scottupnorth Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 The recommended installation for Dishy is to give Dishy an unobstructed view pointing north. I've seen photos of some installations that look like Dishy is pointing straight up. Are there any ELEVATION recommendations? I live in Wisconsin just south of Lake Superior at 46.063673210797084 latitude, -90.14209124114348 longitude. 54552 area code. I'm on a wooded lake lot overlooking a 19K acre lake. But there are tall trees between me and the lake. So my installation will be elevation dependent. If low elevation preferred by Dishy, I would need to put Dishy at the lake shore pointing north over the lake. If high elevation permitted, I can put Dishy in my back yard. I would prefer the backyard.How do you know what elevation Dishy wants? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyDave Posted March 20, 2021 Share Posted March 20, 2021 I don't think elevation matters a lot to dishy. I see pictures of backyard mounts on the ground and pictures of mounts on roofs. What might (or might not) make a difference is angular jitter if an elevated mount causes Dishy to sway in the wind. Elon has told us that there is a phased array inside the dish and this is a very, very fast means of beam steering. But, if the beam is pointed at the moving satellite and there is suddenly violent shaking due to wind I don't even know if the dish has the sensors to make the correction. Side-to-side motion will not hurt much, but small changes in angle, projected over a few hundred miles, can cause the beam to completely miss the satellite. So, I would try it elevated, but with the pole stabilized by guy wires, and see what happens. The worst case is that you have to change the mount. Mine is "mounted" using the tripod that came with the dish on an outdoor dining table on a second floor balcony, with a sack of concrete as an inexpensive weight. Works well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyDave Posted March 20, 2021 Share Posted March 20, 2021 Some Pix of my Temporary Installation. The railing at that point runs true East-West, and the dish is pointing to true North (Not magnetic North). The balcony floor is about 18 ft above grade, and the table top is about 20.5 ft above grade. The 2 x 4 blocks are screwed to the OSB from underneath and the legs of the tripod are screwed down to the blocks. The bag of concrete is just a weight. The OSB is elevated above the table top with 4 x 6 blocks. The only reason for these is that when I was setting it up, the dish was pointing nearly horizontal and it appeared that the railing would obstruct the field of view of the dish. When the dish was powered up it went to the position shown and I doubt the blocks are really needed, but they were harder to remove than to keep in place. I am going to move the dish to an antenna pole attached to the house when I get the mounting adaptor I ordered from Starlink. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ethan Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 Some Pix of my Temporary Installation. http://starlinkforum.net/uploads/652/DSYPR8873PGD.jpghttp://starlinkforum.net/uploads/846/2V7MSKL0LSQA.jpgThe railing at that point runs true East-West, and the dish is pointing to true North (Not magnetic North). The balcony floor is about 18 ft above grade, and the table top is about 20.5 ft above grade. The 2 x 4 blocks are screwed to the OSB from underneath and the legs of the tripod are screwed down to the blocks. The bag of concrete is just a weight. The OSB is elevated above the table top with 4 x 6 blocks. The only reason for these is that when I was setting it up, the dish was pointing nearly horizontal and it appeared that the railing would obstruct the field of view of the dish. When the dish was powered up it went to the position shown and I doubt the blocks are really needed, but they were harder to remove than to keep in place. I am going to move the dish to an antenna pole attached to the house when I get the mounting adaptor I ordered from Starlink.Nice setup! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DefinitelyNotBob Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 I'd recommend a very short (and preferably very stiff) rooftop mount and you should be fine. At 46.06N you should have satellites passing directly overhead so elevation issues shouldn't be a concern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airbender Posted May 28, 2021 Share Posted May 28, 2021 I'm going to guess scottupnorth is not referring to elevation in the sense of height above ground or sea level, but rather elevation above the horizon that dishy needs to see. Unless someone from SpaceX steps in with information more specific to your geographic location, I think you will only find out by seeing what you get at your building. The phone app indicates a large part of the sky needs to be unobstructed for best results. I do not have a fully unobstructed sky to match the phone app, however, outages due to obstruction are minimal and tolerable for me with my install. You might get lucky.You get 90 or 100 ft of cable (I've seen both printed but not measured mine) attached to dishy to connect it to the power supply. I hope your house is close to the shore if there are too many obstructions by your house. Making an extension cable from Cat5E or better is possible, but quality of service is likely inversely proportional to the length of extra cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lighthousealarms Posted July 9, 2021 Share Posted July 9, 2021 I have a similar issue. Tall trees on the north side of my house. Before I commit and pay the $500 I need to know if it will work. At 38degrees north if the satellites are nearly straight up it will probably work. If it needs unobstructed view at less than 60 degrees above the horizon it won't. Any info would be greatly appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lighthousealarms Posted July 9, 2021 Share Posted July 9, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.