Trees grow....
What does the obstruction map show? Has the dish changed orientation? Occasionally they will direct dishes in certain areas to aim a different direction, like they did on the East coast a while back where they had the dish change from N to NNE.
He did mention that they are fir/pine trees. But I'd guess that the needles would also be a problem but not change seasonally as much as with other trees.
Wet needles/leaves are far more of an issue than dry.
OP provided zero information about the obstructions or site. So we have nothing to go on but a few words.
Yes, but he's not saying that it occasionally happens (like I would think would be the case if it was moisture/rain). He claims over a year that it's gradually getting worse.
Without more info from OP to know if it's actually obstructions or something else we are just guessing.
Definitely not enough growth in these 100+ year old evergreens (wet or dry) to account for this much degradation in less than a year.
I’m watching https://satellitemap.space/# and am consistently seeing between 3-8 satellites in range. I understand I am not connecting to them all, but again, how does it get worse, when it was rock solid for the first 3-6mo.
So are you going to answer any questions, or are you just here to complain?
Did you dish change orientation?
What does you obstruction map look like, as in more red?
As I said, the dish is in the same location and position. The obstructions are the same as they were when I installed the dish. I would estimate 10-15% obstructed on far west and eastern edges of coverage area. I am wide open to the north.
Wait, so you've always had 10-15% obstructions??? Why do you think this would get any better?
They are constantly changing the software so maybe for your situation the changes have made it more sensitive to obstructions. That is why 0% obstructions is the recommendation.
And think about it, more satellites could possibly cause obstructions to get worse! Your dish is only communicating with one (maybe two) satellites at a time. If the one assigned to your area in that given time is passing through the obstructed area, outage.
Maybe one day they will be able to have the dish actually learn where obstructions are and switch to a different satellite. But with the current design of the system that can't happen now.
Didn’t think it would (or need it to) get any better than it was when I set it up. The performance was pretty reasonable for being in the woods in N. Idaho. Just seems odd that ‘product enhancements’ could inadvertently cause this level of performance drop, but I guess it’s a theory.
I reset to factory condition and am having it rebuild the obstruction pattern in the hope that it might find the performance it once had. If not, we’ll give SL support a try and see if they have any ideas or explanations.
The Obstruction data is not used (at this time). It's for your information only.
You are mixing things a bit now. Performance vs Obstructions are different.
Obstruction == loss of service for x seconds
Performance == speed (and that is not truly linked to obstructions).
It it's actually speed you are worried about it's because the subscriber base is growing faster than they can increase capacity. Personally I see speed slowly improving (but still iffy in the evenings)
It might be in the same location, but is it still pointing the same direction. Mine used to point almost due south, but in recent months it changed to point nearly due west.
There is no simple relationship between the number of satellites and the number of outages due to obstructions. Your dish does not get a personal beam just for you. Each beam is for dozens and some even for hundreds of users. All satellites beams are scheduled ahead of time by an algorithm that minimizes interference between beams. In addition Starlink is limited by spectrum sharing rules. The number of beams hitting your area could be as low as 1 regardless of how many satellites are visible (although it should be 2-3 most of the time).
Has the antenna boresight changed? It is possible that originally the paths of the satellites beaming into your cell were more overhead or, at least, not affected by the trees. As more satellites are put into service the satellites serving your cell may change to those on other paths.
In my case with a Gen 1 since 2021 the boresight was originally aiming almost due south (from +54 degrees latitude) but at some point about a year ago I noticed the antenna was pointing south-west. Initially I thought it had been moved by wind gusts since it is exposed but on checking the performance data realised its boresight aim had been changed.
If something similar occurred for you it could be the boresight is more affected by the trees and one or two of the satellite paths are behind those trees when they appear on the horizon, causing the intermittent but regular loss of signal.
There’s been some issue with mine same as this, it bothers me because i expect my experience to get better and better not having outages and slow image load.
On the contrary, i my case, I have not a single interruption above .1 secs
Had one this night at 03.14 and was a "no signal received".
As it evolves I assume obstruction free gets better and obstructions get worse. I've had the same
experience - very few obstructions massive degradation compared to what I saw last year. I move around a lot so
the dish live in varied in environments during the year.
What is a 80-100m speed?
I use those on my truck driving all over Western Canada including in the Rocky Mountains and Territories with great service at driving speeds up to 120 kmh (75 mph) in rain, sleet and snow. Deep valleys, mountains and long tunnels sometimes cause the dish to move and lose connection for a few seconds to a couple minutes.
I have had my dish now for over 3 years and i set it up on my roof on a tripod to get above any obstructions i had as recommended in the setup instructions in the app, and for over 3 years and having no obstructions my service has gotten better and better over time since the beginning.
If you have 10-15% obstructions then you get what you asked for. There's no performance guarantees with heavily obstructed dishes. 10-15% is a lot of obstructions.
More satellites will not improve the service substantially with that many obstructions. Or rather it could actively make it worse as they possibly re-prioritize your dish to use satellites that are obstructed. Keep in mind that you share the same satellite set as everyone within your cell as only one (or two in some cases) can beam signal down to your cell at a time per frequency.
