[gregoryx]

Does Starlink use shielded cable? If so, is there a specialized connector?

About the best DIY I've seen:

I'm wavering on doing this setup versus giving them their money for the fancy flat antenna (and still butchering the brain unit as shown in the video). Either way, I'm now more interested after seeing the power can go as low as 30W. I can live with a 360Wh drain per 24-hours. But when I thought it was more 50-100W minimum, that's more power than I want draining all the time.

 

[TransitFocus]

The high performance flat mount is basically just tripling everything, cost, power consumption, rooftop area.

I'll wait to see what Gen 2 brings before paying that (I'm also out of roof space 🙃), flat mounting the RV kit still seems reasonable cost wise.

 

[kenryan]

With regards to permanent roof mounting, I wonder how dirty the dish would get. Dirty enough to interfere with operation or require frequent cleaning?

 

[brío]

The more I think about it, the more I am leaning agains roof mount. I don't care that much about service in motion--my cell phone usually does just fine at that. At a campground, it seems to me that the flexibility of a movable dish which allows parking in the shade likely outweighs the hassle of storage and setup.

Am I missing anything?

 

[gregoryx]

The more I think about it, the more I am leaning agains roof mount. I don't care that much about service in motion--my cell phone usually does just fine at that. At a campground, it seems to me that the flexibility of a movable dish which allows parking in the shade likely outweighs the hassle of storage and setup.

Am I missing anything?

I'm thinking more, "no hassle," than perfect signal. I've done without it thus far - cellular fine for both moving and stationary - but the last thing I want is more complexity in my process. I'd rather just have whatever-it-is work as well as possible without any effort.

We've had an AT&T data plan on a mobile router for five years or so - backed up with Verizon on our mobile phones as hot-spot alternative. I recently switched it to a Peplink with one AT&T and one Verizon chip - just to see how well it works. Not impressed so far. So... router with Verizon chip and Starlink as the two... and good enough with no effort.

I'm lazy. 🤷‍♀️

 

[kenryan]

The more I think about it, the more I am leaning agains roof mount. I don't care that much about service in motion--my cell phone usually does just fine at that. At a campground, it seems to me that the flexibility of a movable dish which allows parking in the shade likely outweighs the hassle of storage and setup.

Am I missing anything?

I am of the same mind. My main concern with a moveable dish is theft.

 

[eranrund]

I'm thinking more, "no hassle," than perfect signal. I've done without it thus far - cellular fine for both moving and stationary - but the last thing I want is more complexity in my process. I'd rather just have whatever-it-is work as well as possible without any effort.

We've had an AT&T data plan on a mobile router for five years or so - backed up with Verizon on our mobile phones as hot-spot alternative. I recently switched it to a Peplink with one AT&T and one Verizon chip - just to see how well it works. Not impressed so far. So... router with Verizon chip and Starlink as the two... and good enough with no effort.

I'm lazy. 🤷‍♀️

Ha, that's disappointing. I was considering the Peplink. Why is it an underwhelming experience for you compared to the AT&T router and Verizon phone?

 

[gregoryx]

Ha, that's disappointing. I was considering the Peplink. Why is it an underwhelming experience for you compared to the AT&T router and Verizon phone?

Prolly because I bought a BR1 unit - not one of the newer ones - and the performance on EVERY link is much worse than the GLInet MUDI that I was running. The Pep is slower on AT&T, slower on Verizon than the phone ever was, and slower on WiFi (at the house or condo) than the GLI was. Disappointing. Looking at a couple other brands now - Mikrotik, Mofi, and a couple other off-brands. Irritating, really.

 

[natecostello]

The more I think about it, the more I am leaning agains roof mount. I don't care that much about service in motion--my cell phone usually does just fine at that. At a campground, it seems to me that the flexibility of a movable dish which allows parking in the shade likely outweighs the hassle of storage and setup.

Am I missing anything?

You can have it all. Ours is roof mounted but in five minutes I can have it on a pole above the trees or mounted on the stock base away from the trees. 99% of the time it stays roof mounted.

 

[gregoryx]

@natecostello, your documentation is excellent. Thank you! 🙏

 

[eranrund]

Prolly because I bought a BR1 unit - not one of the newer ones - and the performance on EVERY link is much worse than the GLInet MUDI that I was running. The Pep is slower on AT&T, slower on Verizon than the phone ever was, and slower on WiFi (at the house or condo) than the GLI was. Disappointing. Looking at a couple other brands now - Mikrotik, Mofi, and a couple other off-brands. Irritating, really.

That's a bummer. Have you seen Insty Connect - The best mobile internet system I've been wondering how it compares.

