Davey Farming & RTK Network

All bugs fixed

john — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 04:04:11 +0000

For the past 12 months I’ve been battling a CMR age bug that would randomly cause the GPS’s to drop to float or even DGPS. Thank’s to assistance from Trimble support it’s now fixed.

Upgrading the SNB900 repeaters to v2.21a firmware appear to have fixed all problems. Any where that we expect to get RTK lock we are getting lock and maintaining it. The network is working at the level I expect and users are getting lock out to 50km from the bases.

BATTERIES!!!!

john — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:22:50 +0000

I’ve been able to reconfigure the network so that all currently active users have not required to use the primary repeater & communication hub site. This has allowed me to conduct some runtime tests in overcast weather and run the batteries flat. My Solar panel /battery calculations have proven accurate. So I’ve reconnected the second battery bank and am provisioning for a larger battery bank for the next phase of my expansion.

Apart from when I’ve been testing no site has run flat in over 2 years.

Checked the RTK Base Station Survey

john — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:13:29 +0000

Checked the RTK Base Station positions (Survey) today from a point approximately 30km from each and found them all to be within 3cm relative to each other. Users can switch between base stations and they will not notice any difference.

Will start to run a new survey program next month to check that no new multipath interference issues have arizen.

Added New Base station

john — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 12:14:35 +0000

Base station at Kadina is now operational on Network 20. Also added a repeater for expanded coverage. Should reach nearly up to Pt Broughton and across to Wallaroo.

New R7 RTK Base Station

john — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:02:07 +0000

Got a Trimble R7 GPS today. At the moment I’ve got it setup as the main base and running a survey to verify the GDA94 position of the base station. Most RTK providers do not bother about a proper survey and then can not understand why users experience a position shift when switching between Bases. I aim to get all my bases to within 3cm relative to each other.

Network Status & Coverage

john — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:40:56 +0000

While there are some black spots the Network currently covers an area from north of Kadina, Bute and Locheil. East to Hoyleton, Balaklava & Owen. West to Maitland & Arthurton and south of Ardrossan & Wild Horse Plains.

Network 21 - Active, available for signal testing. Any properly configured SiteNet900, Joey or SNB900 radio can access this signal.
Network 22 - Pending, installation of Kadina Base Station in early 2010
Network 23 - Pending
Network 24 - Active, Secured Restricted Signal

New RTK Base stations

john — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:19:56 +0000

I’ve just aquired some more Trimble GPS RTK base stations and I will be looking to install them early in 2010. The first one will be in the Kadina area as soon as I find a suitable site.

While these stations are being installed & tested the siganl is open to all users.

Bad CMR Bug appears to be Isolated

john — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:48:49 +0000

I’ve been talking to one of the local Trimble support people and he beleives that the BAD CMR bug has been identified. Randomly a GGA string gets dropped and then on the next string the CMR age blows right out.

Lets hope that it gets fixed soon. The Trimble equipment is really great stuff to use and apart from this one issue, the quality & reliability is the best I’ve used. When this issue is resolved I’d have no problems recommending the equipment to any one.

900 MHz Radio Range & CMR

john — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:08:22 +0000

While we’ve been able to acheive up to 70km range with the SNR900 & Sitenet900 radios this far exceeds practical use. Over 50km in range it is difficult to get a Fixed RTK solution it is predominatly RTK Float .

The Eziguide 500 requires a Fixed RTK solution to autosteer when configured for RTK. Feeding NMEA strings from our Trimble 332′s & 252′s to our X20/ProSteers we can use autosteer with a RTK float solution and have been able to do this at over 50km in range.

CMR+ gives best results

john — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:15:22 +0000

Switched from CMR+ back to CMR this week with a noticable drop in received CMR packets at the repeaters & rovers. Aprox 90% switched back to CMR+ today with reception immediately back to 100%