Not to many folks left that can do astro observations to Polaris or sun or a few other stars
Anybody who can use a total station or theodolite can quickly learn to get azimuths within a few seconds of arc. Time isn't particularly critical, and not at all at elongation. You just need a source of astro data and the local Laplace correction.
Edit: by Polaris I meant. Others are trickier
@bill93 And beer ??§ is required at night if I remember correctly. I think I was told it was the most important tool. ?ÿI took my first sun shot and polaris at a seminar under RE Buckner. ?ÿI was extremely wet behind the ears in the 90??s. ?ÿI did many sun shots in TN and some astros outwest . Then did more in the military. The last time I was involved with astro we shot 4 different stars at NGS training center under Dave L. Both of these valuable gentlemen have passed on but great to have had the honor of standing beside them and learning. I still have my old radio thatI could tune in to get the time and wish my old stop watches were still working. ?ÿ I have some old sheets around here somewhere for recording manually all the data for reductions. ?ÿNow we can plop out gps and move on. ?ÿ?ÿ
@bill93 And beer ??§ is required at night if I remember correctly. I think I was told it was the most important tool. ?ÿI took my first sun shot and polaris at a seminar under RE Buckner. ?ÿI was extremely wet behind the ears in the 90??s. ?ÿI did many sun shots in TN and some astros outwest . Then did more in the military. The last time I was involved with astro we shot 4 different stars at NGS training center under Dave L. Both of these valuable gentlemen have passed on but great to have had the honor of standing beside them and learning. I still have my old radio thatI could tune in to get the time and wish my old stop watches were still working. ?ÿ I have some old sheets around here somewhere for recording manually all the data for reductions. ?ÿNow we can plop out gps and move on. ?ÿ?ÿ
The news of my passing is greatly exaggerated.?ÿ Dave L.
I would not be surprised one bit if GPS is targeted. I would expect that it would be first on the target list for any large scale conflict in today's modern world. The mother of all sanctions.?ÿ
Does Javad equipment have anymore ties with Russia? From what can find Javad is made in California with R&D done in Russia at one time. But this may be different now.
- I worked today on a site that was about 10 above and windy. I just knew that I couldn't use glonass but it was there. Plan B Would have been so slow and painfully cold. I wonder when vlad is going to flip off the satellites and hack into our pipelines at the same time? Cringe
If surveyors needed to go back to astro observations, I'll bet the first problem they would find is the supply chain wouldn't be able to keep up with the sudden demand for angled eyepieces.
Serious question...how many surveyors today could function without GNSS? I know of some companies that ONLY do RTK, they don't even have conventional equipment. I realize that would be the least of our worries, but just wondering....
Sure would hurt those unlicensed industries from talking a good game about what they can do!
@olemanriver I was at what I believe was Dave Lehman's last astro class at Corbin. Great week!
@moe-shetty small world. The one i helped in he did several for them was for NASA. Employees. He did some more i was less involved with. I lived on the corbin training ground for a while when me and the wife first got hitched . ?ÿShe is still working there. I am just a year now getting back into Land Surveying. I was working for the gps constellation at an agency. Then did some work for DoD before COVID canceled my full-time contract. Now studying for The FS exam and PS exam. While working part time surveying and full time farming. Been doing field crew work and then adapting them to least squares and such. Man has technology really taken off since I left private sector side. But the math and basic principles are still there. Just have to dust out the cobwebs lol.?ÿ
95% of my work is lump sum. I come up with my proposal, based on using conventional equipment, then do it in 1/4th the time, using GNSS RTK.
No problem for me, just wish I still had my T2.?ÿ
I've dreamed about it at times, working alone has it's advantages and disadvantages.
But not having GPS; walk in the park.?ÿ
I still have my T2, and assorted Tapes, EDMI(s), Total Station, etc. But I'm pretty much retired now (fingers crossed). However, if the Guinness keeps going up in price, I may have to rethink that! ???? ?ÿ
Guinness
Mmmm Guinness. ?ÿDid I hear they are making Guinness zero for guys like me, et.al.?
edit
https://www.guinness.com/en-ie/our-beers/guinness-0.0/
Guinness 0.0: Non-Alcoholic Beer with Our Iconic Taste | Guinness??
