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Starlink As An STL
- Thread starter SomeRadioGuy
- Start date
I would think that if Jack-of-all-Trades Paul has a 99.9% uptime in his service, then he's probably beating a LOT of other facilities in the lower 48.
Nice work, @SomeRadioGuy
You're right. All hail Lord Buckethead of McGrath!
And ive never said what i do is pretty or would fly in the lower 48, but up here.. sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do... when parts are not nearby and expensive to get up here
Yet, your topic is on-point and immediately worth consideration for others on a shoestring budget.
Again, to your listeners, you and others are providing a service. That 99.9% programming uptime equals to only 90 seconds of dead air a day.
I'm certain you're doing much, much better than that.
Nice work, thinking outside the box. Just hope Elon doesn't mess with that like he has with this social media platform.
Thats one reason i was hired... a small reason, allbeit a reason.. think outside the box, when engineers and parts are minimum 2 days away in an emergency.
I've adopted many MO, ways of thinking/doing, in order to not burn myself out, get worked up about something i cant control or do much about.
One of them is.. does it keep programming on the air in a completely seamless or nearlly so fashion in a way that listeners dont know theres a work around or something different? Good, ill go on to taking care of something else and get back to making something prettier or more permanent later.
I had a problem with my main NPR XDS satellite reciever.. some wiring issue presented itself. .and i couldnt get audio out of the reciever.. it was coming to it, i listened on headphones connected to the box.. but i couldnt get it to my console.... and i stared at the reciever and its guts in the back for hours over the span of 2 weeks, couldnt solve it.
So, in the interim.. i took the satellite feed of KSKA, the AKPM owned public station in anchorage.. they have the same NPR schedule as us, mostly.. ands plugged that in for our NPR programming feed.
And one day 3 months later, i was staring at the original NPR XDS, and the problems solution just started staring me in the face
Kept programming on air and listeners werent much the wiser, excvept they got local anchorage cutaways during local breaks. Instead of the raw npr satellite feed, as KSKO normally runs that and we take zero local cutaways during Morning edition, the bbc ws, all things considered, native american calling or weekend edition. (We do 7 hours a day of local programming otherwise)
I will wear that title proudly
Meant to be a slight dig at me, I get it. .but I don't care!Im so far from an engineer.. and so on the wrong side of pretty or per4fect when it comes to fixes but i challenge any other engineer to come up here, spend a few weeks here and see what its REALLY like
Thanks for the invitation, but over the years I've been to Alaska many times for work-related matters. Company I once worked for purchased KTVF in Fairbanks. That wasn't bad, but hitting a moose in my rental car and ending up in the hospital wasn't a good time. Then there was a time where I volunteered to fix a TV translator about 25 miles North of Hughes. Had to be flown into the site with a helicopter, but the weather changed and was stuck waiting for 22 hours before I could get evacuated out. Had the fuse replaced ten minutes after arriving, then waited for pickup the next day.I will wear that title proudly
Im so far from an engineer.. and so on the wrong side of pretty or per4fect when it comes to fixes but i challenge any other engineer to come up here, spend a few weeks here and see what its REALLY like
So you can keep that God-forsaken state. I'll watch the video about it on the National Geographic channel.
You wont have to worry about cars and hitting a moose with one up here.
A.) You drive so slow in the village, youll stop well before you hit a moose WHEN (not if) you do see one
B.) obviously, you cant drive up here from otuside the city
Are you using consumer or business tier StarLink for this?
According to Starlink
I wonder how something like a AirFiber 5 would work as a IP STL. UISP airFiber 5 GHz Mid-Band Bridge - Ubiquiti Store United States
These are 5 Ghz so less prone to RainFade that can easily happen with their 24 GHz ones. Also license free.
According to Starlink
I'm curious though what prevents using a point to point STL there? Seems overall that would be a less costly option but you must have a reason
I wonder how something like a AirFiber 5 would work as a IP STL. UISP airFiber 5 GHz Mid-Band Bridge - Ubiquiti Store United States
These are 5 Ghz so less prone to RainFade that can easily happen with their 24 GHz ones. Also license free.
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Are you using consumer or business tier StarLink for this?
According to Starlink
I'm curious though what prevents using a point to point STL there? Seems overall that would be a less costly option but you must have a reason
I wonder how something like a AirFiber 5 would work as a IP STL. UISP airFiber 5 GHz Mid-Band Bridge - Ubiquiti Store United States
These are 5 Ghz so less prone to RainFade that can easily happen with their 24 GHz ones. Also license free.
LOL really, @pclover ?
RF based STL spread out over 100-150 miles of rugged, cold, mountainous terrain with no power, no facilities, no nothing? and if somethign crapped the bed, getting to one site would bust our budget for the year after just 2 or 3 visits?
Good point. Perhaps I've forgot just how remote you are up there. Sounds line of sight is tricky.
I wonder how well the starlink can melt snow and prevent build up Supposedly tho it just puts the radios to full power.
Starlink antennas already have built in automatic heaters/snow melter.
Works fine. Ran just fine this past winter
Good to see. From what i understand ViaSat in general is garbage, Well most sat IP data with awful latency and high costs, So Starlink is a massive upgrade.
Running a STL on 500ms+ latency must have been painful. Probably more like 600ms+
Wow, what an attitude-filled, somewhat condescending answer to a guy who wasn't necessarily questioning your business practices (and even gave a smiley) but who seemed genuinely interested in different alternative methods of delivery. Those types of 'discussions' are generally encouraged on these types of sites. Also, remember that few here if any are thoroughly familiar with the types of conditions in the 49th state. Maybe use this as an opportunity to educate others rather than just being dismissive when someone asks a general question.
wouldnt say its garbage...... its better than youd expect but not as good as youd hope for. latency was way more than 700 ms really.
I mean.. maybe so to all of that.. but looking up the call letters and where they were.. or stopping to think "hey, why is he using one of the worst isps ever, problem prone viasat?" would answer why RF/microwave STLs arent possible
Nobody cares about latency anymore. Since the advent of digital audio processing, the days of listening over the air in your control room monitor or headphones ended. Listeners aren't going to care if the song ends a second or two past the TOH prior to the network newscast.
If you ever watch cable or satellite TV and wonder why some shows run past the TOH, that's because the show and all the spots are being played from the cloud via an Internet connection of some sort.
Also, there's no comparison with really crappy satellite Internet like HughesNet or ViaSat and Starlink. Starlink is just like having a Comcast or Verizon Fios connection, with no FAP (Fair Access Policy).
If you ever watch cable or satellite TV and wonder why some shows run past the TOH, that's because the show and all the spots are being played from the cloud via an Internet connection of some sort.
Also, there's no comparison with really crappy satellite Internet like HughesNet or ViaSat and Starlink. Starlink is just like having a Comcast or Verizon Fios connection, with no FAP (Fair Access Policy).
Has anyone looked into MaxxKonnect for STL use? I kinda like the idea of using 4G internet for STL. The cost is not too bad. I think MaxxKonnect charges anywhere from 109.00 to 129.00 per month for the service.