I have an opportunity to purchase a Trimble R7 GNSS. It currently has firmware 4.44. It appears there are a number of new versions, latest being 5.00.
Are there any MAJOR differences in these firmware versions? I keep my R8's and my R10 up-to-date, but I have two 4700's, a 5700, and a 4400 all with old firmware that work just fine.
Also, some places on the trimble web pages for the R7 they have statements indicating that the later versions of these receivers have a web GUI. But I don't think this does, not sure how that would be possible since it only has three serial ports and BT. What I would like to be able to do is hook a cell modem with serial interface up to it and be able to access RTK corrections (i.e. use it as a base), or, alternatively, set it to output RTCM to an NTRIP server/caster. Is anyone here doing this, i.e. transmitting RTK corrections (CRX) over a cell link? I currently use my R10 as a base, but it is setup as an Ntrip caster (built-in), which works great.
John,
I had an R7 GNSS set up as a semi-permanent base at a field office for quite a while but it was hooked to a PC that was running the Trimble Streaming software. We streamed the data to our network at the home office and re-routed it to another port where multiple crews could access it. That setup used two dedicated PCs but we had those on hand. I'm not sure how to go about the RS232 - cellular part; we used to do it before WiFi and NTRP came along but you had to call into the base from the rover and therefore could only run one rover off it.
I tried to purchase more copies of the Trimble Streaming software last year and they sent me something called the Pivot Platform, which as far as I can tell is utterly useless. If the excellent functionality of Streaming is buried in there somewhere I haven't found it.
As far as the firmware, the only issue I'm aware of is that you have to be at a certain version before it will support CMRx, and I'm not sure what that version number is. The first thing I would do would be check the firmware expiration date and then go on Trimble's site and get the last version that it's eligible for and install it. Depending on how much you can get the receiver for, it may be worth paying for the update.
The only web GUI I've seen on a Trimble receiver that was worth the effort of using is on the R10, which has WiFi. I haven't seen an R8s though. If I had to set up an R7 in the field I'd use a laptop running GPS Configurator; we use that program all the time on our boats.
Thanks, Lee. I have the receiver today for testing, I used GPS Configurator to figure out what it has, which appears to be standard options (RTCM in/out, NMEA in/out, etc) except there is no transmit option for the radio (which is probably normal, unlike the R8's which do transmit/receive). It does come with a Zephyr geodetic model 2, so it is getting both GPS and Glonass. So far everything seems to work fine, tried it static, as an rtk rover, and as a vrs rover. No problems.
Last year I bought another 4700 to use as a static receiver, of course it doesn't have Glonass which this does, but it was a lot cheaper. We do a lot of static work, but are starting to do more RTK over cell links.
Yes, the R7 GNSS supports all the standard stuff (RTCM, NMEA, etc.). As you found, the radio does not have a transmit option, nor was one offered (at least while I was selling/supporting them). If I remember correctly, it's a 72 channel board; it supports L2C and GLONASS and I'm pretty sure they all support L5. At some point Omni Star was added; I think this was a firmware change, not hardware. It's a good receiver for static or as an RTK base; the power and memory are for all intents and purposes unlimited, it tracks well, and the Zephyr Geo II is a good antenna.
It doesn't support Galileo, Beidou, or QZSS or any of those regional signals, but it does support WAAS.
If you could get hold of a copy of the Trimble Streaming software, you could load it on a PC at your office and stream the data from the R7 to it via cellular from any location. You could then redirect it and pick it up with multiple rovers. I know a guy who could probably help you with this.
I think after you load 4.71 you then have the web UI
Bryce, post: 381878, member: 11791 wrote: I think after you load 4.71 you then have the web UI
That is what it seems like from the Trimble web site, but how is it accessed if there is no way to connect with TCP/IP?
I found a doc on the Trimble site that explains how to setup a PPP connection over bluetooth to use the WebGUI. Of course GPS Configurator can be used.
But I have a new question that I did not find an answer to on the datasheet: how large a Compact Flash card can be used? My 5700 always had a 32MB, this one has a 64 MB. That seems extremely small nowadays. I remember one of my first PC's with a hard drive-10MB, and that cost over $1000 just for the drive. I thought that was great, before that I had a Kaypro laptop with two floppy drives only.
In any case, the data sheet does say that a 256 MB card will hold 4600 hours of 15s GPS & Glonass data, but I was just wondering what the limit might be. I know my TSC2 data collector will not recognize USB thumb drives with large capacities.
You have to go through some gyrations with Bluetooth. I've never done it, one of my co-workers did and he said it was a pain. In any case, there's no reason to - you can use Configurator to control it, or you can use either Configurator or Configuration Toolbox to create a power up file that will make it do whatever you want at startup.
Yea, I was told by the dealer that the WebGUI is NOTHING at all like the R10 interface, which is really great.
Another feature it has is the 1 pps/event marker input capability. I have the external device that does that, bought it back in 1998 when I purchased a 4700. That receiver was stolen around 2005 (the only one I have ever lost).
I had an odd one yesterday... I have an R10 sitting by my desk that wouldn't communicate as base or rover. The radio light was flashing when it was a rover but the TSC3 showed no radio; the Tx light was flashing when it was a base but the rover didn't pick anything up. Checked and triple checked baud rates, frequencies, protocols, etc., etc.; swapped out battery, radio, every cable. Finally went in and grabbed an R8III and it fired right up.
Going to try loading firmware; if that doesn't fix it I guess it goes in the shop.
It took me a while to learn all of the nuances of the web interface, and what you can change, etc. Still learning.
I did figure out how to start/stop the radio, start an RTK base, and start/stop Ntrip (in and out) from my cell phone. Very convenient, and I can do it from wherever, so if I want to turn off the radio for a while, easy to do without going back to the base
I only have the R7 version 1 GPS and I wondered what it could take in terms of size sd card and had a few around to try, so far I am running a 1Gb card and it takes it. I have not bothered to buy a 2g yet because on my unit it see's the 1 g no problem but has an internal limit of 512 files no matter what size the card is so I figured 1 gig was a good size.
With a dedicated PC, you could use a free ntrip caster such as Lefebure, SNIP, or the one built in RTKLIB.
FGN.
John Hamilton, post: 381823, member: 640 wrote: I have an opportunity to purchase a Trimble R7 GNSS. It currently has firmware 4.44. It appears there are a number of new versions, latest being 5.00.
Are there any MAJOR differences in these firmware versions? I keep my R8's and my R10 up-to-date, but I have two 4700's, a 5700, and a 4400 all with old firmware that work just fine.
Also, some places on the trimble web pages for the R7 they have statements indicating that the later versions of these receivers have a web GUI. But I don't think this does, not sure how that would be possible since it only has three serial ports and BT. What I would like to be able to do is hook a cell modem with serial interface up to it and be able to access RTK corrections (i.e. use it as a base), or, alternatively, set it to output RTCM to an NTRIP server/caster. Is anyone here doing this, i.e. transmitting RTK corrections (CRX) over a cell link? I currently use my R10 as a base, but it is setup as an Ntrip caster (built-in), which works great.
RTKLIB has NTRIP client and server capability, but I don't see caster capability in there anywhere. Am I missing something, where's it located?
Apparently the ntrip caster is only available in the Android version of rtklib, and as an experimental feature. So you could try using a smartphone instead of a PC, assuming you can make the serial-over-Bluetooth connection work. The other two free options of ntrip caster for PC stand. Sorry about the confusion.
FGN.
astrodanco, post: 382097, member: 7558 wrote: RTKLIB has NTRIP client and server capability, but I don't see caster capability in there anywhere. Am I missing something, where's it located?