I'm having a very frustrating time with RTN connections on my Triumph-LS, and would welcome suggestions.
This morning, first thing upon arriving at the jobsite -- a large ranch (large for this part of California, anyway, at about 18,000-acres) -- I turned on the LS and successfully connected to UCD1 on CRTN. I was about 10 km out, but it fixed in a matter of seconds and I was able to record a position. I turned the LS off and drove to my next station, which was several miles away. Once there I turned the LS on again, fixed to UCD1 in less than a minute, and again recorded a position. I turned the LS off again, but then remembered that I wanted to check into another control station a couple hundred yards away. That's when the trouble began.
I drove the the nearby point, turned the LS on and tried to connect to UCD1. The WiFi from my phone was solid, but I kept getting a sequence of CONNECTING, INIT, and ERROR TIMEOUT messages. I tried moving to the top of a nearby levee in hope of a better connection, but had no luck. I then tried to connect to P268 via the UNAVCO network, but couldn't load a source table. After awhile I gave up and continued with the real work of the day, recon for new stations in a subsidence monitoring network.
A few hours later, at another existing station, I decided to try again, but got nowhere.
Back at the office I deleted all my setups and used the wizard to recreate the CRTN setup. I was able to connect to UCD1 again, a got fixed positions with no trouble. I powered down the LS, powered up again, and the problem recurred -- good WiFi (this time via my office network) but CONNECTING, INIT and ERROR TIMEOUT. So I tried setting up UNAVCO again, but was unable to load a source table (got the message "An Error occurred updating the table!"). Using BKG/BNC on my desktop I can get a source table instantly. I checked and rechecked my UNAVCO credentials, the IP address and port, and they were identical in both BKG/BNC and the LS.
I noticed that when recalling setups the RTN connection was defaulting to GPRS, even though I had GPRS turned off. I removed the SIM card in the hope of eliminating that glitch.
I also noted that the when I was unable to connect the LS would choke for half a minute or so on the RTN Mountpoint screen and on the Receive Format screen before allowing me to move to the next screen -- it would act as though it were locked up, but then the interface would begin responding normally again.
As a general note, I continue to find the workflow and terminology for setting up RTN connections confusing. Why should we have to go through all the wizard screens if we only want to change 1 item (like the mountpoint)? I'd like to be able to switch between RTNs, and within RTNs switch between mountpoints, with a minimum of fuss. The current workflow seems way too cumbersome. But I could make do with it if I didn't have these recurring connection problems. It's very frustrating, and is standing in the way of my learning the other aspects of the system.
I have email in to Michael Glutting at Javad, but I'll take useful suggestions from anyone.
Thanks!
> I'm having a very frustrating time with RTN connections on my Triumph-LS, and would welcome suggestions.
>
> This morning, first thing upon arriving at the jobsite -- a large ranch (large for this part of California, anyway, at about 18,000-acres) -- I turned on the LS and successfully connected to UCD1 on CRTN. I was about 10 km out, but it fixed in a matter of seconds and I was able to record a position. I turned the LS off and drove to my next station, which was several miles away. Once there I turned the LS on again, fixed to UCD1 in less than a minute, and again recorded a position. I turned the LS off again, but then remembered that I wanted to check into another control station a couple hundred yards away. That's when the trouble began.
Dear Mr. Frame:
Thank you very much for your recent feedback. My technical support staff inform me that the "problem" you describe is one that has never before been encountered. However, you seem to be a serious person and, for the sake of argument, we are willing to consider the possibility that this is not a prank.
Have you verified that the receiver was in the upright position during the period when you say that these "problems" were experienced? Some very ignorant users have understood the recent "Drop Test" video we have posted as representing the normal mode of operations. Please be advised that this is not so.
In closing, let me thank you for your feedback. As you know, the equipment you are using is the most advanced GNSS receiver presently available, as the knowledgeable user will recognize without even opening the package.
Should you encounter any other "problem" please do not hesitate to contact us.
Respectfully,
G. Pavlov Esser, Technical Support
Western Hemisphere Division
One way to get around this is by saving each RTN and mountpoint to separate setup files. Then all you have to do is load the corresponding setup file.
I've emailed them quite a few suggestions and they have been good with getting back to me and planning to implement them. Javad himself often replies to my emails.
If anyone has seen this before it's probably Jason Scott with Klein Survey Systems. Google them and give him a call.
I reported similar issues a few weeks ago, but it seems you and I are the only ones that have experienced this. I found that one day I had problems it turned out to be the NY RTN that had the problem, and have not experienced it lately so haven't pursued it. Is there a contact you can call at the RTN provider? That's how I found out about broadcast problems on a particular day with the RTN here.
The provider is aware of the issue, but they've checked their settings and haven't found a problem. There was one station that had a negative antenna height value that caused the Javad to choke, but they fixed that.
Was CRTN ever able to get their message cleaned up, Jim?
:good:
Jason was great to work with when we moved from Trimble last year. There were a few hiccups, but were always worked out with a phone call or email.
> Was CRTN ever able to get their message cleaned up, Jim?
Yes, they fixed the one glitch that was identified on their end (a -0.001 m ARP height) . I'm still having some connections problems, though -- a power cycle sometimes seems to confuse the LS, and when it tries to reconnect to the station I get a repeating cycle of INIT, CONNECTING and ERROR TIMEOUT messages. I need to do more experimenting to tie down the conditions under which the connection fails.
P.S. If I decide to keep the system, I'm hoping I can swap out the default sounds for something more to my liking. I've changed some of them already, but I find most of the choices to be very un-business-like. The one that's used to announce the successful loading of the Javad software is particularly annoying.
Aside from those snags, you testers, what do you think of those Javad Triumph-LS's?
I agree about the sounds, Jim.
Please keep us up to date on your findings. Our company recently purchased a Triumph-1 system straight from JAVAD. We had some frustrating glitches when trying to get the system up and running. The salesman for JAVAD was really helpful and worked me through the issues with what I would call above average customer service. I have not had the same luck with customer service after the 30 day trial ran out.
My thought is that the JAVAD systems are fairly complex and have a huge upside on potential uses, but there are so many options and settings that it can be overwhelming to the end-user.