I was out on a small job this morning for the rural electric co-op placing a new aerial line.?ÿ As far as jobs go it was easy and not too long and all the corners were in and I figgered I'd be out of there in an hour or two.
I had my base high on a hill about 500 yards south of the east-west section line where the work was going on.?ÿ After my last shot I headed back down the road to pick up the base and start thinking about lunch.?ÿ Now the narrow road was blocked by a fairly large tractor with a gang of discs in tow all folded up.?ÿ I bet this rig could disc up a city block in two passes.
The operator was out on the ground talking on a cell phone and looking at the only house in that section, almost a half mile north.?ÿ What intrigued me was in his other had he appeared to have a piece of equipment that looked a lot like a DC.?ÿ I got out to see if he needed a ride or something. My only other alternative was to backtrack 4 mile?ÿaround to get to the other side.?ÿ
He said he'd move in a minute.?ÿ He was in the middle of trying to tell his wife how to 'reset' his GPS base at the house "cause the whole thing is screwed up"... he was a little agitated..
After he hung up he showed me his screen and I it was evident it was screwed up.?ÿ It showed his equipment about 1500' north of his house, out in the field facing east.?ÿ His equipment was definitely south of the house 2000' and facing west.?ÿ I suddenly realized his "rover" had latched on to my base and had the whole world turned upside down.
Before his wife called back I explained I had a base on top of the hill to the south and was still running.?ÿ I asked him to let me get up there and turn it off to see if that might help.?ÿ I also told him he probably needed to shut off his unit until I could get up there.?ÿ He moved so I could get around him to race up the hill and stowed all my gear in the truck.
By the time I got back down there he had a different look on his face; he was happy.?ÿ He also asked me to let him know if I was ever going to back out there. I agreed.
I get gigged by some of these pipeline outfits and their bases sometimes.?ÿ This was the first time I've ever gigged a tractor with my base.
Luckily he was paying attention.?ÿ Ive had a couple times where my rig would wander off while I was looking back or checking the phone.?ÿ However, you can plant more corn in a crooked row than a straight one I guess.
It would seem reasonable for the rover design to check an autonomous position and flag when the base-rover position disagreed by more than say 30 or 50 meters.
Look at it this way.... at least the tractor had an operator!?ÿ Will be pretty soon you just tell it to go and plow the field - if the base position is bad, it could be plowing up the expressway!
Interesting...
Out near our house, there is a small development going in and almost ALL of the equipment doing the dirt work has at least one GPS receiver attached to it and the base is sitting in the median of the road. I've been on the office side of machine control but never on the application end. Looks impressive every time I drive by, twice a day.
T. Nelson - SAM
It would seem reasonable for the rover design to check an autonomous position and flag when the base-rover position disagreed by more than say 30 or 50 meters.
I don't know Bill, but you would think the software could tell if something was going on.?ÿ If my rover's reception of my base gets walked on by a stronger (or closer) base, I get one careen that says "your base position has moved" and if you inadvertently click OK... the whole file gets flipped around.?ÿ Other than that, my Survey Pro 5.2.1 gets along real well.
If this happens (and it does occasionally) I have to shut down and reconfigure my base to another frequency....of find the other base and steal their battery and antenna coax... ??ÿ
That is strange, picking up a nearby base can mess things up, but usually it's a small shift which is sometimes worse than a big one. After all the base is not broadcasting an xyz coordinate. It's strange that he was so far out. I even had a guy I was working with who set out a base, I went over a big hill and could only PPK the section corners all day long, he was up high having a terrible time getting fixed and?ÿrunning some topo, when we downloaded it he was tied into a base 60 miles to the east and his radio was down. Still the XYZ's were OKish. As long as your Lat, Long, height at the other base is OK you should be able to tie into it and be very close.
I was hoping someone smarter than me could explain "different base syndrome".?ÿ My experience with it is not just a "small shift".?ÿ I've seen horrible rotation and horizontal shift of miles.?ÿ?ÿ I'm sure it is all in the software.?ÿ Hopefully there's a guru out there that can make sense of it....in short single syllable words just for my pre-Alzheimer brain... ? ?ÿ
GPS = go plow southwesterly
............or is it southeasterly?
When you first setup a base, all the software I have used checks to see if the Lat/Lon manual in the software is within 500m of the current Lat/Lon position?ÿof the base. I have seen the warning that the base coordinates is NOT within?ÿ500m of the current position.?ÿ The data collection software should warn when a new base is detected. All that being said, in order for the rover to read another base all protocols?ÿand radio?ÿparameters?ÿmust match including:
- Radio frequency
- Channel spacing
- Baud rate
- Protocol such as?ÿCMR, CMR+, RTCM3
- ?ÿ
...He also asked me to let him know if I was ever going [to] back out there. I agreed.
So now, do you go knock on every ones door, before you set up your base; just to see if they're discing today or not?
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...He also asked me to let him know if I was ever going [to] back out there. I agreed.
So now, do you go knock on every ones door, before you set up your base; just to see if they're discing today or not?
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Hey.?ÿ I'm still a surveyor.?ÿ I'm gonna tell a property owner ANYTHING they want to hear just so I can get back in my truck and skeedaddle.?ÿ
You know the drill....
Suggest getting a handheld scanner and check your frequency prior to setting base.
hmmmmmpf- I was kind of expecting some sort of near death experience......?ÿ?ÿ 😉
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...I was kind of expecting some sort of near death experience......?ÿ?ÿ 😉
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I've already had mine for the year, thank you?ÿvery much.. ??ÿ