Starlink

[BigBlue1]

So frustrated, a work friend just got his dish, he put in an order after I was talking to him about it. He is a town over.

Availability is by cell, which is an approx 13 mile wide hexagon. Depending on how the company has laid them out your next door neighbor might be in a different cell and have the same situation.

That said, it seems like there have been tons of new orders in the last month or so, so I think things are opening up a bit. Remember though, Starlink has only about 2000 out of the eventual 12,000 sats (maybe 30,000) they will eventually have. This is why they are throttling the number of users. If they flooded the system with too many new users the service would crap out and that wouldn't serve anyone well.

 

[dmccarty]

The Starlink Ridgeline roof mount would have been an alternative but it's no longer available.

View attachment 736792

I did not want the dish on the roof ridge, or on the roof at all, and I did not like the looks of the mount. Having said that, my temporary installation is made from scarp 2x4s and is weighted down with heavy concrete edgers that are much heavier than bricks or pavers. It kinda looks like the photo but it is sitting on the part of our roof with a low slope.

It is ugly, but very hard to see, and it works. We had a nasty front come through this morning with very high wind gusts. Dishy was still up there and working. After the rain stopped I went and checked on Dishy and it had not moved.

Shame Starlink is not still selling the ridge mount. Maybe people do not like the looks and were not buying. If my hacked mount works, that one would work.

Later,
Dan

 

[metalheart]

Exterior Wall Cable Pass Through / Removable?

I'm getting a replacement dish and need to my recently received SL system. The initial installation was done by a satellie tv installer on a very cold and snowy day. He drilled a hole through the exterior wall, put the cable through and sealed it will silicon. Once I get the old cable back out through, I would like some kind of cable grommet or other solution that will allow me to remove the cable without damage if I should decide to send back the second dish (not all all sure it is going to work long term). The last time I looked the SL kit for doing this was back ordered and I need a solution sooner than it is likely to be available. One solution that might work is this cablecar pass though for boats.

Blue Sea Systems Side Entry CableClam : Sports & Outdoors

Blue Sea Systems Side Entry CableClam : Sports & Outdoors

www.amazon.com

Any other ideas?

 

[ponytug]

Exterior Wall Cable Pass Through / Removable?

I'm getting a replacement dish and need to my recently received SL system. The initial installation was done by a satellie tv installer on a very cold and snowy day. He drilled a hole through the exterior wall, put the cable through and sealed it will silicon. Once I get the old cable back out through, I would like some kind of cable grommet or other solution that will allow me to remove the cable without damage if I should decide to send back the second dish (not all all sure it is going to work long term). The last time I looked the SL kit for doing this was back ordered and I need a solution sooner than it is likely to be available. One solution that might work is this cablecar pass though for boats.

Blue Sea Systems Side Entry CableClam : Sports & Outdoors

Blue Sea Systems Side Entry CableClam : Sports & Outdoors

www.amazon.com

Any other ideas?

The blue sea systems work well. I have used them a couple of times, but for home use, I think that you really want the cable going into a conduit that is waterproofed to the exterior wall, and won't drip inside the wall and rot it. You can use flexible conduit to make life easier, and then foam the conduit inside when you are done to waterproof it.
For my recent rewire, I terminated Starlink in an exterior box, like this;

But I used cable passthrough big enough for Ethernet, which I now have to redo for the new Dishy router as the cable end is so much bigger. I may use the Blue Sea version. I then drilled a conduit hole from the back of the box into the house (using lots of caulk around the conduit penetration!). My router needed to be some distance from the house, so it needed its own box.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Keep in mind current events has SpaceX tied up with starlink security issues.

 

[ponytug]

Keep in mind current events has SpaceX tied up with starlink security issues.

Could you elaborate on that comment?

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Some satellites got jammed so he has the SpaceX troubleshooting and reprogramming and I would expect looking at hardware solutions. Follow SpaceX if you're interested.

 

[jk96]

Could you elaborate on that comment?

https://spacenews.com/spacex-shifts-resources-to-cybersecurity-to-address-starlink-jamming/

 

[forgeblast]

Is there anyway to see what cell your in?

 

[ponytug]

Is there anyway to see what cell your in?

Short answer, no.

Slightly longer answer, if the delivery dates in your adjacent cells are different than at your house, it can be done. You may be able to plot it, by trying different locations (using Google plus codes) and seeing where the delivery date changes. It is time consuming. I did it to see how far away we were from a boundary into a cell that I knew had fewer than five residents as a plan B. Why? To see whether placing a second order for an address in that cell, and leaving it in that cell might work. Rumor has it that if you are within 1-2 miles of a cell boundary with a good sky view, it can work in the next cell over, but not to expect Starlink to help. In actuality, our Feb 9th 2021 order date, with an estimated ship date of "mid-2022" turned into a mid-February 2022 shipment, so we didn't go with plan B. Our boundary turns out to be about a mile as the crow flies, and I was able to get the cell boundary to within 100 yards.

