ArduSimple RTK

[5312]

Has anyone had any experience of these? Seems to be a very cheap way to get RTK for Agopengps.

https://www.ardusimple.com/store/

 

[cquick]

Mine are arriving on Monday - I'll let you know how I get on but they look very promising. I've heard of others using the F9P chip on other boards and it seems to work well.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

There’s a good webinar from u-blox on the capability of the new F9P. You have to register to watch it, but it’s quite good.

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/3573772724181699073

 

[clbarclay]

Mine are arriving on Monday - I'll let you know how I get on but they look very promising. I've heard of others using the F9P chip on other boards and it seems to work well.

Are you planning using Ntrip or their LR radio option for transmitting the correction?

I am considering buying a pair but not sure whether the low power UHF radio will be worth it. Max range from the base here would only be 2.5 km, but rolling terrain and a lot of trees in places of trees.

 

[Wombat]

If they are 868mhz then the radio performance won't be great. 450mhz range at 0.5w with a decent antenna would 2.5k easily but performance significantly drops at 868mhz

 

[cquick]

I'm using Ntrip, I'm hoping that I can pull out the Neo-M8P I have at the moment and plug one of these units into the server as a direct replacement.
When I started out using the C94-M8Ps I used the inbuilt 433mhz radio, but the range was pathetic. Not recommended unless you are in a dodgy area for mobile data, and even then I would build a box that you could place somewhere near the field that has signal, receive the ntrip stream and re-broadcast it locally over radio.

 

[Wombat]

I'm using Ntrip, I'm hoping that I can pull out the Neo-M8P I have at the moment and plug one of these units into the server as a direct replacement.
When I started out using the C94-M8Ps I used the inbuilt 433mhz radio, but the range was pathetic. Not recommended unless you are in a dodgy area for mobile data, and even then I would build a box that you could place somewhere near the field that has signal, receive the ntrip stream and re-broadcast it locally over radio.

433mhz has a crazy low power limit though without a license something like 10mW off the top of my head vs 500mW for the 6 channels around 458mhz

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

433mhz has a crazy low power limit though without a license something like 10mW off the top of my head vs 500mW for the 6 channels around 458mhz

The trouble is practically everything with a radio from garage door openers to baby monitors runs in 433 MHz. Its a really rubbish bit of spectrum to try and operate in.

1 watt is the UHF power limit before licensing in the UK. There's 15 channels (with 25 KHz channel separation) around 458 MHz that can be used at will.

Beyond 1 watt EIRP though and your into OFCOM territory, but its really no great shakes.

 

[Wombat]

The trouble is practically everything with a radio from garage door openers to baby monitors runs in 433 MHz. Its a really rubbish bit of spectrum to try and operate in.

1 watt is the UHF power limit before licensing in the UK. There's 15 channels (with 25 KHz channel separation) around 458 MHz that can be used at will.

Beyond 1 watt EIRP though and your into OFCOM territory, but its really no great shakes.

Unless they have changed it is 0.5w and agreed getting a license isn't too much work

 

[clbarclay]

Thanks for the replies, that seems to rule out the LR kits for anything other than mobile bases. The documents for them mention 2.4 GHz in europe (900 MHz elsewhere) and only 60 mW power.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Unless they have changed it is 0.5w and agreed getting a license isn't too much work

Had a double check of IR 2030 (page 30/31) and yes the limit is 0.5 watt ERP (or 0.82 watts EIRP) for the unlicensed frequencies around 458 MHz.

Going licensed of course gives you much more scope for higher power outputs and indeed the limits on our area defined licence is much greater at 100 watts ERP for a 25 KHz channel or 50 watts ERP on a 12.5 KHz channel. Which is plenty good enough with a high power 35 watt radio and a decent 3db or 6 dB gain omni antenna.

 

[Briantee]

Just wanted to mention AgOpenGPS now has a built in NTRIP client. Here is a video on it and snip caster and a bit of setting up your own base.

 

[Coreycow]

I bought the LR version of the kit. It works fine at the home farm but it needs line of sight. Once there is a hill between you and the base station it’s not going to get the signal. I’m going to set up NTRIP to be able to use the RTK on outside farms.

 

[cquick]

Well these boards have been in place for a couple of weeks now and I can say they are very impressive!
Left the base station unit to survey in for a little over a week, yielding an accuracy of 1.5cm. I was hoping to get down to 1cm but we had to go drilling.

Fix on the rover is achieved very quickly, between 1 and 5 seconds. Very useful when you are travelling in and out of signal but are still able to catch the occasional correction. Accuracy was (I think) on par with professional systems, although no way to verify that. Yesterday I managed to reduce the row spacing of our linseed by drilling twice, shifting the second pass so it drilled between the rows. It mostly worked even on a side slope, using a curved AB.

Video here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/baUMjzGNvEe777c5A

 

[5312]

That's pretty impressive

 

[Stuart J]

All this is fantastic, but when is someone going to use all this go put together a super low cost autosteer system for those of us that don't even know what RTK stands for...?