnetic storm? The answer is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_storm

"The vulnerability of the satellites depends on their position as well. The South Atlantic Anomaly is a perilous place for a satellite to pass through, due to the unusually weak geomagnetic field at low Earth orbit."

 

[BigBlue1]

The issue here wasn't the electromagnetic aspects of the storm but rather the fact that it changed the atmosphere temp enough to change the drag and cause the sats to not have enough power to achieve final orbit.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I bet they check the space weather forecast before they push the go button next time.

 

[riptides]

I bet they check the space weather forecast before they push the go button next time.

Seems they did, and went ahead anyway.

 

[metalheart]

I received notification this past week that Starlink is ready for me (northern Wisconsin. It has been over a year, but we are anxious to receive Dishy. I'm likely to have some obstruction issues, but I'm clueless about the details of accessing Starlink. My understanding is that it is wireless now, but if I want to connect it to my mesh router then I need ro run a cable from the dish (ethernet adapter required I believe) to my mesh router. Is that correct? Given some possible location issues, I'm concerned about the possible length of the cable run from the dish to the mesh system. How do you deal with that?

Winter conditions here mean it is unlikely the Dish will find a permanent home until Spring, so I'm hoping to find a location with minimal obstruction issues --- lots of trees surrounding the house -- for temporary siting.

 

[LouNY]

The supplied cable will run from the dish to inside your home,
then you will need to get there dongle which will plug into the cable and provide an Ethernet connection that can go to your router,
the main cable will continue to the Starlink adapter power supply wireless router.

This is the device you need, it appears to be back ordered;

 

[grsthegreat]

So….what good is the dish without this part?

 

[BigBlue1]

So….what good is the dish without this part?

It comes with its own wifi router so you can immediately connect to it and use it without anything additional. Find a spot for the dish, connect the cables, plug it into power, power it up and then connect to the on-board wifi (after configuring with the app). You don't *need* anything else.

For people who have a networking requirements more complicated than the wifi capabilities of the built-in router (as you may, with your mesh system) you have the option to expand the system however you choose. The ethernet adapter mentioned above is one way to do that (the preferred way). You could also use other network devices to expand the wifi coverage in your home wirelessly, though those typically don't perform as well. You can add an additional router or replace the Starlink router. Lots of options.

 

[BigBlue1]

I received notification this past week that Starlink is ready for me (northern Wisconsin. It has been over a year, but we are anxious to receive Dishy. I'm likely to have some obstruction issues, but I'm clueless about the details of accessing Starlink. My understanding is that it is wireless now, but if I want to connect it to my mesh router then I need ro run a cable from the dish (ethernet adapter required I believe) to my mesh router. Is that correct? Given some possible location issues, I'm concerned about the possible length of the cable run from the dish to the mesh system. How do you deal with that?

Winter conditions here mean it is unlikely the Dish will find a permanent home until Spring, so I'm hoping to find a location with minimal obstruction issues --- lots of trees surrounding the house -- for temporary siting.

Your first task is to find a location without obstructions. Once you do that you have to plan for cable routing back to the spot in the house where you'll locate the Starlink controller/router. If the included cable length is enough for this path you're golden. I think the new rectangular dish comes with a shorter cable (75') but they offer a 150' as an optional accessory. If even 150' isn't long enough you'll have to look at other install ideas. One thing I've heard of people doing is to provide power at another location where they mount the dish and then use ethernet cable, fiber or point-to-point wireless bridge to get the signal into your home. I won't go into the pros & cons of those options... you can research plenty out there about them.