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huh. perhaps I'm exhibiting my total ignorance here, but why do they have to point North? I know that our Satellite TV dish when I was a kid had to point to a

huh. perhaps I'm exhibiting my total ignorance here, but why do they have to point North? I know that our Satellite TV dish when I was a kid had to point to a specific angle southwards, to match the geostationary position, but I'd not expect that with Starlink, unless you were in the Falklands or Antarctica, or something?

coder543 5y ago
It's a purposeful choice to avoid interfering with radio bandwidth allocations to existing geostationary satellites. As I understand it, Starlink dishes aren't allowed to send signals to a portion of the sky around the equator where the geostationary satellites are located. Starlink would probably work even better if they didn't have to deal with this restriction, but Starlink might not have been allowed to exist if they didn't design it to work this way.
- detritus 5y ago
  Huh. I had no idea, but makes a lot of sense, thinking about it. Thanks!
mzkply 5y ago
North is where all the satellites cluster as they reach the peak latitude of their orbit period: https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/190208-starlink.png https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/190208-s...
NelsonMinar 5y ago
First to clarify; Starlink points north in the northern hemisphere. Your satellite TV dish is talking to something 36,000km up in geosynchronous orbit, around the equator. That's to the south of you. Starlink are in 550km orbits moving very fast around the planet in a fairly inclined orbit. As another commenter has said, the apparent effect is the cluster tends to "hang out" in the north. It's complicated, a good visualization should help explain it. I don't have one at my fingertips.
- detritus 5y ago
  Mm, i appreciate the basics there, but if you look at the spread of satellites against latitude (eg https://satellitemap.space/ https://satellitemap.space/ ), it's pretty consistent so without any outside reason, I'd expect the Starlink dish to simply point up across most of the world, away from the poles. coder543's answer elsewhere here seems to furnish the remainder of my confusion.
  - NelsonMinar 5y ago
    Maybe this picture helps? https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/starlinkplanesblack-1920x700.jpg https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/s... The radius at a northern latitude is smaller than at the equator, so the satellites are more tightly clustered. I think coder543's answer is wrong, or at least has the causality backwards. Those geosync orbits are very, very far away from the LEO orbits of Starlink.
    - detritus 5y ago
      I'm assuming that at 550 miles up, the beneath-the-horizon range will be quite broad, but as equally, I'd assume further-off satellites to be slower and more conflicted, given the density and interference presumably increases. I just don't see how - sans external requirement - pointing up isn't more efficient. - ed. Ok, sorry, I get it. Aim in any direction and you have access to more satellites, even if further away. Pointing up isn't 180º access. Reception is probably less than 90º, I guess? My bad, I'm dumb.
      - NelsonMinar 5y ago
        It's OK, orbits are confusing. We all know in our hearts the earth is flat.

coder543 5y ago

It's a purposeful choice to avoid interfering with radio bandwidth allocations to existing geostationary satellites. As I understand it, Starlink dishes aren't allowed to send signals to a portion of the sky around the equator where the geostationary satellites are located. Starlink would probably work even better if they didn't have to deal with this restriction, but Starlink might not have been allowed to exist if they didn't design it to work this way.

detritus 5y ago
Huh. I had no idea, but makes a lot of sense, thinking about it. Thanks!

mzkply 5y ago

North is where all the satellites cluster as they reach the peak latitude of their orbit period: https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/190208-starlink.png https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/190208-s...

NelsonMinar 5y ago

First to clarify; Starlink points north in the northern hemisphere. Your satellite TV dish is talking to something 36,000km up in geosynchronous orbit, around the equator. That's to the south of you. Starlink are in 550km orbits moving very fast around the planet in a fairly inclined orbit. As another commenter has said, the apparent effect is the cluster tends to "hang out" in the north. It's complicated, a good visualization should help explain it. I don't have one at my fingertips.

detritus 5y ago
Mm, i appreciate the basics there, but if you look at the spread of satellites against latitude (eg https://satellitemap.space/ https://satellitemap.space/ ), it's pretty consistent so without any outside reason, I'd expect the Starlink dish to simply point up across most of the world, away from the poles. coder543's answer elsewhere here seems to furnish the remainder of my confusion.
- NelsonMinar 5y ago
  Maybe this picture helps? https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/starlinkplanesblack-1920x700.jpg https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/s... The radius at a northern latitude is smaller than at the equator, so the satellites are more tightly clustered. I think coder543's answer is wrong, or at least has the causality backwards. Those geosync orbits are very, very far away from the LEO orbits of Starlink.
  - detritus 5y ago
    I'm assuming that at 550 miles up, the beneath-the-horizon range will be quite broad, but as equally, I'd assume further-off satellites to be slower and more conflicted, given the density and interference presumably increases. I just don't see how - sans external requirement - pointing up isn't more efficient. - ed. Ok, sorry, I get it. Aim in any direction and you have access to more satellites, even if further away. Pointing up isn't 180º access. Reception is probably less than 90º, I guess? My bad, I'm dumb.
    - NelsonMinar 5y ago
      It's OK, orbits are confusing. We all know in our hearts the earth is flat.