Starlink RV

[Rocketman3]

The cable is included - it is a 75 feet and it has special plugs on both ends. 
 

Thete is also a 150 foot available too. 

[BigNick]

1 hour ago, Rocketman3 said:

The cable is included - it is a 75 feet and it has special plugs on both ends. 
 

Thete is also a 150 foot available too. 

Understood, how do most folks get it into the coach?

[Rocketman3]

This is how I did it…

It is kinda hard to see - I took a 2”x3” board and cut it to fit the bottom of the window and the screen/window. Added some weather stripping and a hole for the cable. Then painted it black. 
 

 

[JDCrow]

If you roof might you could run down the refer vent like so many do for solar applications. 
 

[throgmartin]

I was just researching this the other day and came across some yacht owners who use Starlinks on their cruisers. They can be out in the Pacific or Atlantic oceans and still stream and have cell service. Isn't technology amazing ? And to think we never had calculators ( never mind computers ) in high school. This guy mounted his flat on the deck by his bridge. The first video explains about the starlink system and the second shows how he modified his dish. I watched the second video and thought to myself " This is a job for our machining wizard Van Williams ).

Thought I would post this as yachts and coaches can be similar in many ways.

First video: 

 

Second Video:

I have been watching a lot of videos on yacht operations, ownership and cruising. Owning a yacht ( a money pit ) has been on my bucket list for a while now. There could be one in the future if I decide to sell my coach and make the transition from land to sea. Still in decision mode. 🙂

 

[Tom Wallis]

I've just returned from my first trip with Starlink and I love it.

Here is a tip. We've all been thinking we need to run the cable inside the motorhome to the router. However, if you don't need an Ethernet connection inside you can just keep the router in the basement near an electrical outlet. That's what I did. I still had full strength wifi throughout the motorhome and outside. It's much  easier to run the cable out of one of your compartments and up the ladder. And even if you do need an Ethernet connection inside it might be easier to just run an Ethernet cable from the basement into the coach.

Edited July 18, 2022 by Tom Wallis

[Jim McGarvie]

18 hours ago, Tom Wallis said:

I've just returned from my first trip with Starlink and I love it.

Here is a tip. We've all been thinking we need to run the cable inside the motorhome to the router. However, if you don't need an Ethernet connection inside you can just keep the router in the basement near an electrical outlet. That's what I did. I still had full strength wifi throughout the motorhome and outside. It's much  easier to run the cable out of one of your compartments and up the ladder. And even if you do need an Ethernet connection inside it might be easier to just run an Ethernet cable from the basement into the coach.

Great tip, Tom. Thanks.

 

[Brian J]

I've had my Starlink since last December,  I set up a pole mount attached to the rear ladder. I have found it to work with 200+ Mbps download in areas that are still waiting for service officially, 2023 estimated. 

These areas are Las Vegas, Florida Keys (Marathon) and currently in Jacksonville.

My guess is they aren't currently ready to open these areas to the entire population of the area.

 

[Tom Cherry]

31 minutes ago, Brian J said:

I've had my Starlink since last December,  I set up a pole mount attached to the rear ladder. I have found it to work with 200+ Mbps download in areas that are still waiting for service officially, 2023 estimated. 

These areas are Las Vegas, Florida Keys (Marathon) and currently in Jacksonville.

My guess is they aren't currently ready to open these areas to the entire population of the area.

 

I may have to DOX all of you who read this.  Have a high level, top secret clearance consultant for a major DC Cabinet department….and I mean high….not MILITARY OR CIA.  He does the set up of all the remote or PC’s in the various US outposts.  He has a large PC array and more monitors than a whiz kid cyber currency day trader.

He and I share the same fiber optic feed on our side of the street.  He is an expert in cybersecurity.

He got a StarLink “dome” recently.  It is “backup” in case we loose the fiber optic.  He says it works great…not our 500 MBS service, but more than adequate.  I ASSUME, but did not ask for fear of being visited late one night by the “spooks” that he has a black box encryption device and just uploads and downloads through it.

He’s satisfied.  Major point. We live in a dense forest.  No way to get DirecTV even with MH at end of street.  The tree canopy doesn’t seem to be an issue.  Mounted on top of his roof and pointed up…

That is all….

