[CQ-Contest] Starlink

[Jim Brown]

My system has been up for about a year. My QTH, in a dense redwood 
forest, seriously obstructs the Starlink dish's view of the sky. Over 
the course of a year, as more and more birds have been launched and put 
into service, my downtime (due entirely to obstructions) has dropped 
from 20% to about 10% to less than 7%.

This is only significant for services like VOIP and Zoom, where brief 
interruptions will trigger a disconnect. From the beginning, at 20% 
downtime, I was able to everything else, like email, streaming Hi-res 
video, thanks to apps that provide buffering.

For me, in the Santa Cruz Mountains where Comcast's power backup has 
been a sick joke, Starlink is a backup. If I had a clear view of the 
sky, I'd love it as my only source.

The only downside for ham radio is that th5 electronics (probably 
switch-mode PSU) is a NOISY PIG. It took $50 worth of ferrites to tame 
it. By contrast, everything associated with my Tesla Model 3 is an RFI 
dream (and not a bad one). No noise from charging to very close 
antennas, my VHF in the car hears great, and reports from others say 
that HF is also just fine.

73, Jim K9YC