Mounting Starlink antenna - 4100 SCA

[PJHoffnet]

Plenty of threads all over the place on Starlink use, so please don't use this thread for that ... my equipment arrives tomorrow, so I'll be heading to the boat this weekend to fire things up and see how they work.

What I'm looking for is someone with a 4100 SCA who's already mounted their dishy to provide some real world perspectives.

I'm looking at three possible places.

1) My 'ideal' spot would be aft of the helm seats on the 'sundeck skylight'. The previous owner had a sat tv antenna there.
- - Pro: it's protected from weather (I understand the antenna doesn't really need that), but more importantly, protected a bit from casually wandering eyes who might be up to no good. (Not an issue in our home marina, but might be when we're away from home).
- - Con/Need to check: Not sure how the Bimini frame might interfere with it, and I'll need to check to see if it's 'below' my radar's horizon (Simrad Halo20, -12.5 degree). My research has shown that Starlink will 'shut down and need to reboot' if overcome by the radar - the freq's are different, but close enough especially at that close of a range).

2) Aft port corner of the sundeck's hard top. I have an HD TV antenna on the aft stbd corner that doesn't seem to be affected by the radar (freq's may be far enough apart, or it's below radar horizon).
- - Pro: Should have a great, pretty much unobstructed view of the sky
- - Con/Need to check: In plain view, and need to check radar horizon.

3) Mounted above the Radar.
- - Pro: Won't need to worry about radar interference
- - Cons: In plain view, very 'narrow' up obstruction from Anchor Light. Need to design/build a mount.

Any thoughts related to mounting would be appreciated.

[PJHoffnet]

Going to try out this spot up behind the helm bench ... at least for some initial testing. Seems to be working fine - seemed to lose conductivity for about half an hour during really heavy rain this afternoon. Guessing it might have been caused by water 'pooling' on the Bimini top (it's pretty waterproof).

[mmwjr]

Did the antenna come with other mounting solutions? That four legged thing isn’t very boat friendly.

[PJHoffnet]

Originally Posted by mmwjr

Did the antenna come with other mounting solutions? That four legged thing isn’t very boat friendly.

No, the standard mounting solution is the four leg. The Starlink site, accessories section, has other options that can be purchased. If I decide to go with this position for the long run, I'll come up with a 'suction cup' method of attaching the legs more firmly. Until hurricane season is over, we'll either be in port, or in 'gentle' waters so I think we'll be fine.

https://api.starlink.com/public-file...ries_Guide.pdf

You can also build your own - many examples of folks doing that can be found online.

[mmwjr]

Thanks Paul.

[PJHoffnet]

You're welcome.

[PJHoffnet]

Just as an update. The Bimini nor the radar seem to interfere with the Starlink's ability to function. Have cruised a few nautical miles with multiple headings - signal does not drop out wte of occasional outages (~30 (<0.1 seconds), fewer than two or three of 2-5 seconds, and only the occasional greater than 5 sec) during the 12 hours record you can pull up in the app. Last twelve hours (in port) only 19 >0.1 second outages ... none longer than that.