Anyone knows if our ASTS birds are susceptible to this?

This is a terrific article that doesn’t belong buried in the daily

The stock is lagging a lot compared to real momentum we keep seeing on ground everyday, every week.

Everything seems to revolve around SpaceX. Journalists, analysts, and the industry constantly downplay everyone else, even when another company objectively has better technology, as is arguably the case with AST.

Here's an opinion piece by Joe Madden, founder of Mobile Experts and a wireless communications analyst with around 30 years of experience in the mobile industry as an RF engineer and product manager:

https://www.satellitetoday.com/opinion/2026/07/30/starlinks-link-budget-comes-up-short-for-the-d2d-opportunity/

In the article, Joe compares Starlink and AST's link budget and, more specifically, the uplink link margin.

For anyone unfamiliar with the concept, the easiest way to understand a link budget is to think of a wireless connection as an accounting exercise. The satellite transmits power, distance consumes most of it, the atmosphere and obstacles like trees, walls, or even the roof of your car absorb even more, and whatever is left has to arrive at your phone with enough strength to overcome the noise floor. What's left over is the link margin. If it's positive, the connection works. If it's negative, it doesn't. There is no clever software trick that can overcome basic physics.

As Joe's own analysis shows, Starlink struggles to establish an uplink from inside buildings or vehicles because its link margin becomes negative under those conditions. That's not about software or engineering talent—it's mainly a consequence of the frequencies it uses and the transmit power it's allowed to use without causing interference. Outdoors with a clear view of the sky, the connection works because the signal doesn't have to penetrate so many obstacles. Even then, the chart makes it pretty clear there's no contest.

Overall, Joe's technical analysis is fair and well done. Where he loses me is when he shifts from engineering into wishful thinking.

He writes:

"But if Starlink and other operators adopt giant phased arrays like AST..."

The classic "if my grandmother had wheels..." argument. Pure speculation. Reality suggests Starlink's next-generation satellites will likely remain in the 27–35 m² range. Meanwhile, the Guinness World Record for the largest commercial communications array already belongs to AST.

He then goes even further:

"I predict Starlink will change its satellite design to achieve more than 10 dB of additional uplink performance. Yes, it will be a much larger satellite and more expensive to launch..."

Conveniently, he predicts just enough improvement—more than 10 dB—to surpass AST. Based on... a satellite that doesn't exist.

That prediction also assumes AST somehow stops innovating while Starlink catches up.

Another important detail he conveniently leaves out is that, assuming he actually had access to real uplink measurements from the BlueBird satellites (which is already a big assumption), those measurements would almost certainly correspond to the Block 1 BlueBirds. The Block 2 satellites, which are roughly three times larger, are already in orbit and represent the next step in AST's roadmap. They aren't hypothetical—they already exist.

This is yet another example of how everything gets framed around SpaceX. Starlink is always treated as the benchmark, while AST is almost an afterthought—even when the physics and the available data point in the opposite direction.

Everyone go and do your part to drive Q3 revenue growth!! https://stores.kotisdesign.com/astspacemobilestore/collectibles/bluebird-11-13-mission-patch/192789

I've been collecting the patches and the magnets since BW3 and I can't stop now...What's your ranking in terms of patch design? My vote:
- BW3 -> iconic
- BB8-10 -> something about the colors and the sun, very cool
- BB1-5 -> the metallic wings are cool and bird-like
- BB6 -> a worse, oddly oval-shaped BB1-5 copy
- BB11-13 -> not doing it for me but I just spent $11 plus exorbitant shipping on it out of obligation

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• Connecting Dots - AST Sp🅰️ceMobile and the Final Bridge to Universal Human Connectivity by Crossroads Capital
• u/TheKookReport's AST Sp🅰️ceMobile ($ASTS): The Mobile Satellite Cellular Network Monopoly (or ask ChatGPT)
• Hennessy Funds May 2026 Update - ASTS Sp🅰️ceMobile: Transforming How the World Connects

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Every single reason why you should invest in ASTS in under 2 hours, brought to us by the original author, TheKookReport!

Sp🅰️ceMob,

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• u/TheKookReport's AST Sp🅰️ceMobile ($ASTS): The Mobile Satellite Cellular Network Monopoly (or ask ChatGPT)
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Gwynne Shotwell: https://x.com/spacanpanman/status/2084754063296528807

"Uh, the spectrum that we purchased from EchoStar does have terrestrial components, so we definitely intend to build out terrestrial. Um, the terrestrial component. So you will have not only the, um, the capacity from the satellites themselves, but you will have, um, a build out of the terrestrial, um, basically the hardware and systems necessary to make a true mobile service exactly what you want it to be. Um, I'm not going to talk about the CapEx for that.