[throgmartin]

Tom:

Your post brought back a memory. I had a customer call and order a set of slide toppers. He actually was my beta tester for the new Zip Dee toppers I was launching at the time. He was a government spook who was a CIA analyst. I got to be good friends with him and he always teased me about " Be nice to me......... I can bring heaven or hell to your front door." Strangely he went dark a short time ago and ceased all communication with the outside world. No idea what that was all about.

One of my closest friends did black op's for the Fed's in ( of all places ) the Panama/Columbia ) jungles. He would only say he was there on assignment. He has never discussed what he was there for or what he did. I do know he was a weapons and explosives expert in the military.

That is the one thing I love about my job. I get to meet some of the most interesting people who had amazing and interesting careers. :)

 

[Tom Cherry]

37 minutes ago, throgmartin said:

Tom:

Your post brought back a memory. I had a customer call and order a set of slide toppers. He actually was my beta tester for the new Zip Dee toppers I was launching at the time. He was a government spook who was a CIA analyst. I got to be good friends with him and he always teased me about " Be nice to me......... I can bring heaven or hell to your front door." Strangely he went dark a short time ago and ceased all communication with the outside world. No idea what that was all about.

One of my closest friends did black op's for the Fed's in ( of all places ) the Panama/Columbia ) jungles. He would only say he was there on assignment. He has never discussed what he was there for or what he did. I do know he was a weapons and explosives expert in the military.

That is the one thing I love about my job. I get to meet some of the most interesting people who had amazing and interesting careers. 🙂

 

And mine and yours and many of my other "interesting" friends are prime examples.... LOL.  We both may need to have SAMS in case the Black OPS copters or the armed drones start to swarm...

[Guest Ray Davis]

1 hour ago, Tom Cherry said:

And mine and yours and many of my other "interesting" friends are prime examples.... LOL.  We both may need to have SAMS in case the Black OPS copters or the armed drones start to swarm...

It's not fair, all I've got is plain old people for friends.   Hum, as far as I know that is.  I'm keeping an eye on them from now on.   👀

Edited July 26, 2022 by Ray Davis

[JDCrow]

I’ll throw this out, not as top secret 🤐 

My grandfather had a house in Vegas and one in Tonapah. We’d go and visit him at the Vegas home. 

For years (20+) he’d get up Monday morn in Vegas and grab a white bus with a red stripe and pick up people and drive them out into the desert, past Tonopah. He would then spend the week in Tonopah, then take them all back home on Friday night. 
 

We would ask what he did, what was it like, where did he go. He would always say, “I don’t know what you are talking about.” And left it like that. 
 

One year, he came up and the stealth bomber was not a secret anymore, so we got hats, jackets, mugs, you name it. I knew then that he indeed see a lot of stuff out there. But he never said another word. He died a few years back, in his chair at home. 
 

 

Edited July 26, 2022 by JDCrow

[Tom Cherry]

9 minutes ago, Ray Davis said:

It's not fair, all I've got is plain old people for friends.   Hum, as far as I know that is.  I keeping an eye on them from now on.   👀

There are MANY times that my DW would trade, with boot, for you as she says some of "the others" only encourage my "stranger than a TWILIGHT ZONE personality" and I spend inordinate amount of time researching or discussing things that don't get my daily chores done....  Of course her latest obsession with catching up with all the past 18 or so odd years of Gray's Anatomy on NetFlix is perfectly "OK"...

LOL...do WATCH them.  I think Scotty is a double agent and is working for some foreign power and selling our data so he can buy a Prevost....Don't tell him we are on to him...

[Tom Cherry]

39 minutes ago, JDCrow said:

I’ll throw this out, not as top secret 🤐 

My grandfather had a house in Vegas and one in Tonapah. We’d go and visit him at the Vegas home. 

For years (20+) he’d get up Monday morn and grab a white bus with a red stripe and pick up people and drive them out into the desert, past Tonopah. He would then spend the week in Tonopah, then take them all home on Friday night. 
 

We would ask what he did, what was it like, where did he go. He would always say, “I don’t know what you are talking about.” And left it like that. 
 

One year, he came up and the stealth bomber was not a secret anymore, so we got hats, jackets, mugs, you name it. I knew then that he indeed see a lot of stuff out there. But he never said another word. He died a few years back, in his chair at home. 
 

