Starlink

[mvweebles]

May have already mentioned, but according to the Seabits article Rslifkin posted, a recent Starlink firmware upgrade disables the $600 standard antenna if it detects more than 10 mph of motion (8.7 kts) even when used with the RV plan (portable vs mobile, the $2500 antenna). The new $2500 mobile antenna allows full motion usage. Seabits speculates Starlink has business incentives to further restrict usage and terms. Stay tuned.....

Peter

 

[bowball]

A key issue is that it has to use the RV plan.
Seabits usual comprehensive reviews - link above - highlight this, and he was running both dishes at the same time.

“ While visiting Friday Harbor, a relatively populated area on San Juan Island, I was getting absolutely terrible performance from both the standard RV and high performance dishes, around 2Mbps up and down. The residential dish did slightly better, but it was also using the portability feature as I was not in my home area. I switched over to cellular to keep things connected and working.”

My experience at the end of last summer in Sidney BC was I was getting 2mbs download as well with the RV plan.

If you are forced to use the RV plan with the larger dish, which appears to be the case as Seabits says, then the value to me would be far north where safe little reception is an issue. I’m not going to swap out my older one - cables and mounts are different too , but if I was doing a new install and the double power consumption wasn’t an issue I’d get the newer one I guess?

Let’s wait now until Elon geofences nautical use to charge more.

I’m also trying to decide why I want or need connectivity while in motion. Maybe if receiving cell calls via wifi if not in cellular range? Music or news? Does anyone have good use cases (maybe bored guests?). Not real time weather. For coastal cruising.

 

[Sababa]

I’m also trying to decide why I want or need connectivity while in motion. Maybe if receiving cell calls via wifi if not in cellular range? Music or news? Does anyone have good use cases (maybe bored guests?). Not real time weather. For coastal cruising.

Last summer while my wife and I were working remotely from Desolation Sound and the Sunshine Coast with the residential dish she would often do a Zoom call from the salon while we were underway, sometimes while I also did an audio call while tending the helm. (The Canadian equivalent of their FCC license didn’t place any restrictions on use in motion at the time as I recall, and the FCC approved in motion use a few days into our trip). Now that their terms of service say they may cut you off if you use the service in motion (in whatever country) we went for the flat dish for next season to be safe.

We also experienced some intermittent outages while turning at anchor that interrupted our movie watching from time to time. Not worth the upgrade in itself, but nice to address while we are at it.

Last thing is that the mounting options for the flat dish are just so much cleaner. I got a radar mast from Seaview that I posted about in another thread with a purpose-built mount for the flat panel on the top that I am itching to install. Much slicker than the residential terminal bolted on to the boat deck railing.

 

[tpbrady]

Bowball,

The performance of the commercial and residential terminal were comparable in my limited testing during busy hours in Idaho. The only advantage of the high performance antenna is more potential satellites in view, if the system lets you use them, and better performance in rain. If Starlink launches more satellites into polar orbits, the advantage further north wil not be as great.

Tom

 

[Helmsman]

I'd love to see pictures of this panel and associated equipment, if you have the time? It's what I'm thinking of getting for my boat.

I haven’t set it up yet on the boat, but when I get home later today I will inbox and snap a few pictures.

 

[Helmsman]

Helmsman,

Thanks for the clarification and addition. The one you are referring to is the one Winegard is also selling. https://winegard.com/flat-high-perf...ZZ2XweOFTHmpEDrLte5nZD7jq9e2kMxRoCcnwQAvD_BwE

TT,

The Winegard website gives a pretty good desciption of the system with specifications on each piece. I noticed that the field of view of the panel is 140 degrees or down to a 20 degree elevation angle above the horizon. That make it pretty reliable underway in many sea conditions it mounted flat. The smaller antenna has a field of view between 80 and 100 degrees. I have seen conflicting data on it.

Tom

That is the one. Two “limitations”. The cable from dish to power box is proprietary and is 25 feet long. They need to make a longer one. The mount has holes that are roughly 9” apart and 5 1/4” apart. That will make it a little tougher to place on an arch. They are affected by the radar beam, which is also a consideration. I may mount mine pointing to the side to stay under the radar beam while placing it as far away as possible,

 

[Terry Wilkinson]

I was out on my boat yesterday, 10 miles offshore of Ensenada, and Starlink disconnected and sent message I was outside of my residential area and I need portability option. Ordered the portability option, only 250 pesos per month here, about $12.50 US

 

[Simi 60]

I don't get the new dish with an angled bracket.
A flat mounted panel will see the satellites equally no matter which way the boat is pointed
The angled panel will not, surely it gets a better view from the angle only if facing the satellites.

