Elon Musk to launch 1 million satellites

[DonTom]

I have my Starlink setup right now, using it from outside my Class A to type this message from inside it.

I just now received my new compass.

What I did is used the app to set it up perfectly and then checked on the compass. To my surprise, it is a exactly north, right on 0° from North. I had it off by a few degrees yesterday, obviously it is not all the critical.

The compass I just received is this one. $80.00, but this is a decent one. But a much cheaper compass will work for Starlink purposes. Any cheap compass will do, but I wanted to buy a decent one.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[NY_Dutch]

On August 20, 2024, a 2.5 kg piece of aluminum was found on the ground in a farm in Saskatchewan, Canada, and determined by SpaceX engineers to have come from a Starlink satellite that reentered
following the erroneous Falcon G9-3 deploy.
It has happened...
Starlink implements a targeted reentry approach to deorbit satellites over the open ocean, away from populated islands and heavily trafficked airline and maritime routes.
Why, if they 'completely burn up'?

Some more to chew on...

The failed Falcon G9-3 deployment didn't allow the sat to reach it's full altitude, so when it dropped it didn't spend enough time in earth's atmosphere at a high enough speed to fully burn it up. The targeted reentry points aim for maximum safety in the event of an unexpected failure. As I recall, that's a NASA requirement.

 

[NY_Dutch]

I have my Starlink setup right now, using it from outside my Class A to type this message from inside it.

I just now received my new compass.

What I did is used the app to set it up perfectly and then checked on the compass. To my surprise, it is a exactly north, right on 0° from North. I had it off by a few degrees yesterday, obviously it is not all the critical.

The compass I just received is this one. $80.00, but this is a decent one. But a much cheaper compass will work for Starlink purposes. Any cheap compass will do, but I wanted to buy a decent one.

-Don- Auburn, CA

At 0° magnetic in California, true north is about 11-15 degrees west of that, so your Mini is actually looking more north north-east than north. As you've seen, it isn't super critical though.

 

[DonTom]

I turn on Sirius in the cab and it works like a champ every time.

That is because Sirius Radio is south, over the equator and 22,000 miles up. Higher is a lot better, in most cases. Better angle.

StarLink is only ~325 miles up. Very low system. More difficult to reach from a difficult area.

However, I am using Starlink right now down my driveway, hills and trees to the north and as you can see, it is still working well.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[DonTom]

At 0° magnetic in California, true north is about 11-15 degrees west of that, so your Mini is actually looking more north-east than north. As you've seen, it isn't super critical though.

Yeah, I realize the difference, I should have specified 0° from magnetic north. My compass can be adjusted for the offset, of course. But 0° magnetic should always work, but I hear StartLink is NOT stationary, but I see no movement so far when I look at the App., even though they move at 17,000 MPH, which is a lot faster than the earth (1,040 MPH at the equator) Probably comes close to a match for the angle so we notice no movement--or very little.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[NY_Dutch]

Yeah, I realize the difference, I should have specified 0° from magnetic north. My compass can be adjusted for the offset, of course. But 0° magnetic should always work, but I hear StartLink is NOT stationary, but I see no movement so far when I look at the App., even though they move at 17,000 MPH, which is a lot faster than the earth (1,040 MPH at the equator) Probably comes close to a match for the angle so we notice no movement--or very little.

-Don- Auburn, CA

Starlink sats are always moving relative to earth. As the sats pass overhead, the antenna switches from sat to sat taking the download signal with it. Basically, it's similar to a cell phone system where the device switches from tower to tower as you move past them, but Starlink does it the other way around, with the device stationary, and the "towers" moving past.

 

[DonTom]

Radio waves will always be radio waves. They are attenuated by leaves, buildings, canyon walls, etc. No number of satellites will help you in a deep tree cover. While we usually put our Starlink on a flagpole mount on our back ladder, we also carry a tall tripod mount (actually a speaker stand) that we can put where needed.

Starlink uses 11GHZ. Such high frequencies can bounce around such objects. There could be times when pointing south will work, at least for a while. Or even lower to the ground. In an area with a lot of obstacles one may need to experiment to find what works, it is more guesswork than science when things are not perfect.

And more satellites will increase the odds of it working in such an area, but not a guarantee, Also, just waiting could make a big difference, conditions are always changing even at such high frequencies as 11GHZ when there is no clear direct shot.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[OldWEB]

The failed Falcon G9-3 deployment didn't allow the sat to reach it's full altitude, so when it dropped it didn't spend enough time in earth's atmosphere at a high enough speed to fully burn it up. The targeted reentry points aim for maximum safety in the event of an unexpected failure. As I recall, that's a NASA requirement.

