Thanks on the Parani threads (and a little bit on the TopCon 802a)

I've got at least 4 parani threads bookmarked from the postings here.

With those threads, the included pictures and general discussion and a little bit of luck, I've successfully gotten the old TopCon 802a that Joe the Surveyor sent my way up and running on Bluetooth. For a guy that's been all total station for many years (working mostly as a solo operator these days) It rocks.

So, thanks to all y'all and the board, in general.

No pics to add at this time. But, here are the threads I've mainly used (there are more out there I just haven't bookmarked them):

https://surveyorconnect.com/threads/bluetooth-adapter-for-total-station-cable.176260/
https://surveyorconnect.com/threads/how-not-to-buy-a-bluetooth-radio.307343/
https://surveyorconnect.com/threads/parani-setup-pictures-please.225244/
https://surveyorconnect.com/threads/surveyor-with-parani-before-after.322154/

On the 802a:
these are the settings I'm using to get the devices to talk.

Parameters menu for communication set for RS232C

• 4800 baud
• 8 bit
• 'none' parity
• Stop = 1
• Delimit 'ETX'

In TopCon for external control, set to control by "Cable" w/ the parameter for "Cable" as RS232C.

A couple of idiosyncrasies:

1. To re-connect when prism is lost, I manually activate the RC (dog whistle) and then hit the search on my DC. The DC search key doesn't fire the dog-whistle.
2. At initial setup on a control point (just prior to backsight), I manually aim the gun at the prism and use the "star" menu to activate auto-search/ lock before I begin work. Before trying this, I was inconsistently getting the gun to spin to me for initial backsight and was wasting a lot of time getting up and running from any particular setup. Using this process, I call the gun and get right to work.
3. An early attempt with the Parani's had them connected at 9600 baud with success. This mysteriously quit working and since I've been using 4800 with no problems. I don't know if the difference in speed is costing me time but, I'm consistently communicating and that's what counts.
4. 19.2k baud did not work for me at all (seems to be popular with newer equipment).

Thanks again.