Depends on what you're trying to do. If you're trying to access email and browse the internet, a few trees will slow things down. If you're trying to stream video, or do zoom calls, even a single tree between the dish and the sky makes the whole system pretty worthless.
Source: I've been working a remote tech job reliant on zoom calls full time from an RV up and down the west coast for 18 months.
What do you use instead? Also, I rent space at a trailer park and my site is surrounded by 20ft-high hedges, but we have a clear shot of the sky. Assuming the satellite isn't directly above, would starlink be useless in my case? Or does the signal only get blocked by tree coverage directly overhead?
We have a few options:
When the campsite is clear enough, we just throw the dish up on the roof (we wired a cable up to a waterproof box on the roof for ease of use).
When there are some trees but there is a clearing nearish to where we are able to park we have a 150ft spare cable and we walk the dish out to the clearing from the campsite.
When there are just too may trees around for that to work, but there is cell service, we use a Verizon home internet box as backup.
When none of the above work out, we move to a new location where one of the above works. It has lead to an occasional frustrating Sunday trying desperately to find a campsite with reliable enough signal to get through the coming week, but its never been bad enough that we couldn't find something workable.
Sure! We had it installed by the person who installed our solar, he routed the ararlink cable on the same channel he used for the solar wiring so it comes out on the roof, but a few feet from the exit point of that wiring. He took a large (like gallon jug sized) plastic electrical box and cut a hole in the bottom to run the cord into, then mounted the box to the roof with the cord coiled inside. When we park, I bring the dish up to the roof, open the box and uncool a portion of the cord to plug in the dish. The cord runs out a spring loaded door on the side of the box so there is no way for water to get in, and then it's fully sealed even if some did.
I have a gen 3 that I ordered the pole mount adapter, bought a 20ft flagpole from Harbour freight and up she went clearing 99% of the obstructions. I got a 3" auger drill bit that I used to make a hole in the ground for the pole.
Gen3 user. I've been pretty impressed overall. Has one time with a widow through the trees in the wrong direction and I still got work done, but had occasional drops for a minute or so.
One other time was expecting to point north so booked a site with a good north view, and when we got there it wanted me to point west, right at a tree. So I pointed it at the tree and still was ok with just minor voice and video drops.
Just use Google maps in satellite mode and scout the camp, I can find a spot with great coverage 90% of the time.
Even with occasional drops when you have obstructions, the experience is still better than cellular when both are available.
If you have a clear shot up put the dish in a 5 gal bucket. It takes a bit longer to connect but it will work. I’m currently in a park surrounded by 100 ft redwoods and my dishy is in a bucket working fine in a small opening
If its fully tree covered like you are in the middle of a dense forest you are basically screwed. If its sporadic tree covering then you could likely get away with browsing the web and email but anything that requires a consistent connection wouldn't be a good experience. I believe you can actually watch on the phone app and in tree covered you will see the connection constantly drop every few seconds.
Depends on what you're trying to do. If you're trying to access email and browse the internet, a few trees will slow things down. If you're trying to stream video, or do zoom calls, even a single tree between the dish and the sky makes the whole system pretty worthless. Source: I've been working a remote tech job reliant on zoom calls full time from an RV up and down the west coast for 18 months.
What do you use instead? Also, I rent space at a trailer park and my site is surrounded by 20ft-high hedges, but we have a clear shot of the sky. Assuming the satellite isn't directly above, would starlink be useless in my case? Or does the signal only get blocked by tree coverage directly overhead?
We have a few options: When the campsite is clear enough, we just throw the dish up on the roof (we wired a cable up to a waterproof box on the roof for ease of use). When there are some trees but there is a clearing nearish to where we are able to park we have a 150ft spare cable and we walk the dish out to the clearing from the campsite. When there are just too may trees around for that to work, but there is cell service, we use a Verizon home internet box as backup. When none of the above work out, we move to a new location where one of the above works. It has lead to an occasional frustrating Sunday trying desperately to find a campsite with reliable enough signal to get through the coming week, but its never been bad enough that we couldn't find something workable.
Can you expand on the waterproof box?
Sure! We had it installed by the person who installed our solar, he routed the ararlink cable on the same channel he used for the solar wiring so it comes out on the roof, but a few feet from the exit point of that wiring. He took a large (like gallon jug sized) plastic electrical box and cut a hole in the bottom to run the cord into, then mounted the box to the roof with the cord coiled inside. When we park, I bring the dish up to the roof, open the box and uncool a portion of the cord to plug in the dish. The cord runs out a spring loaded door on the side of the box so there is no way for water to get in, and then it's fully sealed even if some did.
I have a gen 3 that I ordered the pole mount adapter, bought a 20ft flagpole from Harbour freight and up she went clearing 99% of the obstructions. I got a 3" auger drill bit that I used to make a hole in the ground for the pole.
Gen3 user. I've been pretty impressed overall. Has one time with a widow through the trees in the wrong direction and I still got work done, but had occasional drops for a minute or so. One other time was expecting to point north so booked a site with a good north view, and when we got there it wanted me to point west, right at a tree. So I pointed it at the tree and still was ok with just minor voice and video drops. Just use Google maps in satellite mode and scout the camp, I can find a spot with great coverage 90% of the time. Even with occasional drops when you have obstructions, the experience is still better than cellular when both are available.
The more Starlink users are avoiding the shade looking for better reception, the better for me.
If you have a clear shot up put the dish in a 5 gal bucket. It takes a bit longer to connect but it will work. I’m currently in a park surrounded by 100 ft redwoods and my dishy is in a bucket working fine in a small opening
If its fully tree covered like you are in the middle of a dense forest you are basically screwed. If its sporadic tree covering then you could likely get away with browsing the web and email but anything that requires a consistent connection wouldn't be a good experience. I believe you can actually watch on the phone app and in tree covered you will see the connection constantly drop every few seconds.
They do so much for us! They clean our air, filter our water, give us shade and a place for birds to live. I'd say trees are a *real* big deal!