Starlink

[pconroy]

Originally Posted by SloPoke

Just an update on our Starlink adventure:

That's a great installation! I've been poking around github and found that there are (or were) APIs exposed by the router that'll show you obstructions found on a per-wedge basis. As well as a program that'll take the Debug Data CSV file and yield the same info.


I'm a nerd, but not THAT curious about it.

[Stavman]

Originally Posted by SloPoke

Just an update on our Starlink adventure:

After weeks of testing the impact of obstructions, It becomes more clear that the SL Dishy tracks the satellite in the sky along the field of view in a northern facing wedge. This gives the receivers a larger number of satellites in that wedge (instead of facing straight up). This puts the unit more vulnerable to obstruction impairment of signal by trees and structures directly north of the unit. That said, it makes a significant difference if you are able to raise the dishy enough to clear a totally un-obstructed view to the north (to about straight up)

Now to solve that: We already haul a flag-pole with us full time, and thought that we could make that a dual-purpose use. So this pole is a 5-section aluminum pole that is swaged on each end to fit into the other. It's about 25-Feet tall with each 5-ft section in use. I chose to remove the truck assembly from the top of the pole and insert a set of nylon chase nipple electrical bushings on a threaded 1" threaded coupler and slide it down the top of the pole. I drove a stop-screw to prevent it from sliding down any further than the top of the pole. The nylon bushings fit the Starlink mast with a snug fit and allow the dishy mast to snap the spring lock once in place. It is rock-solid with no movement at all.

I removed two sections of the pole to keep the height about 2' above the roof of the Seneca to eliminate any chance of hitting the roof when putting it in Stow position. I place the pole on the ground, so that the weight is not being placed on the mirror - but is keeping it firmly in place. The cable runs down the pole and into a Cat-6 jack in the battery bay direclty next to the pole where it runs into the Seneca to connect to the Router and Wired Network.

And there is a rubber-foot for the base of the pole coming by UPS any day now... to replace the tennis ball cover.

I use a telescoping 16' painters pole, have connected it to my mirror too a few times for quick install of my booster or Mikrotik dish

For the SL Dishy I got the SL pole mount, added a piece of 1-1/2" PVC to the painter pole, mounted the SL mount to that
Got two flagpole mounts for my ladder and will use it there when staying longer in one spot

My router will go in my power bay too, or thru the cab window with custom pool noodle spacer

Fun fun fun

[craigav]

Originally Posted by pconroy

Instead of an aluminum pole, I fashioned mine out of 10' of 1.25" Sched 40 PVC pipe. I cut the pipe into two 5' sections and have a 1" PVC pipe and an outside coupler that I use to attach the two sections together.

It's zip-tied, for now, to the rear ladder. Dishy extends about 1' above the roofline and does have *some* sway. Not much, but some - maybe 1/2". I haven't been tracking speeds religiously, and I'm content with ANY speed above 40Mbps.

So I have a "low bar of acceptance", but I haven't noticed any significant outages that I can attribute to the small sway.


We took it up to Dillon Lake, Colorado yesterday and I was pulling in 90+Mbps consistently.

Thanks, I think I will try it out here at home first and see. I don't mind if the data rate is a little slower as you stated. I suspect these antennas are not overly sensitive to being moved around while in use seeing how they can work while in motion. ~CA

[SloPoke]

Admittedly, I am on version 5 of this project...

I falsely assumed that the overall weight of the Dish, Mast and cable would be close to the overall weight of our previous setup with our Mikrotik LHG directional LTE dish on a fiberglass telescoping pole. That setup was mounted entirely to the passenger mirror of the Seneca - and has served us well most of the time. That setup is most vulnerable to high winds and has folded our mirror in on us once.

Our first attempt on the Starlink was using the 1-1/4 inch PVC (SCH40) mounted entirely on the passenger mirror (like the LTE setup). The mast of the Dishy fits ok in the PVC with a mild amount of wiggle. It worked OK until a hot and windy day came along and we noticed that the PVC pipe was flexing enough to wack the side of the Seneca in the wind gusts. The combination of wind and heat, along with the larger sloped surface area of the Dishy caught the wind and it would swing back and forth about 5" at the Dishy. I needed something more rigid that would support the additional weight in the wind.

Version 2 was an attempt to replace the PVC with an Aluminum Pool pole. It is telescoping and uses a cam type twisting lock mechanism to hold the pole in an extended position. The inner section was 1-1/4 inch on the outer side, so it required some modification to support the Dishy post in a secure manner. It ended up that I could only use the outer 8-foot section as the other part was the same diameter as the dishy mast - this meant that the entire thing would have to be suspended on the mirror. Once again, the mirror folded in with an overnight of strong winds leaving the mast resting on the side of the Seneca.

