4 ms·
A traditional geosynchronous satellite is 22,000 miles above you. A starlink satellite is only 340 miles above you. And when you are outside you have a great li
by perydell 3y ago
A traditional geosynchronous satellite is 22,000 miles above you. A starlink satellite is only 340 miles above you. And when you are outside you have a great line of sight with nothing in the way.
- FireBeyond 3y agoStill, you're going to require a bit of energy to push your radio signal even 340 miles through the atmosphere...
- haspok 3y agoAnd your regular cell tower is within a few miles of your mobile at most. A few hundred meters in most cases. The phone is transmitting a few watts tops. I am very skeptical of them promising anything other than very-very low bandwith data, but I would love to hear from someone who actually knows about this stuff.
- _whiteCaps_ 3y agoI make voice contacts with folks via the ISS repeater using a 5W radio and an omnidirectional antenna. It's much easier if you have an antenna with better directional gain, but it's definitely possible. I'm assuming the Starlink satellites have higher gain antennas than the ISS's amateur radio setup, and they definitely have better coverage than the single space station. :)
- macrael 3y agoAt first I was skeptical that other satellite phone companies would use geosynchronous satellites but I looked up https://www.inmarsat.com/en/about/technology/satellites.html https://www.inmarsat.com/en/about/technology/satellites.html and sure enough they do