Yup, great scientists/engineers, same ones in the 50's that said all waste thrown into the ocean's would "disappear" cuz it is so vast?
You read any of the other articles showing nothing "disappears" that there are the equivalent of tonnes of aluminum pots out there that the same great scientists/engineers said will (or won't) harm you when cooked with?
Who to believe?

 

[DonTom]

" The recent wave of deorbiting satellites is increasing this type of pollution even further."

Man cannot be happy with only polluting the earth. We need to pollute space too.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[Wasillaguy]

I don't have a link, but recently read that FAA spectrum regulations have been changed to allow geosynchronous satellites to share spectrum/payload data with Starlink and similar systems, which will also improve coverage for users.

 

[jymbee]

I will now be looking for places that have no cell service.

Tell me about it. I activate our Gen3 when departing but wife mainly uses her Visible phone hotspot which for the majority of parks last year worked ok. Here I am longing for a site with NO cell service so I can brag about my $165/year investment! But hey, the up/down speed is still nice to have. I also use my own router and set up some Blink cameras at certain parks to catch all kinds of critters roaming around at night.

I think next year I'll bring it but not activate until in a spot with little/no cell.

I've gone through a couple tripods and this one is by far the best I've used so far. I have a number of regular camera tripods but nothing I really want to use outside. This one is for our Gen3 but this Amazon listing mentions a number of options for other models.

​

 

[DonTom]

. I also use my own router and set up some Blink cameras at certain parks to catch all kinds of critters roaming around at night.

I also purchased a router for my Starlink (from Amazon) so now I will have to find a use for it.

This router will be here in a couple of days.

I decided to buy it first and then decide what I will use it for. "Better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it . . . "

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[Jackiemac]

Yes, I even sent you a message from there, here. But I didn't notice or know about the train station.

No, but I did notice it on Google Maps and I was curious about the place. So now I will go there for sure after GBNP--thanks for the suggestion.


I will most likely do the same. I have not been to Utah for years and there is a lot to see and do in Utah. I used to go backpacking in Zion Natl Park every summer. all in the higher elevations. I have been all over Utah but all of it was a long time ago.

-Don- Auburn, CA

I had a thought that you had been before.

Really liked the area around Cathedral Gorge. Panaca has a train station and there are some old kilns up a dirt road.

Pioche has the famous Million Dollar Courthouse. We saw some pulley system overhead from mining times.

There are 2 State Parks too and I believe petroglyphs that we haven’t been to.

If you want solitude then Bears Ears National Monument is fantastic. Also you'd like Natural Bridges National Monument.

 

[DonTom]

Also you'd like Natural Bridges National Monument.

I have been there many times, but all more than 15 years ago. I was thinking I have been everywhere in Utah until you mentioned Bears Ears. First I heard of that place so I will have to check it out. However, I think I must have driven very close to it in the past.

The plan is for me to head out sometime in the next week.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[Larry N.]

but recently read that FAA spectrum regulations have been changed

I think you mean FCC...

 

[jymbee]

my $165/year investment!

You wish. $165 per MONTH! .

 

[jymbee]

This router will be here in a couple of days.

-Don- Auburn, CA

That's the router I used for the first year and it worked great. Good compact size. But... this past year it died. Wouldn't bring up any SSID info at all. Messed around with it a bit but in the end gave up and bought an inexpensive Netgear replacement.

Back at the studio I was going through some routers and thought I'd try this one more time. "Reset button?" Hmmm... hadn't thought of that before but worth a try. Press/held that button and few minutes later-- it cam back to life.

Oh well, always good have a spare. Something you might try in the unlikely event the same thing happens to you.

 

[DonTom]

... hadn't thought of that before but worth a try. Press/held that button and few minutes later-- it cam back to life.

How to reset things is the very first thing I look for in any electronic gadget that gives me any trouble.

I also own several Netgear routers. A couple of spares I am not using for anything which I could have used for the Starlink. But I like the idea of the smaller one that runs from a USB C.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

I'm not a starlink SME but pretty sure the flat antennas you set out are electronically steerable arrays. At 11GHz that probably represents a decent patch array with a bit of gain. Oriented towards the more dense area of the constellation it can iteratively home in and track LEO's as they move. So within practical limits of orienting it where it can't steer to compensate, it can accomodate nominal errors in placement.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[DonTom]

You wish. $165 per MONTH! .

I was wondering about that too.

For now, I have the cheap $50.00 Starlink plan. And I also reduced my Verizon down from unlimited, which I only got to the max the one time I tried hard to so so--and that wasn't easy.

I figure with Verizon as well as StarLink, this should work out well for me. If not, I will change the plans when I exceed those limits.

-Don- Auburn, CA