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Let’s Talk STARLINK

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by DOCKMASTER, Jun 19, 2022.

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  1. MBevins

    MBevins Senior Member

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    Mounting is easy, use a fishing rod holder on an existing rail.
    Your only real out of pocket cost is the $600 for the current dish. Just add it to your corporate IT account.:D

    The marine version will be more money.
    Check with your peeps up there , I'm sure someone has it and give you real time opinion on speed and bandwidth.

    By the way I'm using it to post this message while sitting on the boat, just south of Montreal.
  2. DOCKMASTER

    DOCKMASTER Senior Member

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    I want to mount it on top of my hard top. No rod holders up there but should be easy enough. I’ll see what I can find out about the upcoming marine antenna. Then I can decide if worth the added cost and wait. I’m using the boat next 3 weeks straight anyway so no time to get it or install for awhile.
  3. TahoeJohn

    TahoeJohn Member

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    I had a short bit of aluminum pipe welded to a flange that I bolted to my radar arch, pretty simple.

    Also be aware that radar and SL do not play well together -- the beam from your radar will knock SL offline and some report that a reboot is necessary to bring it back, even after radar has been switched off. Mount the SL dish above or below the radiation pattern from your radar and then both can be on and functioning.
  4. Bucksh0t

    Bucksh0t Member

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    Morehead City NC
    I am working on my SL install now. I am going to "hide" it in an old empty radar dome. I have already ran some tests with good results and we held connection up to about 14 miles out of Beaufort inlet.
  5. Slimshady

    Slimshady Senior Member

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    That's what we're going to do, until they get their own dome.
  6. TahoeJohn

    TahoeJohn Member

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    Just a follow-up on this: I had previously reported slow and basically unusable performance of Starlink's RV plan in the SF Bay area. We're now halfway up the Oregon coast and very adequate performance has returned, as expected.

    temp.jpg
  7. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    I just ordered one (RV model). I ve seen many positive reports from the bahamas. Can’t wait. This is really a game changer.

    right now we re spending $90 a month on the bahamas MyIsland Wifi subscription plus another $80 on the US for ATT. With all the limitations of cellular.
  8. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    So far Bahamas are mixed in results. We tested a unit, as we test many things, all the way up the east coast. From Florida to Delaware, about 70% coverage when near shore. Much less offshore. North or there and up to Maine, 90% coverage but missing in some stops we made. Inland, we've had an employee test on a Mercedes Sprinter and coverage has been very poor. Their coverage maps are accurate and right now not every good in the Eastern US except on the coast.

    https://www.starlink.com/map

    Coverage on the west coast and in Canada is excellent from all the people we know using it. I suspect the Eastern US will see far better coverage over the next year.
  9. a250gpguy

    a250gpguy New Member

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    USA
    We are running regular Starlink on our 45 foot RV Motorcoach since March '22.

    We do not run the RV service but we do pay for roaming outside of our home address.

    I have the tilt-able roof mount permanently mounted to the roof of the coach with the wires running down through the roof to the Starlink router/ethernet injector. The only appliances that connect via the wireless network are mobile devices and the TV in the bedroom, everything else is hardwired to a 16 port POE switch. We do not use a satellite TV system, but stream all our media including an IPTV service.

    We have been using in Colorado (home), Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah (roaming) and have had very good results...anywhere from 50-200Mbps download speeds and 15-45 Mbps uploads while roaming..

    we are very happy with the service.

    I would stay away from or discount the couple from Seattle's install on the Nordhavn 43 as they produce far too much clickbait.

    You can reliably use the Starlink in a mobile condition (in fact this is being done extensively by Ukraine right now).

    For more info search and read Tucks' Truck and Mike on Space (YTs and blogs)

    Cheers
    Ch
  10. Brad Boston

    Brad Boston New Member

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    Huntington Harbor
    I've been running StarLink on my 42' Jersey for about a month. It's mounted on my radar arch just above my satellite dome. Pretty much I would answer positively to all the questions asked in the opening of this thread with the exception of turning service on/off since we use the boat year round on weekends. Our router is on the flybridge (lower helm) and I've used it in the slip and on anchor. I've not used it underway however I think it should work just fine.
    upload_2022-6-29_8-27-20.png
    Capt Fred likes this.
  11. ychtcptn

    ychtcptn Senior Member

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    Lighthouse Point, FL
    Starlink now certified for in motion use!!!
    Should be interesting to see how long it takes for a marine terminal?
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 6, 2022
  12. MBevins

    MBevins Senior Member

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    FCC just authorized in motion use for boats, planes, and trucks.
  13. Brad Boston

    Brad Boston New Member

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  14. MBevins

    MBevins Senior Member

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    Brain fart, already reported.
  15. DOCKMASTER

    DOCKMASTER Senior Member

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    Regarding power and a UPS. A UPS will easily handle short times when switching from shore to gen. What about more extended periods with no a/c power? We like to shut our gen off when we go to bed on overnight trips. So about 5-6 hours with no a/c power. Any issues? Am I going to have to reset something every time?
  16. MBevins

    MBevins Senior Member

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    Short answer...nope.
  17. DOCKMASTER

    DOCKMASTER Senior Member

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    Nope because it does fine with no power for periods of time or because I need to size an UPS to feed it during extended a/c outages?
  18. MBevins

    MBevins Senior Member

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    Nope because it does fine.
    Put it in STOW mode and shut it down. Like you, when on the boat I don't run the Gen when sleeping.
    I put in stow, shut down . In the morning open app hit unstow, it realigns and off you go.

    We have an inverter for overnight loads and while running the mains but I still stow it so as not to add to additional needless battery drain.
  19. LM Viking

    LM Viking Member

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    Michigan
    How much does cloud cover/rain degrade the service? With our Tracvision TV3 antenna and Dish service any substantial cloud cover/rain blocks our service. Had this happen Monday evening at our dock. Just curious if Starlink has similar effects.
  20. MBevins

    MBevins Senior Member

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    I've been on my boat for a month now, I have yet to experience a weather related issue. I will say the quality of signal is directly related to geographical area and population. While in Quebec City I was getting 170mps on average, Heading to Montreal now and it's dropped to about 50mps, Still fully useable .