Starlink Rooftop Install 2008 Journey 39Z

[ACDNate]

The standard dish went on sale a couple months ago so I picked one up with a plan to permanently install in my Journey 39z.

I have never used the Track Vision satellite. Time to re-purpose the useless dome on my roof.

The standard dish just fits in the done without modification, although with the mount I picked up I don't have much access to mount it. May have to get some spacers and adjust.

I may end up cutting out the center hub on the satellite platform and seal it up to give myself some more room to adjust the mount. Not sure yet.

Anyone know of a more flexible mounting bracket?

 

[be happy]

I do not know about a more flexible bracket, however I do see some issues that you may have already solved.

Having a standard gen 3 starlink dish myself I have a couple questions. How do you plan on moving the position of the dish when park in sight? I know the starling app is really good at letting one know of obstructions. I could be wrong on this but I think the dish needs to be at an angle not laying flat, if thats the case how do you plan on that? I do not think the present starlink frame work will hold up to the force created going down the road. Are you planning on covering the starlink with the old sat. cover?

Your plan is not for me but thats ok. I find it easier to set on the ground with tripod, put the wifi in a bay.

Good Luck keep us posted on progress

 

[ACDNate]

I am accepting a certain amount of degraded signal strength at times, in exchange for a permanently installed solution.

When i say flat, I mean slightly angled. Not actually flat. I played with the dish to see how much the direction affected signal strength. You can definitely improve strength by pointing dish, but in my limited testing I still had good service. Again balancing convenience against performance.

 

[ACDNate]

Shortly after posting this thread and spending some time head scratching a friend called. Friend is in the sheet metal business. After a brief discussion I went to see him and he bent up a bracket to elevate the starlink mobility mount.

Fits like a glove and securely mounts the dish to the satellite base.

Out of daylight for today. Will get the mound of decor removed from the satellite cable entrance and route the starlink cat 6 wire through to the front cabinet. The router will reside there.

 

[Morich]

Always nice to have friends with tools and know-how to swap around with when we need something new!

 

[ACDNate]

Always nice to have friends with tools and know-how to swap around with when we need something new!

100%

 

[HiBanky]

I like your idea about repurposing your old dish. From the photos, it looks like you are close to the angle needed. Is it OK to assume that your old dish hardware is capable of 180 degrees of rotation because that is at least as important as the angle. I switched to StarLink a few years ago and will never look back.

 

[ACDNate]

Follow up time. I've now had it installed for a little while and have used it a couple times. It has performed really well. Connects every time and provides more than enough data to watch tv, and use tablets phones with no issues in motion and parked.

At different times, i've reviewed the alignment part of the ap and it recommended adjusting the dish. I made a point to test speed at those times and have found my slowest download speed to be around 80mbps, more than sufficient for my needs.

Since i purchased/installed Starlink changed the roam basic plan from 50gb to 100gb for $50/month and $5 month when paused. This past trip i had two tv's operating regularly as well as a few phones and used around 80gb. That's been my peak usage so far. Unlimited is available for around $150 i believe if I ever need more.

 

[ACDNate]

I like your idea about repurposing your old dish. From the photos, it looks like you are close to the angle needed. Is it OK to assume that your old dish hardware is capable of 180 degrees of rotation because that is at least as important as the angle. I switched to StarLink a few years ago and will never look back.

Yes the old dish hardware was capable of 180 degree rotation, but to adapt it to work manually via a switch inside was more than i wanted to tackle. I'm definitely not always getting the best performance but so far it hasn't been an issue for me