Definitely a YMMV thing.

EDIT: @forgeblast brought up a really important point. Do not try other addresses when logged in to your own account. I did the above as a guest, with a new, private, browser window for each location. (See below)

All the best,

Peter

 

[ponytug]

@jk96 Thanks! I missed that news item.
@Gale Hawkins thanks for bringing it up.

All the best,

Peter

 

[forgeblast]

Short answer, no.

Slightly longer answer, if the delivery dates in your adjacent cells are different than at your house, it can be done. You may be able to plot it, by trying different locations (using Google plus codes) and seeing where the delivery date changes. It is time consuming. I did it to see how far away we were from a boundary into a cell that I knew had fewer than five residents as a plan B. Why? To see whether placing a second order for an address in that cell, and leaving it in that cell might work. Rumor has it that if you are within 1-2 miles of a cell boundary with a good sky view, it can work in the next cell over, but not to expect Starlink to help. In actuality, our Feb 9th 2021 order date, with an estimated ship date of "mid-2022" turned into a mid-February 2022 shipment, so we didn't go with plan B. Our boundary turns out to be about a mile as the crow flies, and I was able to get the cell boundary to within 100 yards.

Definitely a YMMV thing.

All the best,

Peter

does changing the shipping location change your date, or can you just mess around with out it updating every time. I would hate to loose my place in the cue.....

 

[ponytug]

does changing the shipping location change your date, or can you just mess around with out it updating every time. I would hate to loose my place in the cue.....

THANK YOU!

This may be a really important detail. Let me clarify; don't do this when you are logged into your account. Do it as a guest, using your browser in private/incognito mode. I used a new private tab for each address, and the address for where I was going to use it.

Starlink shifted a bunch of delivery dates in late December '21 for people, like me, who had adjusted their use location. They moved mine from late '21 to "late '22/early'23" There was a huge outcry. They later readjusted the shipping dates and said it was a glitch. I wouldn't trust them not to mess with mine, even if it was a "glitch" or an "accident". So don't do this from your account, and absolutely use stealth/incognito/private mode on your browser. It might not matter, but why run the risk?

All the best,

Peter

 

[Gale Hawkins]

This is about the 40 new Starlink SpaceX satellites that recently fell out of orbit because they got bogged down in space mud.

All vehicles tractors etc that have computer chips to make them work are at risk of emf storms.

 

[Torvy]

This is about the 40 new Starlink SpaceX satellites that recently fell out of orbit because they got bogged down in space mud.

All vehicles tractors etc that have computer chips to make them work are at risk of emf storms.

Guess they needed the R1 satellite tires.

 

[JethroB]

Guess they needed the R1 satellite tires.

With chains.

Didn’t the Kligons have a tractor beam?

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Guess they needed the R1 satellite tires.

Or just pay attention to weather forecast. Space mud had been forecast before launch date.

 

[ponytug]

For those of you who are curious, here is a great post on how the ethernet adapter is put together. It appears that the router does have a two port switch on it, and sends signal back up the cable to the Ethernet adapter, where the ethernet is broken out.

The author speculates that this was done as so many users weren't using the port, which is certainly possible. The design would also be one way to have dual Ethernet channels for a higher bandwidth, say with premium. Fun to speculate.

Oh, and for anyone who is hiring telecom engineers, he is open to relocation. Currently he is in Kyiv. His CV is here.

All the best,

Peter

 

[LittleBill21]

For those of you who are curious, here is a great post on how the ethernet adapter is put together. It appears that the router does have a two port switch on it, and sends signal back up the cable to the Ethernet adapter, where the ethernet is broken out.

The author speculates that this was done as so many users weren't using the port, which is certainly possible. The design would also be one way to have dual Ethernet channels for a higher bandwidth, say with premium. Fun to speculate.

Oh, and for anyone who is hiring telecom engineers, he is open to relocation. Currently he is in Kiev. His CV is here.

All the best,

Peter

That's not the way I am interpreting it, its a 2 port switch, one is used to go out to dishy with poe, the other is for the aux ethernet connection, there are no other connections available.

 

[metalheart]

Can the second generation router be placed in a sheltered place outdoors? Browsing the SL Reddit several folks report placing their router in a sheltered outdoor location. However, the specifications for the second generation router on the SL website are:

• Operating Temperature: -22°F to +122°F (-30°C to +50°C)
• IP54 rated (water resistant), configured for indoor use

I Interpret this to mean the router is not outdoor rated. I just received my replacement dish and router (the first one died) and I want to test it but my best option is to place the router outside because of issues getting the cable into the house. I can put the router on a sheltered porch where it will not get any exposure to rain or snow. What do you think?