Version 3.0 was a 10-ft section of 1-1/4 inch thinwall electrical conduit (EMT). The Dishy mast fits losely in the end, but I could put the mast up against the Seneca and attach it to the Mirror, or the ladder and the weight was not being supported by the mirror. It worked better than the others, but left us with finding a place to store a 10-foot section of pipe. Not the ideal solution.

Version 4.0 was going back to the PVC pipe and trying to sleeve it with the pool filter pole for rigidity... Not bad, but solving the top-mount where the Dishy post fits into the PVC left a lot of wiggle room and thus it was pretty unstable in the wind.

Now with this version... Having the dishy post fitting rock-solid in the top of the Flag-Pole mast is good. It actually snaps in using the thumb button on the mast - as designed. It seems very stable in the winds (28.9MPH gusts so far) and did not turn itself around in the mast from the winds. While I did not want to have the flagpole at full height, it can be raised up another 10-feet if needed. Testing still underway - It does not flex near as much as the prior versions.

[bobbyg45]

Thanks for the update SloPoke. I agree on the pole idea. I like your custom work and could have saved some money. I did buy this and it works really well too. Mounts to the ladder. Put the modem in the basement near the power cable reel. Run the wire out the power cable hole to the pole when we are set up. It all comes down quickly and stores well. I use the Home Depot custom box to store the dish and the pole and sections go in a bag.

https://flagpolebuddy.com/ols/produc...2nd-generation

[SloPoke]

Just now getting back to the SL build, after getting the rubber foot delivered today...

Originally Posted by craigav

Do you know if the pole needs to be rigid? I have a lightweight aluminum expandable pole I could use but I suspect it would sway a bit in the wind, would the slight swaying back and forth be an issue? ~CA

From what I found so far... a little sway in the wind, does not cause a major disturbance in the performance in tracking of the sat's... but it can introduce some connection issues between the cable running into the mast of the Dishy - if it is flopping about. Our Dishy is pretty fussy about the cable connection into the bottom of the shaft. I'm hoping that the future wear&tear of being connected/disconnected/connected with our travels will not be a problem in the future. It seems to be well protected from the weather, but it has found it's way out of the socket in the mast a couple of times... It only has the rubber seals to help it fight gravity and stay connected.

Originally Posted by pconroy

Instead of an aluminum pole, I fashioned mine out of 10' of 1.25" Sched 40 PVC pipe. I cut the pipe into two 5' sections and have a 1" PVC pipe and an outside coupler that I use to attach the two sections together.

It's zip-tied, for now, to the rear ladder. Dishy extends about 1' above the roofline and does have *some* sway. Not much, but some - maybe 1/2". I haven't been tracking speeds religiously, and I'm content with ANY speed above 40Mbps.

So I have a "low bar of acceptance", but I haven't noticed any significant outages that I can attribute to the small sway.


We took it up to Dillon Lake, Colorado yesterday and I was pulling in 90+Mbps consistently.

I can relate... our first "low bar" was to set the Dishy on the factory mount and set it in the sand. There is an old saying that it can't fall much further than where it was (inches from the ground) We are relying on this to support our "Work from home" but our home is our Motorhome

Originally Posted by Stavman

I use a telescoping 16' painters pole, have connected it to my mirror too a few times for quick install of my booster or Mikrotik dish

For the SL Dishy I got the SL pole mount, added a piece of 1-1/2" PVC to the painter pole, mounted the SL mount to that
Got two flagpole mounts for my ladder and will use it there when staying longer in one spot

My router will go in my power bay too, or thru the cab window with custom pool noodle spacer

Fun fun fun

I think this is a good idea... But our router that provides the power to Dishy is running really warm to the touch - in the cooled part of the Seneca... It is both the power supply, and the network connection. I fear that if I put this in a lower storage bay that has the sun shining on the door (and no AC) - it might not get the cooling it should have for the long term. Time will tell on how well the power / cooling performs on this Router/Power-supply...

[pconroy]

Good point - the router does get toasty. I'll leave mine in the coach and just fish the cable thru the slide seals.