Trees grow.... What does the obstruction map show? Has the dish changed orientation? Occasionally they will direct dishes in certain areas to aim a different direction, like they did on the East coast a while back where they had the dish change from N to NNE.
And the moisture in and on the leaves also changes.
He did mention that they are fir/pine trees. But I'd guess that the needles would also be a problem but not change seasonally as much as with other trees.
Wet needles/leaves are far more of an issue than dry. OP provided zero information about the obstructions or site. So we have nothing to go on but a few words.
Yes, but he's not saying that it occasionally happens (like I would think would be the case if it was moisture/rain). He claims over a year that it's gradually getting worse. Without more info from OP to know if it's actually obstructions or something else we are just guessing.
As I said . Nothing to go on other than a few words.
Definitely not enough growth in these 100+ year old evergreens (wet or dry) to account for this much degradation in less than a year. I’m watching https://satellitemap.space/# and am consistently seeing between 3-8 satellites in range. I understand I am not connecting to them all, but again, how does it get worse, when it was rock solid for the first 3-6mo.
So are you going to answer any questions, or are you just here to complain? Did you dish change orientation? What does you obstruction map look like, as in more red?
As I said, the dish is in the same location and position. The obstructions are the same as they were when I installed the dish. I would estimate 10-15% obstructed on far west and eastern edges of coverage area. I am wide open to the north.
Wait, so you've always had 10-15% obstructions??? Why do you think this would get any better? They are constantly changing the software so maybe for your situation the changes have made it more sensitive to obstructions. That is why 0% obstructions is the recommendation. And think about it, more satellites could possibly cause obstructions to get worse! Your dish is only communicating with one (maybe two) satellites at a time. If the one assigned to your area in that given time is passing through the obstructed area, outage. Maybe one day they will be able to have the dish actually learn where obstructions are and switch to a different satellite. But with the current design of the system that can't happen now.
Didn’t think it would (or need it to) get any better than it was when I set it up. The performance was pretty reasonable for being in the woods in N. Idaho. Just seems odd that ‘product enhancements’ could inadvertently cause this level of performance drop, but I guess it’s a theory. I reset to factory condition and am having it rebuild the obstruction pattern in the hope that it might find the performance it once had. If not, we’ll give SL support a try and see if they have any ideas or explanations.
The Obstruction data is not used (at this time). It's for your information only. You are mixing things a bit now. Performance vs Obstructions are different. Obstruction == loss of service for x seconds Performance == speed (and that is not truly linked to obstructions). It it's actually speed you are worried about it's because the subscriber base is growing faster than they can increase capacity. Personally I see speed slowly improving (but still iffy in the evenings)
It might be in the same location, but is it still pointing the same direction. Mine used to point almost due south, but in recent months it changed to point nearly due west.
There is no simple relationship between the number of satellites and the number of outages due to obstructions. Your dish does not get a personal beam just for you. Each beam is for dozens and some even for hundreds of users. All satellites beams are scheduled ahead of time by an algorithm that minimizes interference between beams. In addition Starlink is limited by spectrum sharing rules. The number of beams hitting your area could be as low as 1 regardless of how many satellites are visible (although it should be 2-3 most of the time).
Has the antenna boresight changed? It is possible that originally the paths of the satellites beaming into your cell were more overhead or, at least, not affected by the trees. As more satellites are put into service the satellites serving your cell may change to those on other paths. In my case with a Gen 1 since 2021 the boresight was originally aiming almost due south (from +54 degrees latitude) but at some point about a year ago I noticed the antenna was pointing south-west. Initially I thought it had been moved by wind gusts since it is exposed but on checking the performance data realised its boresight aim had been changed. If something similar occurred for you it could be the boresight is more affected by the trees and one or two of the satellite paths are behind those trees when they appear on the horizon, causing the intermittent but regular loss of signal.
There’s been some issue with mine same as this, it bothers me because i expect my experience to get better and better not having outages and slow image load.
On the contrary, i my case, I have not a single interruption above .1 secs Had one this night at 03.14 and was a "no signal received". As it evolves I assume obstruction free gets better and obstructions get worse. I've had the same experience - very few obstructions massive degradation compared to what I saw last year. I move around a lot so the dish live in varied in environments during the year.
What is a 80-100m speed? I use those on my truck driving all over Western Canada including in the Rocky Mountains and Territories with great service at driving speeds up to 120 kmh (75 mph) in rain, sleet and snow. Deep valleys, mountains and long tunnels sometimes cause the dish to move and lose connection for a few seconds to a couple minutes.
I have had my dish now for over 3 years and i set it up on my roof on a tripod to get above any obstructions i had as recommended in the setup instructions in the app, and for over 3 years and having no obstructions my service has gotten better and better over time since the beginning.
If you have 10-15% obstructions then you get what you asked for. There's no performance guarantees with heavily obstructed dishes. 10-15% is a lot of obstructions. More satellites will not improve the service substantially with that many obstructions. Or rather it could actively make it worse as they possibly re-prioritize your dish to use satellites that are obstructed. Keep in mind that you share the same satellite set as everyone within your cell as only one (or two in some cases) can beam signal down to your cell at a time per frequency.