My system has been up for about a year. My QTH, in a dense redwood
forest, seriously obstructs the Starlink dish's view of the sky. Over
the course of a year, as more and more birds have been launched and put
into service, my downtime (due entirely to obstructions) has dropped
from 20% to about 10% to less than 7%.
This is only significant for services like VOIP and Zoom, where brief
interruptions will trigger a disconnect. From the beginning, at 20%
downtime, I was able to everything else, like email, streaming Hi-res
video, thanks to apps that provide buffering.
For me, in the Santa Cruz Mountains where Comcast's power backup has
been a sick joke, Starlink is a backup. If I had a clear view of the
sky, I'd love it as my only source.
The only downside for ham radio is that th5 electronics (probably
switch-mode PSU) is a NOISY PIG. It took $50 worth of ferrites to tame
it. By contrast, everything associated with my Tesla Model 3 is an RFI
dream (and not a bad one). No noise from charging to very close
antennas, my VHF in the car hears great, and reports from others say
that HF is also just fine.
73, Jim K9YC
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