Will Starlink be a game changer for GA?

Brad Z

Brad Z

Final Approach
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Brad Z
I just got done watching a video about Elon Musk’s Starlink sat based ISP.

Aside from watching the cool satellite train flyovers after dusk, I can’t help but think how beneficial this could be for GA. According to the video, USAF tested it in an aircraft and got 600mps download speeds. This would basically make ADSB-in FIS-B and Sirius XM completely obsolete, giving you live weather, flight data, comms with the rest of the world, and fast stream video for your passengers.

I’m curious to see how long it will be before we can place a puck on the dash and stream a sat based WiFi hotspot.
 
I'm done being a serial skeptic regarding Musk; he delivers.
 
It sounds like at leas initially, the customer equipment is pizza box sized. Will see how that evolves.
 
I'm excited by the prospect of being able to live outside the range of cable/fiber internet and be able to properly work+play remotely. To be GA related, far enough out I could afford sufficient land for my own grass strip.
 
-KLB- said:
It sounds like at least initially, the customer equipment is pizza box sized. Will see how that evolves.
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Interesting. I haven't seen the hardware requirements but it makes sense that you'd need something powerful enough to upload a signal to a satellite 300 miles up. That's a little more challenging than the 4G antenna down the street. If they can figure out a mobile application for it, aircraft will be a natural extension.
 
If/when they have a mobile solution it'll be a nail in the coffin for SuriusXM, or at least they'd have to dramatically reduce the pricing of it! It'd sure be sweet to have access to internet weather apps while in the air, not to mention calls and texts. I have a SuriusXM subscription but only for music/sports, I'd cancel in a heartbeat if I could do Starlink at ~$80/month.
 
I hope so! I signed up for the waiting list for the public beta. The only worry is the cost of the dish. There was a tweet from Elon that said they’ve hit a roadblock and the dish won’t be cheap starting out. Comparable dishes are about 20-30k...o_O
 
ARFlyer said:
I hope so! I signed up for the waiting list for the public beta. The only worry is the cost of the dish. There was a tweet from Elon that said they’ve hit a roadblock and the dish won’t be cheap starting out. Comparable dishes are about 20-30k...o_O
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Not something I'd want to beta at my house in the 'burbs with 1G FIOS at that initial cost, but considering the quotes I have heard to have cable or fiber run to remote locations or a fully mobile RV w/home office, even a $20k antenna could be considered reasonable. How much do the sat systems in jets cost?
 
The FCC is likely to pull the plug on it. They'd rather ruin the GPS spectrum with terrestrial based stuff in the same band.
 
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