It's like the RV dish usually angles itself towards the satellites
Turn boat 180 degrees and get a degraded signal and a stow and un-stow is often required to reconnect.

Our standard RV has currently chosen this position after it chose to reboot itself at 2am as we have been swinging all points of the compass in last night's storms.
No deactivation of motors required.

 

[bowball]

I don't get the new dish with an angled bracket.
A flat mounted panel will see the satellites equally no matter which way the boat is pointed
The angled panel will not, surely it gets a better view from the angle only if facing the satellites.

It's like the RV dish usually angles itself towards the satellites
Turn boat 180 degrees and get a degraded signal and a stow and un-stow is often required to reconnect.

Our standard RV has currently chosen this position after it chose to reboot itself at 2am as we have been swinging all points of the compass in last night's storms.
No deactivation of motors required.

I wonder if the angled bracket is so the antenna surface can more easily shed water or snow?

 

[tpbrady]

Helmsman,

Yes there are limitations on the Winegard unit as they built it for an RV and not a boat. The difference is they did away with short pole on the other units and disabled the motors so it always stays flat. The power box is probably the repackaged power supply that comes with the high performance antenna.

I am surprised they didn’t make it 12/24 vdc. 25 feet of cable is fine in my application and even a bit long. With the wider field of view this would work as well as the smaller antenna tilted toward the north at a fixed site. Swinging around on an anchor poses a problem at times due obstructions on the boat and having the antenna tilted in a less than optimum direction.

Tom

 

[Helmsman]

I wonder if the angled bracket is so the antenna surface can more easily shed water or snow?

Yes, snow and water.

 

[Simi 60]

Yes, snow and water.

Still seems pointless to me
Vehicles are rarely perfectly level, especially ones that are in motion.

Might be a different story if the dish had a lip around it to collect water, but it does not.

 

[twistedtree]

I wonder if the angled bracket is so the antenna surface can more easily shed water or snow?

That's my understanding.

 

[Helmsman]

That's my understanding.

If this works, you should see some images.

 

[Helmsman]

More images The last picture should be the connector to the satellite

 

[Helmsman]

Mount Images

 

[Helmsman]

The cable connection at the lower end of the satellite when positioned on the mount probably needs a better water proof set up. I will fill that with dielectric grease, I think.

A friend of mine received a quote back from Seaview to mount his Starlink flat panel directly above his radar. They planned to use one of their standard top plates for it.

Two questions that approach raises:
Is there any impact to the satellite sitting directly above the radar?

Is there room between where it would sit and the light standard running behind it?

I think solutions will be forthcoming for a custom mount for the satellite itself. Having it sit at an angle is a nod to snow and rain removal. And possibly to eliminate water flow into the connection port as much as possible. I would prefer a slight angle, though I am not sure that the angle of the standard mount that comes with it is necessary.

To place under or over the radar beam, calculations will be necessary. My radar has a 25 degree beam. Splitting that to the down angle yields 12.5 degrees. With height of the radar, that will allow for about 4 feet from the center of the arch on the standard mount and not be impacted by the beam. The radar takes up 12" from center, and the Satellite is 22" or 20" depending upon placement. Those measurements allow for 16 to 18" of "open space" between them.

I will test it in both positions to see when and where the radar beam impacts the satellite. That placement test wont occur until later in January.

 

[Helmsman]

The "extra" cable in the box is for connecting to another router if you dont plan to use theirs. Some peplink routers support connections to the Starlink router. I am not sure on other routers.

 

[twistedtree]

Thanks for all the photos. I look forward to hearing how you like it.

 

[FWT]

Helmsman, please help me catch up.

1) I take it simply mounting it on the arch doesn't work, because of interference?

2) And, from your fresh pics it appears the front to aft measurement is simply too long to just be bolted to the arch?

Correct?

 

[Helmsman]

Helmsman, please help me catch up.

1) I take it simply mounting it on the arch doesn't work, because of interference?

2) And, from your fresh pics it appears the front to aft measurement is simply too long to just be bolted to the arch?

Correct?

Depends on what you mean by simply mounting on the arch. You will need a top plate, or the standard mount, or something else. I wouldn’t mount directly, due to concerns about heat dissipation. There would also be some merit to having the cable gland underneath it to partially shield from rain. On the Helmsman, I think mounting it front to aft using the standard mount would be tough. I think you would be into the curve of the fore and aft edges of the arch.
I think a standard antenna mount would not be sturdy enough for the satellite with wind. One solution might be a short satellite mount, say 3”, and top plate. Another is just a top plate.

 

[FWT]

Thanks