 

AMEN.  My wife planned this massive 8500 mile jaunt to CA from NC and we flew in the GK's and then later their mom. My GS was a "Dino" freak from age 3...  So, she planned a trip to "Craters of the Moon" National monument.  The CG was in the ONLY US City to have a TOTAL (China Syndrome) melt down. It was the first experimental (memory) nuclear power electricity generator.  We drove from there to Idaho Falls and headed north to West Yellowstone.

We got off I-15 at Blackfoot and then to the KOA at COM and then back to I-15 at Idaho Falls.

The 250 mile trip, off the Interstate is through a remote and desolate area....with MORE "NO TRESSPASSING" US Government signs than Ft. Knox. Doing a bit of research (curiosity...is a sin), that whole area is nothing but top secret or isolated US Government Installations. We drove in and out on week days.  We met more "Unmarked" black window Prevost or CCI busses than you can imagine with humps or arrays of satellite receivers.  My THOUGHTS....these are remote workers being bussed in...and they are either working on top secrete projects on their laptops or visiting or interacting with some adult sites....NOTHING IN BETWEEN.  The roads were OK, but you really were better off at 55 MPH...  NOTHING was visible from the road...but it you picked spots and googled...NO SAT coverage and clandestine shots pop up on the conspiracy theory sites.

The WalMart in Idaho Falls was larger and filled with more RV's than the KOA we just spent the night in. This was the "Stock up Stop" before heading to Yellowstone.  My GK's did not understand the "grand scheme" and my wife finally said...."That was a STRANGE PLACE"....no local, except for us and a few trucks...traffic and very few RV's".  

Yes...there are some STRANGE and fascinating stories of folks that lead a "Herb Philbrick" (recognize that name?) life...and never tell or it just comes out...

I have seen several SR-71's in a few AF and Aviation museums.  The TALES and the STORIES that they have printed out....and all of this was done in top secret locations...  boggles the minds.  Wonder, since the Government NOW admits that there are UAP's,  if we will every see the funky little space man from Rosman....and BTW...we went there and spent time and visited the OFFICIAL museums and the "fake ones"....as well as going to Los Alamos and doing the entire library and research tour...

[cbr046]

Content deleted.  Didn't mean to "stray".

- bob

 

Edited July 26, 2022 by cbr046

[BigNick]

I guess I'll un subscribe from this one, it has strayed.

[Jim McGarvie]

33 minutes ago, BigNick said:

I guess I'll un subscribe from this one, it has strayed.

Me too. I was hoping to learn more about Starlink....

[JDCrow]

34 minutes ago, Jim McGarvie said:

Me too. I was hoping to learn more about Starlink....

What would like to know? I have both a residential dish and an RV dish 

[Tom Cherry]

45 minutes ago, Jim McGarvie said:

Me too. I was hoping to learn more about Starlink....

I apologize for the flippant and distracting comments….and will cease and desist.

ON POINT.  Bottom line,  It works,  Go to the website.  Google.  Very few issues.  From a personal experience with “birds” traveling all over the US and lower Canada….and using the DirecTV Winegard, my research tells as well as spending very little time in one place, I see pros and cons and there is no magic bullet formula or answer.

Straight down shot.  Satellites are low, almost sub orbital.  This technology was quickly deployed in the Ukraine.  Think having a laser beam going up and down.  You HAVE to “see” the sky, but I THINK, due to the higher density of the birds, that the obtuse, almost flat shots that DirecTV and, assuming DISH, from helping folks get their systems up and running is NOT the norm or is required.

I used to Mount and aim a DirecTV box every time I set up my old Winnebago.  I learned a LOT about reading and adjusting and signal strength meters.  My Winegard was the nuts.  Push the auto find and if it didn’t get a good signal, it wasn’t going to happen if you manually tried.

I have been in Monument Valley right next to a Mesa cliff. It would not  shoot through rock.  Folks across the CG were fine….as their line of sight and distance from the Mesa was different.  Same deal for under trees and getting a good signal from an angle.  The StarLink, I believe, is more straight down and a narrower band or beam.

