Starlink Anarchy

[monkphunk]

Yeah, I think a key to Starlink happiness is the expectation that the rug could be pulled out from under you at any time.

That's part of why I bought the cheaper RV dish rather than the new vehicle in motion one. (The monthly subscription price is competitive with 5G/LTE and unlimited.)

I'm still going to get a local sim card in the Bahamas this year. But I didn't need to track one down right away, and on Thursday I think we will sail from the Abacos to Eleuthera on a day I want high speed internet for work. That's a game changer for me.

 

[MaxDog]

Posting this via Starlink while underway in the Caribbean about 30 nm north of Aruba. We left St Lucia 4 days ago and the signal has been nearly flawless while averaging 150nm from land.
No problems with my hardware so far (touching wood). If it goes down, I'll miss it, but it's just entertainment, not mission critical.

 

[mckenzie.keith]

Saw this, thought of this thread:

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Did they disable heating, I wonder?

 

[JonnyMo]

I just helped a friend sail his Beneteau 41 from Port Canaveral, Florida to the Bahamas. Starlink worked perfectly.

Also, many of my boating neighbors have purchased Starlink, after Cape Marina's internet went out after hurricaine Nicole.

I'm ordering Starlink for my boat.

 

[sAiLiNg AnArChY]

Dark Dealings

From The Register:

SpaceX tells astronomers: Fine, we'll try to stop Starlink spoiling stargazing sessions

Agrees measures to prevent streaks of light across the night sky in time-lapse observations​

Dan Robinson
Fri 13 Jan 2023 // 15:33 UTC

SpaceX has entered into a coordination agreement with the US National Science Foundation (NSF) to attempt to mitigate some of the negative effects its Starlink satellite network is having on ground-based astronomy observations.

The NSF said this week that Musk's space company is to cooperate on mitigating the impact of the Starlink constellation on optical and infrared ground-based astronomical facilities "to the extent practicable."

This news follows the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granting only partial approval for SpaceX to deploy its second-generation Starlink satellites at the start of December.

According to reports, the FCC gave permission for the company to launch 7,500 of the nearly 30,000 satellites it hopes to send aloft, while deferring consideration of the rest of the constellation and making a coordination agreement with the NSF a condition of the licence.

The problem with satellite constellations such as Starlink is that there are a lot of them, and they are positioned in low-Earth orbit a few hundred kilometers up, placing them much closer to the Earth's surface than satellites in geostationary orbits sitting at about 35,000 kilometers.

This can make them appear as prominent lights in the sky when they reflect sunlight, as we reported on several years ago, and can ruin time-lapse captures of the night sky with bright trails crossing the field of view as the satellites move along their orbits.

But it isn't just light pollution that has the scientists vexed – some of the frequency bands which the satellites use to transmit to Earth are adjacent to those used for radio astronomy observations, according to the NSF.

With this new coordination agreement, NSF and SpaceX continue to explore methods to "further protect ground-based astronomy," the pair said in a statement issued by the NSF.

These include mitigations SpaceX has developed for its second-generation satellites such as a dielectric mirror film, solar array changes, and new black paint that minimizes brightness and glints, as well as adopting best practices during flight operations.

 

[blurocketsmate]

Sailing Uma got Starlink. Dan also talks about what else they had been using - Iridium Go, 4G phone, and wifi.

 

[Elegua]

Many of my cruising buddies have Starlink. They do complain about the power useage even though they have things like induction cooking. When I log into to their wifi it's quite fast. Some failures: one spun around so many times the wire frayed. A tripod to two blew over. According to one the flatpanel electronically steerable array uses even more power.

 

[TheDragon]

Salt & Tar have it too, rather incongruous on their otherwise throwback boat.

 

[Kris Cringle]

Salt & Tar have it too, rather incongruous on their otherwise throwback boat.

Does the Sailing Youtube robot (algorithm) pick out knuckle tattoos like it does breasts and plumbers cracks? I notice thumbs seem to focus on tattoos as well.

This is a serious question(Jud?).

Obviously, the YT viewers (we) are directing the robot's choices for YTsailing thumbs, making these specific body areas, top priority.

I did skim this and they did have some sailing in this vid. Good for them!

 

[toddster]

They do complain about the power useage

I noticed that a recent software update to the phone (setup) app has added the ability to turn the thing on and off on a defined schedule. IDK what that does for power use. I've been just turning off the inverter and all AC devices at night, since there seems to be an electron shortage during these short cloudy winter days.

Also noticed that sometimes the dish reorients itself when the boat turns around and sometimes it doesn't. Like in anchorages with tidal currents, sometimes you have to manually stow and unstow the dish. But a lot of the time, it works OK even when it's pointed the wrong way.

 

[Jim in Halifax]

I've been just turning off the inverter and all AC devices at night, since there seems to be an electron shortage during these short cloudy winter days.

I've read somewhere that there's a mod you can do to get Starlink to run off 12VDC. That would at least eliminate the inverter losses. I don't know how much power the transmitter outputs, but I imagine that when you're browsing the internet it is much like having the VHF on, but with a lot more transmitting.

 

[toddster]

Yeah, but in the power-hog hours between dinner and bed, I've also usually got the TV on and the AppleTV, and maybe microwaving some popcorn, charging all the small devices, etc...

