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Starlink As An STL

SomeRadioGuy

SomeRadioGuy

We’re going to order Starlink for the station soon, after a test I did that went way better than I’d expected.

ViaSat was getting really troublesome and bumpy feeding our stream and STL for our rebroadcast stations (KNIB, KGYA, KSKC, KSKP, KMGS, KLOP & KZPA) .. so I needed to do a test so I could Present a solution to my board of directors.

I switched our Comrex briclink feeding the stream/STL from ViaSat to Starlink.

Over the weekend, we had 2 short drops on Saturday and NONE on Friday & Sunday…. We normally have way more drops in one day and for longer periods of time.

Our engineer has been logging it on his Innovonics 610, keeping the drop logs, connected to a fiber internet connection.

I’ll admit, I was skeptical of Starlink before we got it and I wasn’t thinking the station would be able to make use of it so soon!

Picture below is of my Starlink set up.

 
Kelly A said:
Need to get that sucker even higher Paul. You'd be amazed at the increase in performance.
I wouldn't hesitate to use Starlink as an STL.
Click to expand...

I literally have less then 20 seconds of drop outs a day, and i dont even notice them

Speeds anywhere between 20 megs and 170 megs down, 5 to 30 megs up, latency between 40 and 250 ms.

I have literally zero obstructions.

I was able to do this set up all on my own with no tools., @Kelly A
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
I literally have less then 20 seconds of drop outs a day, and i dont even notice them

Speeds anywhere between 20 megs and 170 megs down, 5 to 30 megs up, latency between 40 and 250 ms.

I have literally zero obstructions.

I was able to do this set up all on my own with no tools.,
Click to expand...
That's great until a snowy, icy, windy day, and your Starlink stuck in a bucket falls over and you're buying a new Dishy McFlatface.
 
Kelly A said:
That's great until a snowy, icy, windy day, and your Starlink stuck in a bucket falls over and you're buying a new Dishy McFlatface
Click to expand...

Its been set up this way since winter and was fine... that 5 gallon paint bucket is full to the brim with dirt... weve had windstorms come through and it hasnt budged. I had it even lower early in winter and it handled ice and snow fine
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
Its been set up this way since winter and was fine... that 5 gallon paint bucket is full to the brim with dirt... weve had windstorms come through and it hasnt budged. I had it even lower early in winter and it handled ice and snow fine
Click to expand...
That's fine, but my money is on a rougher winter up there this year. It's going over Paul. You'll wake up and Dishy McFlatface will be lying dead on the tundra.
 
Kelly A said:
That's fine, but my money is on a rougher winter up there this year. It's going over Paul. You'll wake up and Dishy McFlatface will be lying dead on the tundra.
Click to expand...

I've had winds about as gusty as weve had come across while this has been up with no idea.

Is this set up perfect? No.. but it works just fine. I will probbaly add a bit more dirt and a cynder block.. and itll be absolutely unmoveable then

Until youve been up here awhile, you cant tell ME what its like and wether this will work or not.
 
Kelly A said:
I'll give you that. According to some of your photos, the Starlink installation seems to be consistent with other installations at that station.
Click to expand...

Sometimes, you do what you gotta do.. ive never claimed to be a professional.. and i work with what i got... which are usually some tools and maybe a helping hand from someone else. my engineer is 250 miles away by plane and we have to schedule him months or more out for routine stuff
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
Sometimes, you do what you gotta do.. ive never claimed to be a professional.. and i work with what i got... which are usually some tools and maybe a helping hand from someone else. my engineer is 250 miles away by plane and we have to schedule him months or more out for routine stuff
Click to expand...

I should also add.. im the PD, not the GM, not an engineer... I was hired to be the PD, the board knew i had minor tech skills/troubleshooting ability... the engineer is out here once a year usually.

Its not an ideal world by any means, but its a combination of what we can afford and just what works out.

If some highly capable broadcast engineer wanted to volunteer his time and pay his own way out here to help, thats great but for all who criticize how things are done, no one has yet.

Again, not perfect... but ALSO, we are moving to another building in town in the next year or two.. so im holding on to what we got until we take it all apart, unplug and re set it up nicely and neatly.
 
inari said:
When the drop outs occur, how often do they last? Are you able to have enough of a buffer where there isn't any drop outs making it to air?
Click to expand...
Alot of them are so short we do have enough buffer that many wont wake it to air.


Ive had as little as 8 seconds of service interruptions in a 24 hour period on starlink
 
channel99 said:
And that is still using the bucket as the mount?
Click to expand...

sure why not? I have zero obstructions and almost no downtime... a 5 gallon paint bucket filled with dirt works quite well
 
Kelly A said:
Good Lord.
Click to expand...

I mean... why not? seriously.... it works perfectly great. ive had to go through alot less effort than most here to get starlink working... many have trees around. i put forth almost no effort and used almost no tools to do this. no ladders, no roofs, no climbing.
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
I mean... why not? seriously.... it works perfectly great. ive had to go through alot less effort than most here to get starlink working... many have trees around. i put forth almost no effort and used almost no tools to do this. no ladders, no roofs, no climbing.
Click to expand...
I think you need to occasionally gently remind the group that you can't just drive to Home Depot.
 
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