Remote Operation using Starlink - Performance Report

widowsson_N6ATC

If anyone is interested in latency using Starlink (remote connection via SoftEther to my 6600/PGXL/TGXL) from a gigabit Cox cable connection, here you go.

It works. It's not flawless, but it works.

My shack is in my other house 110 miles north of me as the crow flies. If I had a wired Internet connection (as opposed to LEO satellites), it would be rock solid. As it is, using Starlink, it is "mostly ok". I rate it 65% perfect for rag-chewing. Definitely not acceptable for contesting. Expect some dropouts. But I have had signal reports of "excellent, perfect audio". I probably should have recorded them!

EDIT: my grade may have been a bit harsh. There are times it is 75% perfect, which I think is good considering the use of Starlink. This proves that perfectly acceptable operation is possible. Plus, in my location, I have obstructions to an open-sky view. Starlink will tell you that obstructions are deadly, and you'll get lots of interruptions. We rarely get them streaming video TV services. But, for ham radio use, it's much more of a factor. The next comment shows my obstruction picture.

widowsson_N6ATC

My obstructions. Red is bad. Blue is good. The red is from 60-foot Ponderosa pine trees.

widowsson_N6ATC

And... here is an image showing latency from my router to the Internet over a 24-hour period using Starlink, on the network where the Flex equipment is located.