 

[natecostello]

Prolly because I bought a BR1 unit - not one of the newer ones - and the performance on EVERY link is much worse than the GLInet MUDI that I was running. The Pep is slower on AT&T, slower on Verizon than the phone ever was, and slower on WiFi (at the house or condo) than the GLI was. Disappointing. Looking at a couple other brands now - Mikrotik, Mofi, and a couple other off-brands. Irritating, really.

@gregoryx, since you've already dipped your toes into the openwrt world with the GLInet device, you might consider fully embracing that approach. I've currently got an old archer C7 running openwrt with the multi-wan package installed. It's got three sources: starlink, a mikrotik groove (for wifi-as-wan), and the ford access point (when vehicle is on). It load balances and auto-switches based on which connections are active at any time. Its a learning curve to set up, but not bad for like $50 of hardware. I'm not to up to speed openwrt running on cell modem devices, so it might miss that mark.

There's also active work to do legit full bonding with openwrt that's pretty well developed depending on your router platform (rpi is solid afaik).

 

[TransitFocus]

Interesting, didn't realize OpenWRT was still actively developed, it was probably the first firmware I ever flashed, probably 15 years ago now. What kinda throughput can you expect from a RPi4?

I'm on OPNsense at home with multi-WAN and am fairly handy with it, but lower power consumption might be welcome.

 

[natecostello]

Interesting, didn't realize OpenWRT was still actively developed, it was probably the first firmware I ever flashed, probably 15 years ago now. What kinda throughput can you expect from a RPi4?

I'm on OPNsense at home with multi-WAN and am fairly handy with it, but lower power consumption might be welcome.

Yep, OpenWRT is still very active. Not sure on the RPI4, but I think the way most people run it is with a switch, so that handles everything in-network (once its routing tables populate automatically), and the RPI is only involved for inbound and outbound. I'd assume the RPI can handle all but the fastest consumer connections or else they wouldn't be popular in that role among that crowd. I know the hard ware is advertised to be full Gigabit for the RPI4. I'm not a heavy network guy, so this could all be wrong, but I think its right.

 

[andyl]

OpenWRT

I've had good experience using GL-iNET Spitz router with a T-mobile sim card.

GL-iNet devices run on OpenWRT.

 

[Damaskinos_of_Athens]

What were the repercussions?

Probably brain damage from watching video.

 

[Stormwind]

You can have it all. Ours is roof mounted but in five minutes I can have it on a pole above the trees or mounted on the stock base away from the trees. 99% of the time it stays roof mounted.

What did you use to get the cable connection inside the van?

I have a flat converted and 12V coverted Starlink on the van roof, and currently running the cable though the rear door gasket.

I bought a Neutrik NE8FDX-P6-W waterproof connector and associated parts, but I'm trying to figure out where to put it on the roof (perhaps on the side of a cable housing on the roof) and how to feed the Cat6 cable through my finished van's walls into my equipment cabinet to the Pepwave Max BR1 Pro 5G.

 

[natecostello]

What did you use to get the cable connection inside the van?

I have a flat converted and 12V coverted Starlink on the van roof, and currently running the cable though the rear door gasket.

I bought a Neutrik NE8FDX-P6-W waterproof connector and associated parts, but I'm trying to figure out where to put it on the roof (perhaps on the side of a cable housing on the roof) and how to feed the Cat6 cable through my finished van's walls into my equipment cabinet to the Pepwave Max BR1 Pro 5G.

PMing you some pics to avoid spamming up this thread with those details.

 

[4fastman]

looks like having dish mounted pointing Straight Up and no dish movement is now working -
from what I have seen having good connection is also possible while van is moving -

Im going to mount dish on roof in Flat position -
going to leave dish stock except Unplug motors so dish wont move -
dish will be be removed from roof and use stock legs for ground placement -

im camped in the desert so have to use materials on hand wood -
should be a easy to build -

in Every video I watched Power Grinders were used - not smart -
in video below one man uses a drill bit to cut hole in plastic - Dont Do This -
A Much Easier and Way Better way is to cut plastic with a Soldering Iron -

Soldering Iron will melt plastic and cut any shape hole you need Safely with little
chance of damaging board -
also there is No plastic chips all over inside -

video where man is cutting dish and making flat cases look pretty well made -
he is making box real strong for use on dune buggies -
case looks worth the money if you need this strong -

I will post some pictures and a DIY info on what I end up doing -

also have a few more videos on what others have done -

Dont use a drill like this man

 

[4fastman]

these people ran over starlink dish and flat mounted -
this is good example why cutting with soldering iron is better