The service with a reasonable connection or service will or should support streaming….not Mega stuff like 4K, but YouTube and such,  It has far more bad width or speed than using  5G or the “Verizon” ultra and then using a cellular iPad or a phone as a HotSpot.  We regularly use them with an Apple HDMI adapter and stream from either an iPad or a I-Phone.  I have run Speed test from this connections and, memory, says they are in the 10 MBS range.  We have the second tier Unlimited plan from Verizon.  My GK and daughter regularly stream movies and such off the cellular…..except at ball games or concerts when the density of the users overcomes the capacity of the local towers or the upgrades  that are at some venues.  

The decision for me would be….how much and what speeds I need while in the MH.  Email, as long as it is not bogged down with 25 Meg files usually works anywhere we got 3 bars or so.  

Then the next….is that what I need and is it a value?  We traveled extensively in the west and SW and rode around and the Buffalo herds and the local roads round a state or a monument or a NP.  Most of the trailers and cabins and stick built homes have TWO dishes.  DirecTV or DISH and a Hughes.  This would eliminate the Hughes and let them “stream” content and not have to purchase packages from the “SAT” companies.

Depends on where you camp.  I have had 100+ MBS service in some dinky and isolated CG and barely crappy service from some “RV Resorts”….as their clientele usually had dishes.

If you can see UP and have a small hole (Google has some info) and need 75/80 (advertised?) speeds, then it might be a good option.  Stay at remote locations out west and it would be, most of the time.  I once had a warehouse manager tell me that NC needed a big “Paul Bunyan” to come in and do some serious deforestation….he was our Denver guy….

Hope this is of benefit….I guess those of us that have been involved with technology and looking at what our military has…years after the facts….and the tight security got a little off topic…

GUYS…hold it down….I will.

Thanks.

[JDCrow]

Home dish is 250-300+ MBPS

The RV spot I have doesn’t have the best line of sight, we have branches blocking, and yes it’s almost straight up for the dish. I’m at 40-80 MBPS

We are out here in Oregon 

[Jim McGarvie]

2 hours ago, JDCrow said:

What would like to know? I have both a residential dish and an RV dish 

Thanks JD. I don't have any specific questions at this point, just hoping to pick up tips and reports of actual experiences with the system. I got on the waiting list for a residential system, because to pencil out it has to replace my cable Internet service which means I can't tolerate the lower priority performance of an RV system. I hope to be able to get by with just the one system and move it between home and RV.

2 hours ago, Tom Cherry said:

I apologize for the flippant and distracting comments….and will cease and desist.

Thanks, Tom, but no apologies necessary. It is actually an interesting conversation.

And thanks to for the good info. If it can replace our cable Internet service at home the cost will be about a wash, and well worthwhile.

[Tom Wallis]

I just got back from a 10 day trip into Oregon staying at 5 different locations. We used Starlink at every one with great success. The only place I thought we may have a problem was in the middle of Oregon in a river canyon with lots of trees and no cell service. I worked great. I'll include photos. I'm now leaving the router in the basement where I plug it in. When I want to set it up I just pull out enough cable to reach the top of my pole, crab the dish out of the box, plug it in, place it on the pole and extend the pole if necessary. I only had to extend the pole once on this trip. All of this takes less than 5 minutes.

I saw a Youtube video of a guy that mounted his securely to the top of his RV and uses it while moving. I'd be reluctant to do that because you lose the ability to locate the dish in different locations when necessary.

 

[Bob Nodine]

I just watched both full length videos that Chris posted and now I feel like a destitute, ignorant, inadequate redneck, which is probably what I am.

 

[Jim McGarvie]

8 hours ago, Tom Wallis said:

I just got back from a 10 day trip into Oregon staying at 5 different locations. We used Starlink at every one with great success. The only place I thought we may have a problem was in the middle of Oregon in a river canyon with lots of trees and no cell service. I worked great. I'll include photos. I'm now leaving the router in the basement where I plug it in. When I want to set it up I just pull out enough cable to reach the top of my pole, crab the dish out of the box, plug it in, place it on the pole and extend the pole if necessary. I only had to extend the pole once on this trip. All of this takes less than 5 minutes.

I saw a Youtube video of a guy that mounted his securely to the top of his RV and uses it while moving. I'd be reluctant to do that because you lose the ability to locate the dish in different locations when necessary.

 

Thanks for the encouraging report, Tom.