Had a moment of reflection about what I want to do on Twitch, specifically, if I want to do reruns. The answer is no, reruns are not “live.” The end.
Yesterday did a test of the IRL rig for the bike since reworking it. I realized that the Orange Pi Plus doesn’t have the power for three wifi dongles when powered from a Baseus 30,000 mAh 5v/3a USB-C cable. (The Plus actually takes 5v/4a but has worked for more than a year with the 3a.) So back to Ethernet, which is just best all around because it reduces the power consumption of the hotspot itself by allowing disabling wifi entirely. It just means I have to keep the modem/hotspot close to the Pi, so I velcroed it to it.
I’m experimenting with the form factor of the IRL rig because I now only need the one hotspot when combined with Starlink Mini, which must always have it’s own location (on the rear-rack of the bike). I would really like everything to be modular so that I could adjust and do mountain bike trail riding again just by moving electronics modules around.
The question of cost is still a real one. Starlink unlimited is 150 per month. That’s two Verizon “unlimited” accounts (80GB/month ea.). The Starlink is absolutely useless under any tree cover, which means I can never stream MB trails with it at all. The best possible MB trail stream I did was with three hotspots combined. It rocked!! But that is an entirely different IRL rig that I have to wear on my back with several more batteries, etc.
On the other hand, the Mini has made streaming in places that were completely impossible before, including remote areas of Southern Utah and my entire road trip across America. This stuff is 100% unstreamable without a Starlink. Places that I could not stream even in suburbia here are now fine. But when I go on paths with trees and am forced to only use the single modem things get ugly. Ideally, having three modems plus a Starlink Mini would be ideal, but that would be something like 400 per month and would be a lot to carry around weight wise. I do think that two modems plus the Starlink is probably better, but still weighing the options, literally.
The cost of the Starlink during most of the year is really suspect. If I just keep biking on my Goblin route then the Starlink is actually not as good as the modems. But if I want to explore some of the scenic areas out on the lake peninsula or routes that lead into Charlotte and the like then having the Starlink ensures I am never unable to stream. I had that experience once when doing a Linville Gorge trip. There were regions where I couldn’t stream anything or even use my phone for miles. I can now return to those places and stream most of them without a problem, they are some of the most amazing places on Earth and streaming them would be fun for people and me since I get to go places that are not limited by cell-phone coverage.
I suppose the cost is still offset by the YouTube and Twitch income, barely. So as long as I still produce some sort of useful content it won’t become just a very expensive hobby.
I knew I would miss it after I got it so dialed in. Now that we are just about settled after the latest move I’m really feeling a desire to go mountain biking on the trails here that I have not hit before. And I can literally throw a rock into my favorite spot on the lake from my new apartment. We have so many fun things to do that I don’t even have to drive to now that having a hard time picking one.
The problem with mountain biking is the IRL streaming gear is highly specialized to deal with all the challenging conditions, the vibration, leaves, low-light, distance from mobile services, etc. I need to try these trails around here and see if a single modem/hotspot can actually cover it. There is a tower closer than the other place I used to go. We’ll see.
Paddle boarding would be much better with Starlink. In fact, I could create some sort of little boat that I tow that has all the IRL gear on it in a weather-protected way when needed. Then I can get the competition/adventure board my wife unexpectedly suggested I buy now that we are moved and just toe it with a light line. Since next year is the year of stay-cation with family moving in temporarily after college that seems like the year to target getting all the paddle board stuff working. We still have four inflatables and all the PFDs and paddles for everything from when I used to run a business taking people out for lake adventures.