With the Dreamcatcher and powered antenna, assuming no obstructions and a clear line of sight, how carefully must I point the antenna? Must it be pointed within five degrees of the satellite? 30 degrees? Can I just point it straight vertical?
I’m in Australia and I know the satellite is down now - otherwise I’d test it out empirically. But since there’s no signal now, I’d like to hear from you all. Thanks!
I live outside of Washington, DC, with lat of 30 degrees North on Americas 98 W…
Normally I point right on and at a given time (like this time when I did a comparison test for you) will receive a 9 dB SNR and signal level of about -107 dBm. I can lie my antenna flat on its back
and loose about 3 dB of SNR (dropping to 6 with a corresponding drop of signal level to about -109 dBm).
I’m using the active antenna with a Dreamcatcher all mouinted in one of the old Lantern Alpha cases with a clear plastic cover. I could never do this with the old patch antenna which only worked well flat in tropical latitudes. Ken
Awesome, thank you!
May I just ask, what SNR is necessary to reliably decode packets?
I think the brains behind Outernet say 4 dB. But you know, when things are good you’ll be up there over 6 dB, and when things go South, you’ll be below 2 dB. 
Right now all of us in the Americas and Europe/Africa are waiting for downloads to start again. You’re really in an area with bad luck for now, and I know how valuable Outernet can be in Australia where the Outback is so vast.
Ken