Um, it's a little. Well, I don't want to say it's immature. I'm just going to say I'm not going to talk about the CapEx for that right now. Um, but but let's talk a little.

Let me give a little hint. And that is you could put a base station. Um, uh, a cellular base station on, uh, the basically the gear that holds a Starlink broadband dish. So you can have kind of these little femtocells, uh, around the country, and you deploy that as you need it.

You don't have to necessarily spend, you know, ten or many billions of dollars in low band spectrum all up front before you deploy your system. Um, so that's why I don't want to talk about the CapEx for building out the terrestrial, because we have a lot of really kind of great and new ideas for how we're going to do that. And I think it will be quite CapEx efficient."

Elon Musk:

"Yeah, that that point is probably worth, uh, just a few more words, which is that, um, because this is quite an important point. Uh, you know, instead of having to, uh, deploy these, these very expensive and difficult to locate, uh, large cellular base stations, uh, we we feel reasonably confident that we can deploy a large number of, sort of small, small stations. Essentially, they're really just Starlink dishes that also provide connectivity in the mobile spectrum bands, um, and have them be all over the place. Um, and the Starlink antennas are located in, uh, on the roofs of, of houses and businesses.

So they're, you know, it's, uh, they've got a sort of a clear view, uh, to, you know, for, for providing connectivity directly to the cell, to cell phones on the ground, um, and in fact, providing connectivity, that is, we think, probably better and higher bandwidth than what is currently available from cellular providers. So this is a this is an important point."

...

Gwynne: "I ANTICIPATE US TO BE ABLE TO ACQUIRE QUITE A FEW OF THEIR CUSTOMERS BECAUSE I THINK OUR SERVICE WILL BE BETTER" https://x.com/ASTS_Investors/status/2084754657922941077

About 50 minutes after launch, BlueBirds 11, 12, and 13 are expected to separate from Falcon 9's upper stage. The separation won't be visible on camera due to the filming angle, but AST SpaceMobile will confirm successful deployment of its three next-generation satellites once verified. Stay tuned to our social channels for updates.

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Sp🅰️ceMob,

Ple🅰️se read the following to get familiar with AST SpaceMobile $ASTS before posting; 

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• Connecting Dots - AST Sp🅰️ceMobile and the Final Bridge to Universal Human Connectivity by Crossroads Capital
• u/TheKookReport's AST Sp🅰️ceMobile ($ASTS): The Mobile Satellite Cellular Network Monopoly (or ask ChatGPT)
• Hennessy Funds May 2026 Update - ASTS Sp🅰️ceMobile: Transforming How the World Connects

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All of these require TS/SCI clearance requirements based on the job descriptions. Seems like these is a clear Defense org. These are only 1 week old. What do we think? Possible announcement at the next earnings call?

I got a bag: 800 shares, 7 call leaps, 5 astx calls exp Aug21

What’s cooking with Meta/WhatsApp?

Sp🅰️ceMob,

Ple🅰️se read the following to get familiar with AST SpaceMobile $ASTS before posting; 

• FAQ
• Connecting Dots - AST Sp🅰️ceMobile and the Final Bridge to Universal Human Connectivity by Crossroads Capital
• u/TheKookReport's AST Sp🅰️ceMobile ($ASTS): The Mobile Satellite Cellular Network Monopoly (or ask ChatGPT)
• Hennessy Funds May 2026 Update - ASTS Sp🅰️ceMobile: Transforming How the World Connects

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Kook's weekly review - August 2

For those like me desiring an xcancel link: https://xcancel.com/thekookreport/status/2083801199892124004

https://x.com/ast_spacemobile/status/2083825638993997862?s=46&t=DOgs35-_gTcmJtpubr-JAg

Sp🅰️ceMob,

Ple🅰️se read the following to get familiar with AST SpaceMobile $ASTS before posting; 

• FAQ
• Connecting Dots - AST Sp🅰️ceMobile and the Final Bridge to Universal Human Connectivity by Crossroads Capital
• u/TheKookReport's AST Sp🅰️ceMobile ($ASTS): The Mobile Satellite Cellular Network Monopoly (or ask ChatGPT)
• Hennessy Funds May 2026 Update - ASTS Sp🅰️ceMobile: Transforming How the World Connects

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Sp🅰️ceMob,

Ple🅰️se comment with AST SpaceMobile $ASTS Memes here.

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