Sell me RTK

[Northdowns Martin]

Will running rtk help my operator’s short comings in experience? We run Greenstar starfire 1 on tractor for drilling but getting tramlines in correct place hasn’t been overly accurate although they are straight from stored AB lines. On the sprayer we run a simple Teejet matrix system using egnos. It has got shut off ability but the accuracy of the signal isn’t reliable enough so I only use it as a guide and still operate by ‘seat of pants’ and experience gain over many years of widening boom widths. My operator not having the opportunity of starting narrow and working to 24m isn’t ideal added to the limitations of the Teejet isn’t exactly helpful.
Will running system on rtk level of accuracy allow us to not drill in tramlines and when spraying will the AB lines be stored to give year on year repeat without having to ‘nudge’ them into correct place each time?

 

[Clive]

RTK will mean repeatable tramlines put in exactly the right place by your sprayer and auto shut off accurate to less than an inch

Do it will fix the issues you post

But it’s expensive so economics will depend upon s she a bit I guess

 

[B R C]

We are tending to not bother with tramlines except headland then tramlines are all put in from stored lines on Range point rtx, helps that all spraying/ fert is done with one tractor. Works well never had an issue with signal, and only have to nudge a tiny bit occasionally. On all combinables can't think of a reason for going to rtk.

 

[Matt77]

Upgrading to RTK on the sprayer might not be straight forward/cheap but it should sort your problem if you can.
It’s been said many times before, drilling tramlines are probably not the future, never had a problem with greens spoiling sample and I can’t remember the last time I used pre harvest round up in cereals.
I don’t know the John Deere ‘sf’ numbers but centrepoint on trimble is more than enough for repeatable tramlines, I only switched as we got asked to host a RTK mast, and get use of it, so no brainer.

 

[Northdowns Martin]

Thanks for replies I’m not overly worried about buying equipment as my attention to detail is important. It’s my need/wanting to get out of the tractor seat that is leading me down this path.

 

[Norm]

RTK and autosteer relieve the operator to such a great degree. I wish I had done it many years ago. So much more productive in a day now and the accuracy and repeatability keep the OCD at bay!! You need to get auto shut off on the sprayer to the top of the list though.

 

[Clive]

We are tending to not bother with tramlines except headland then tramlines are all put in from stored lines on Range point rtx, helps that all spraying/ fert is done with one tractor. Works well never had an issue with signal, and only have to nudge a tiny bit occasionally. On all combinables can't think of a reason for going to rtk.

headland tramlines on RTK auto-steer are one of the best things about it - not so much as a scratch on the break-back of a 36m boom ever as you can just shunt the drill track 18m to get a perfect following of the crop edge

help a lot with my OCD - I don't like seeing machinery with scratched paint !

 

[Norm]

My boom ends are polished because i like to get graminicides over the edge of the crop to prevent ingress of nasties