[Stavman]

I'll probably feed my wife thru the window with pool noodle spacer to keep it inside.
Mainly to use my Power Station to run it while streaming the TV in there
Thought about this the other day...can't hook it too the power station in the bay

And as far as heat. Had mine, durring testing, on my patio for a week in our lovely 110+ deg weather. It never seemed that hot...but in a confined space maybe so

On my travels I'll be er be in temps over 90.. well I'll move states if I do..lol...so shouldn't be an issue either way

[pconroy]

Originally Posted by Stavman

I'll probably feed my wife thru the window with pool noodle spacer

Some times you just need to do whatever it takes to keep the marriage running smoothly.

[Jagiven]

Originally Posted by Stavman

I'll probably feed my wife thru the window with pool noodle spacer to keep it inside.

It is nice you feed your "wife", but really through the window with a pool noodle! Could not resist

A friend with a seasonal TT, has a collapsible flag pole on the tongue. He purchased bracket that he attached to the tongue that the pole slips through. The end of the pole rests on the ground. The pole is very stable.

Maybe, I can get him to take a picture of it this weekend.

edit:
pconroy, you beat me to it. I started this reply before a series of meetings.

[Stavman]

Freudian Slip???

I think not

Lololololol

[norty1]

I saw my first Starlink antenna today and took a picture. The owner was very enthusiastic about it. The satellite points north. The owner said he has to have it for work and has it for use and home and on the road.
We had some pretty strong T storms here and he said he lost signal very little and just for a short time. It finds the satellite automatically.

[bobbyg45]

This is the pole and mount I went with. Pricy but very strong and easy to set up and take down if you have a rear ladder.

https://flagpolebuddy.com/ols/produc...2nd-generation

[pconroy]

We've had Starlink out a dozen times and it's been very impressive. Until a few days ago. I wasn't sure why it wasn't connecting, inspection showed that perhaps I damaged the cable. Perhaps. It looked like a very small scrape, but I'm at a loss for what else it could be. The router doesn't "see" the antenna well. Replacement parts seem reasonably priced; I've got a new cable on order and hope that fixes things.


On the upside, our campsite in Salt Lake City was pretty wooded. But there was a small slice of sky open to the north. I'd say it was maybe a window 30-40* wide. I was skeptical, but Starlink connected. It complained about the obstructions, but we were able to surf without incident. We even streamed movies all night without trouble.

[craigav]

Originally Posted by pconroy

We've had Starlink out a dozen times and it's been very impressive. Until a few days ago. I wasn't sure why it wasn't connecting, inspection showed that perhaps I damaged the cable. Perhaps. It looked like a very small scrape, but I'm at a loss for what else it could be. The router doesn't "see" the antenna well. Replacement parts seem reasonably priced; I've got a new cable on order and hope that fixes things.


On the upside, our campsite in Salt Lake City was pretty wooded. But there was a small slice of sky open to the north. I'd say it was maybe a window 30-40* wide. I was skeptical, but Starlink connected. It complained about the obstructions, but we were able to surf without incident. We even streamed movies all night without trouble.

Something to check, on mine I had a similar issue early on and found that the cable at the antenna had loosened up and wasn't connected well. I removed and reinserted the cable and it started working again. The cable appeared to be in place just fine but must have been loose or perhaps it was making a poor connection, or it wasn't pressed completely in place all along. ~CA

[SloPoke]

Originally Posted by craigav

Something to check, on mine I had a similar issue early on and found that the cable at the antenna had loosened up and wasn't connected well. I removed and reinserted the cable and it started working again. The cable appeared to be in place just fine but must have been loose or perhaps it was making a poor connection, or it wasn't pressed completely in place all along. ~CA

I have found the same thing... Re-seating the cable in the mast seems to solve all of the issues we have had like this.

[RVermont]

Just got back from a trip with another couple and they were glad we had the Starlink set up as both rvs we’re able to stream tv and communicate with the everyone. The sites had wide open northern sky and only had a couple of blocked signal alerts. There is no cellular signal in the valley unless you hike up to the gate house where they have Wi-Fi.

[mjc29]

I have mine at the house now but heading out again soon. My question is what is involved in moving the dish besides the physical part? when you have no cell how do you tell them where you are or do you even need to do that while on the road?

[Roady77]

No need for cell coverage. The Dishy geolocates once you power up and connects your unit to the appropriate ground station. Use the “stow” function in settings on the app and it folds to the best position for packing up for transport.

[mjc29]

Originally Posted by Roady77

No need for cell coverage. The Dishy geolocates once you power up and connects your unit to the appropriate ground station. Use the “stow” function in settings on the app and it folds to the best position for packing up for transport.

Do you need to tell the APP that you are in a new location?