 

[MaxDog]

Posting this via Starlink while underway in the Caribbean about 30 nm north of Aruba. We left St Lucia 4 days ago and the signal has been nearly flawless while averaging 150nm from land.
No problems with my hardware so far (touching wood). If it goes down, I'll miss it, but it's just entertainment, not mission critical.

I have continued sailing west and SL has continued to provide great connectivity. solid connection all the way to Panama, through the canal and into Las Perlas. It was great on the passage from Las Perlas to Galapagos. It works in Galapagos, where I type this, but I am having more interruptions. This is likely because there is no frickn wind here to keep the boat oriented at anchor, so we wander around in circles constantly. Funny that it actually worked better underway to get here. I leave for the Marquesas is a couple of weeks, I'll post a Pacific crossing report when I get there.

 

[TheDragon]

I leave for the Marquesas is a couple of weeks, I'll post a Pacific crossing report when I get there.

Should be able to post along the way, no? Good luck on the passage, was a great trip for me last year. Don't believe the stories about not going to Fatu Hiva first then working your way north to check in at Nuku Hiva (although maybe they have relaxed that requirement now and you can go to OaHiva to check in). I made the mistake of believing that and hence did simple sailbys without stopping till Nuku Hiva, then struggled to sail back upwind from there and gave up and headed to the Tuamotus instead, so visited just one Marquesas island. Others ignored that requirement and enjoyed all five islands on their way north, a few others persevered and fought their way back upwind.

 

[accnick]

OK, I think I am sold on putting the non-motion RV version on my boat this year. For the sake of simplicity, I will probably run this off 110v using my inverter, shutting it off when not in use to reduce electrical consumption.

Is there any downside to this approach?

I will probably mount the antenna on the stern rail of my flying bridge, which is imperfect, as there may be "shade" from some angles by my bimini. Getting it above the bimini would require a more sophisticated support system, which may be a longer-term solution. I'm looking more quick and dirty this year to try everything out.

There seems to be a variety of rail-mount adaptors out there. Anyone have any experience or recommendations on these? It needs to be a solid connection between the antenna and the rail mount so the thing can't detach itself from the boat under way.

The "find starlink" website is not very encouraging about visibility at/near our summer home base in NE Harbor, Maine, despite what the Starlink website says.

 

[monkphunk]

I will probably mount the antenna on the stern rail of my flying bridge, which is imperfect, as there may be "shade" from some angles by my bimini. Getting it above the bimini would require a more sophisticated support system, which may be a longer-term solution. I'm looking more quick and dirty this year to try everything out.

The bimini - at least as long as it is fabric and dry - won't be a problem. For testing purposes I've run mine from the cockpit, under the bimini, and it has worked just fine.

Curious about rail mounts. Right now I just lash the included stand down on the foredeck when we're at anchor, but it's probably time to consider a more permanent solution.

For the sake of simplicity, I will probably run this off 110v using my inverter, shutting it off when not in use to reduce electrical consumption.

This is what I do, and it works fine. The Starlink actually starts up and connects to satellites quite quickly; much faster than my Pepwave 5g router. I leave the 5g on all the time, with the Starlink configured as the priority WAN connection. If I decide I want Starlink, it will cut over within about a minute of turning the power on.

 

[MaxDog]

I mounted my SL antenna on the stern arch using a "pipe adapter" that I purchased from SL. This required welding a short section of SS pipe in place. I also made the mods to run it on 12VDC, so no inverter needed and I leave it on pretty much always.

 

[toddster]

I used an off-the-shelf J-mount (with braces) on the stern arch, to get the antenna clear of the solar panels. Yes, I know it will quickly rot in salt air. The same thing is available in aluminum…. Well, not actually available, but if it doesn’t become in stock before my old one rots, I’ll have a machine shop fabricate one. Once the angle is dialed in, there is no longer any need for fancy adjustment plates.

 

[Fah Kiew Tu]

Might be worth watching this vid...



Apparently there are 'issues' with the cable connector and customer (non) service.

FKT

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Power consumption: A little confusing. There are lots of posts on the internet about this but I gather that it should be about 100 watts. If I measure it right at the AC plug, I get 2.5 amps base with excursions up to 4-6 amps... >250 watts. But if I look at the draw on the batteries of the whole AC circuit (inverter, starlink, laptop, etc) it's more around 100-150 watts. ?? Still this is more than I want going 24/7, unless there's an external charging source connected.

My experience after hurricane Ian last year:

Starlink specs trivia. When I shut down generator power and still want internet, it's the inverter, which has a display showing battery voltage, AC voltage, AC Hz, and watts used. It wakes up using 10 watts, then quickly jumps to 15.

I saw it then go as high as 100 watts. I think it might have been aiming its dish. Once it settles down it continuously uses about 30-40 watts.

Apparently there are 'issues' with the cable connector and customer (non) service.

The connector does look flimsy.

At the end he says he's not abusing it in any way, just taking it down when under way.

So, exposing both ends of the plug to salt air when under way. Even without the salt air, plugs get loose/worn by plugging and unplugging.

I agree that what he's doing is expected use and not abuse, but my flimsy plug has been unplugged and replugged once and only one end (probably) got a little Gulf of Mexico sprayed at it. It has had an easier life.