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Old 08-03-2021, 16:35   #61
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Re: Musk says Starlink will work on boats

I'd love to get something I could use on the boat when I'm on her and a home when I'm there. Something fairly portable. Just plug it in wherever you are.
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Old 08-03-2021, 16:49   #62
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Re: Musk says Starlink will work on boats

Starlink only works on boats that are stuck in the ice in north latitudes of Canada, Russia, China, Norway, Sweden. The satellites are repeaters that communicate via earth stations to get internet service to land based users where there are no landlines. Wont work in the Caribbean or open oceans
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Old 08-03-2021, 17:02   #63
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Re: Musk says Starlink will work on boats

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Starlink only works on boats that are stuck in the ice in north latitudes of Canada, Russia, China, Norway, Sweden. The satellites are repeaters that communicate via earth stations to get internet service to land based users where there are no landlines. Wont work in the Caribbean or open oceans
I think this is a mis-characterization. AT THE MOMENT it only works in the higher latitudes (right down to the northern US which is hardly ice-bound on the Pacific coast).

The system is only in Beta test and just starting. As the constellation of satellites is filled out and more ground stations are added, I believe the plan is to end up with world-wide coverage.
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Old 08-03-2021, 19:07   #64
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Re: Musk says Starlink will work on boats

Current users are geo locked...hope thats temporary.
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Old 08-03-2021, 19:11   #65
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Re: Musk says Starlink will work on boats

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Starlink only works on boats that are stuck in the ice in north latitudes of Canada, Russia, China, Norway, Sweden. The satellites are repeaters that communicate via earth stations to get internet service to land based users where there are no landlines. Wont work in the Caribbean or open oceans
Scorpius is right. Starlink is certainly planned to be a worldwide service.

One issue is that the first 700-ish birds did not have satellite-to-satellite communications capability (via laser) so the bird you're talking to has to itself be able to talk to a ground station, like the old GlobalStar system, & most of those are currently at fairly high latitudes.

The later birds can talk to each other, but the initial ones have to be de-orbited to create a fully-functional mesh. Iridium does this with only 66 birds, so I'm surprised that StarLink can't do it with the 400 sat/sat capable birds up now.

But I'm very glad to see that StarLink is going after the mobile market, especially trucks & RVs (they talk about ships, but not "boats" - not sure if this is oversight or not, as we're a small market). This means that we may see 12v units coming out, & they may be less hungry. The current User Terminals consume ~120W, too much for most boats to leave on for long (10A@12v).
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Old 08-03-2021, 19:21   #66
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Re: Musk says Starlink will work on boats

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See the above post referring to phased array antennae. Works great on fighter jets and missiles, no reason why it won't work on a boat. No expensive gyro-stabilized anything required. For a hundred bucks a month and multi megabyte speeds, what's not to like?
$100/mo
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Old 08-03-2021, 19:32   #67
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Re: Musk says Starlink will work on boats

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But I'm very glad to see that StarLink is going after the mobile market, especially trucks & RVs (they talk about ships, but not "boats" - not sure if this is oversight or not, as we're a small market).
Musk, in a tweet on Monday, clarified that SpaceX is “not connecting Tesla cars to Starlink” with the ESIM terminals, noting that the “terminal is much too big.”
“This is for aircraft, ships, large trucks & RVs,” Musk said.
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Old 08-03-2021, 20:14   #68
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Re: Musk says Starlink will work on boats

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Musk, in a tweet on Monday, clarified that SpaceX is “not connecting Tesla cars to Starlink” with the ESIM terminals, noting that the “terminal is much too big.”
“This is for aircraft, ships, large trucks & RVs,” Musk said.
Bugzy, not sure what you're saying. I read that as well, & paraphrased it rather than quoting it. The antenna is about 2'/60cm across. Too big for a Tesla, perhaps, but not too big for us.

Most cruising boats are the size of a large RV, & we've certainly got the space for their antenna. Tesla cars can go quite fast, & are subject to significant winds. We can be as well, in storms, but we probably won't be wanting to check our FB page then. And most of us can mount the antenna in a less exposed place than the top of a Tesla.
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Old 08-03-2021, 21:30   #69
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Re: Musk says Starlink will work on boats

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Bugzy, not sure what you're saying. I read that as well, & paraphrased it rather than quoting it. The antenna is about 2'/60cm across. Too big for a Tesla, perhaps, but not too big for us.
Haha yea, keep in mind I have a 26' and you have a 48, so yea, it might fit on your cargo ship.
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Old 08-03-2021, 21:35   #70
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Re: Musk says Starlink will work on boats

"SpaceX official says Starlink satellite internet will be offered in the Philippines this year." All we will need is an antenna. Hopefully small, light and reasonably affordable.
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Old 08-03-2021, 23:11   #71
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Re: Musk says Starlink will work on boats

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"SpaceX official says Starlink satellite internet will be offered in the Philippines this year." All we will need is an antenna. Hopefully small, light and reasonably affordable.
Where did you see that, Dave?

The current antennas are about 2'/60cm across, & cost US$500 + $100/month for the service. That's a chunk of change, but cheaper than our Iridium sat-phone.

The Starlink antennas apparently have some accelerometers in them, so can compensate for some motion of the boat, but I don't know how much or how fast they work. The beams from the antenna are electronically steered (phased array) so no mechanical steering is really needed, although there are a pair of steering motors in the antenna to point it.
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Old 09-03-2021, 04:10   #72
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Re: Musk says Starlink will work on boats

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Originally Posted by BugzyCan View Post
Musk, in a tweet on Monday, clarified that SpaceX is “not connecting Tesla cars to Starlink” with the ESIM terminals, noting that the “terminal is much too big.”
“This is for aircraft, ships, large trucks & RVs,” Musk said.
Indeed,
SpaceX wants to begin connecting large vehicles – from trucks to jets to ships.
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Old 09-03-2021, 05:32   #73
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Re: Musk says Starlink will work on boats

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$100/mo

It's not cheap, but in terms of functionality / speed and (eventual) coverage area, it's a better deal than most of the other options out there. Yeah, cellular is often cheaper, but often with data caps, and even without, you still have to be close enough to land with cell towers for it to work.
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Old 09-03-2021, 05:45   #74
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Re: Musk says Starlink will work on boats

Starlink - A Ring around the Earth

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Old 09-03-2021, 06:47   #75
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Re: Musk says Starlink will work on boats

For a crossing it is a super cheap option. I hope it continues as planned and they get the lasers worked out. I have a circumnavigation planned in 4-6 years and having the wife be able to video-talk with her family takes a lot of pressure off that subject. Also there are a myriad of other uses, fast weather, finances, general communications, scheduling repairs prior to arrival, etc. Any other option for heavy fast data could cost thousands a month.

P.S. As an aside, I wonder how much safer against pirates you could be if they knew you where uploading live video of any encounters?

Also P.S. Getting an interpreter online could be helpful, would be an interesting service for someone to provide.
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