mobile base station

PSQ · Aug 13, 2015

Northern farmer said:
I've never heard of a driver who wants to go back to something less accurate after running on RTK for a while?

Probably because he'd feel like a bit of a dick for buying 2 unlocks and a radio module @ C. £4500, and not using them.
RTX is more than sufficient unless doing precision veg work. It also costs only £220 if bought direct from Trimble, or £250 through an agent

To the OP, I wouldn't bother with an RTK base, at least not until you have more seat time with the cheaper alternatives.

Robert Ramsay · Aug 13, 2015

EssentialsNet is RTK system based on a very large privately owned network of bases connected to NTRIP server. The rover unit connects to a single base, the closest one in to him. The signal is delivered over the phone network.

Colin · Aug 18, 2015

Robert Ramsay said:
EssentialsNet is RTK system based on a very large privately owned network of bases connected to NTRIP server. The rover unit connects to a single base, the closest one in to him. The signal is delivered over the phone network.

Cough, phone signal, cough

Northern farmer · Aug 18, 2015

Colin said:
Cough, phone signal, cough

You are not the first one to say that. Is it really so bad in the UK, even if you were allowed to pick up the best service provider for your fields?

I come from 10 times (literally, at least 10 time) more sparsely populated area of the EU and I cannot find a single spot to put the tractor without phone signal in the cabin. If you put a good antenna on the roof, you could work even if you were not able to make calls.

Or is it congestion, or a combination? How come you accept it, should be able to make calls from the tractor cabin at any time.

Colin · Aug 18, 2015

We use essentials net and we do suffer from poor phone signal but we also had problems when on omnistar from tree shading etc. mobile phone signal varies a lot between providers but no one system seems to give enough signal over the whole area. However so,e of our problems are undoubtedly to do with software problems on the host tractor

Robt · Aug 18, 2015

How does tractor software affect mobile rtk signal????

Robert Ramsay · Aug 19, 2015

JD and Trimble have Xfill type products. This means that if you lose signal for a short period it continues to steer accurately. Mobile RTK signal works well on these platforms. Usually signal problem comes from being kicked off and having to reacquire and the xfill bridges this gap.

dorsetcherry · Dec 18, 2017

I think you confused the simple farmer with that broadcast but very interesting data set! does the system you have built intergrat ewith CNH agriculture? I have been out of the game for too long and think I might just pay 8.5K to my new Holland rep to deliver my business the above?

Wheatseeker · Jan 11, 2018

sep said:
the rep has a second hand mobile base station he thinks I need
what do I need to know about it
thanks for all help or advice

Find out what model it is and what radio it has with it. Also ask the channel spacing of the radio as that might limit what you can do with it as a base. I haven’t come across any that can’t be used as a fixed base as the principle is exactly the same - ie it is a ground based reference station. All you are doing is leaving it in one place instead of moving it around.
As for 12volt power supply versus mains on a fixed base, they are all 12 volt anyway and all you need is a 240v to 12v transformer with regulator and battery backup. There are some sophisticated units available online that do all this for around £50.

Pheasant Surprise · Jan 11, 2018

Wow what a blast from the past this old thread is.

Anyway hope the OP found a solution that is working well for him! @sep

Soon_60 · Jan 12, 2018

The original post is old. But there are still good arguments in more recent posts!

Now that PPP kind of things (RTX, TerraStar etc) are coming in strongly as the sky is full of different satellite systems (GPS GLONAS BEIDOU GALILEO) one can get some old "obsolute" GPS only stuff at a very feasible price.

To put up your own L1 L2 RTK base can be only somewhere abound 1,5k (€ or £ or $) if you do good smart deals on used high quality stuff and you go GPS only. You need an antenna, receiver, radio / PC with NTRP & cellulars modem stuff, and maybe also an UPS.

To do RTK you only need 5 same sats visible at your base antenna and your tractor antenna at the same time. So it is a thing most important is to have a good sky view at your base and also from tractor antenna. Also view to the north is important as orbiting sats are visible there also a little bit.

SBAS sats like EGNOS, OMNISAR or RTX broadcast from geostationary sites above the equator. To use these correction signals you need to have a good south view, the better the further north you are farming. But with RTK you just need 5 common sats.

--------------
The purpose of this post was only to give some inspiration to small farmers willing to teach their old iron some new tricks.
Study a bit and look around. We also have a chance to survive!

Pheasant Surprise · Jan 13, 2018

Soon_60 said:
To put up your own L1 L2 RTK base can be only somewhere abound 1,5k (€ or £ or $) if you do good smart deals on used high quality stuff and you go GPS only. You need an antenna, receiver, radio / PC with NTRP & cellulars modem stuff, and maybe also an UPS.

Nice idea in theory, but I think your budget is slightly out

Soon_60 · Jan 13, 2018

Slightly out? Still too expensive?

OK - maybe you can still save a bit if you can use your house internet connection and don't get an UPS.
I had to get a separate 3G connection ( about 10 € per month) for my cellular base as my antenna is a bit too far from house.

Here are my cost. I have done 2 of them so I know.
Receiver + antenna: 800 - 1200 (Trimble 5700 / NetRS + geodetic antenna) from ebay
used pc: 50 - 200
Ubuntu / Lubuntu Linux: 0
SNIP-NTRIP caster free lite version: 0
UPS: 90 - 140
3G router: 80 - 160
cables etc: 50 - 150
All together: 1070 - 1850 (all prices are VAT 0%)
.

Northern farmer · Jan 13, 2018

Looks like those receivers are easy to find from eBay at the price mentioned above. I guess the key is "GPS only"? If conditions are not challenging, it probably works well.

Pheasant Surprise · Jan 13, 2018

Northern farmer said:
Looks like those receivers are easy to find from eBay at the price mentioned above. I guess the key is "GPS only"? If conditions are not challenging, it probably works well.

Going to be another grand at least for a dual constellation L1/2 ‘name brand’ older receiver. The other option is to look at a new low cost L1 only receiver that are multi constellation like Emlid’s Reach.

I guess as long as you’re aware of the limitations then that’s OK.

Soon_60 · Jan 13, 2018

Actually last summer I used both my own GPS only L1/L2 base and 1 VRS stream from Leica.
I have 2 RTK unlocked displays: an ez-500 GPS and a cfx-750 GPS+Glonass.
Wanted to test my own base but kept the paid VRS to be sure to get all my work done.

Most of the summer I was using only my own base on both of my displays. And I am really surprised how well it worked also near trees. Used it on fields up to 20 km from my base.

I have no experience on L1 only RTK. Would it work with my receivers?

There was some nicely priced NetR5 receivers GPS+Glonass (about 1,5 k without antenna) on ebay about a month ago. All 10 of them were sold quite fast. Managed to get one of them and it appeared to be a clean and working unit... Usually the asking price for these dual constellation L1/L1 units is at least 2,5-3k as Pheasant Surprise says.

Pheasant Surprise · Jan 13, 2018

Soon_60 said:
There was some nicely priced NetR5 receivers GPS+Glonass (about 1,5 k without antenna) on ebay about a month ago. All 10 of them were sold quite fast. Managed to get one of them and it appeared to be a clean and working unit... Usually the asking price for these dual constellation L1/L1 units is at least 2,5-3k as Pheasant Surprise says.

Looks like you picked those receivers up for a bargain. They were probably close to £7 or £8k new a few short years ago and you don’t usually see them sold second hand for less than about £2.5k as you say

Pheasant Surprise · Jan 15, 2018

Where are you based @Soon_60 ? Were the NetR5 receivers out of the UK or elsewhere?

Usually when a job lot of identical receivers comes up for sale on eBay or the like then someone (like a service provider) is doing an infrastructure refresh on their own network. That’s a good sign they’ve been looked after and probably in decent nic.

Soon_60 · Jan 15, 2018

I'm based in EU and will be after brexit also..
You can easily find the lot from which I got my latest item searching the sold listings on ebay. A small company overseas dealing used equipment...

Naturally there is always a risk to buy used stuff from ebay. And with these infrastructure or construction gps stuff there is also a potential problem with the firmware warranty dates. It will determine how new firmware updates can be installed. This might become a problem if there are things like receiver reporting wrong gps-week or not being able to handle leap seconds or something like that. If you happen to have a good dealer nearby you might get some help on these things for a reasonable cost.
But mainly for support you are on your own with these ebay items.

The safe and easy option for corrections is to get them from a reliable national or local source.

But if you have more time than money and don't want so bad to get latest new gadgets - it is interesting!

Pheasant Surprise · Jan 15, 2018

Soon_60 said:
I'm based in EU and will be after brexit also..

Ok so that narrows it down to 27 countries.

Don't worry I'm okay really.

Soon_60 said:
And with these infrastructure or construction gps stuff there is also a potential problem with the firmware warranty dates. It will determine how new firmware updates can be installed. This might become a problem if there are things like receiver reporting wrong gps-week or not being able to handle leap seconds or something like that.

Yep been there, got the T-shirt. Our friends from Switzerland like doing that with their reference receiver firmware too, no pay the organ grinder, no can install the updated firmware, as the box is technically "out of maintenance". Pay the money, update the firmware.

Definitely something to be aware of for sure if you're looking at receivers out of the survey/reference receiver space.

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