Lee D, post: 431690, member: 7971 wrote: We use the Seco antenna mast (P/N 5561-20) affixed to a heavy duty wood or wood/fiberglass tripod. This only gets you to about 13' or so, but it's stable enough to add range pole sections to. Our dealer, NEI (337-237-1413) makes an antenna mount that attaches to the mast and has an "N" type connector at the antenna mount. We use much heavier cable than the flimsy things that Pac Crest sells, so we experience much less signal loss and cable damage. NEI can make the cables any length.
I'm using all Trimble equipment. I use two 4' extension poles so excluding the tripod I have 8'. I use Martin Instruments. I am interested in a more heavy duty cable. I will research this. Thank you.
This is the cable we use:
http://www.neigps.com/product/radio-antenna-cable-10m/
They don't show the antenna mount I mentioned above on their web site but this connects to the bottom of a 5db gain whip antenna mount that goes on the tripod mast.
Lee D, post: 431702, member: 7971 wrote: This is the cable we use:
http://www.neigps.com/product/radio-antenna-cable-10m/
They don't show the antenna mount I mentioned above on their web site but this connects to the bottom of a 5db gain whip antenna mount that goes on the tripod mast.
Thank you.
Lee D, post: 431673, member: 7971 wrote: I've had countless instances of crews thinking their battery was good when it wasn't, it depends on what kind of battery it is and its ability to deliver the amperage to drive the radio's finals. Obviously you need to be putting out 12v+ but it's not JUST the voltage.
You also haven't mentioned anything about terrain or environment.
Having said that, there have been a lot of problems with the radio antennas on the R10s breaking loose internally, but typically if that was the case you wouldn't get anywhere near a mile.
So if my battery is putting out 12v+ what and how else do I need to check the battery for?
I think you can load test them... in order to push, say, 25 watts out of the radio with a battery with a voltage of 12.3v, each second for the duration of the duty cycle that battery needs to be able to deliver 2 amps of current. What we found was that a lot of lead acid batteries in particular couldn't do this; the radio would be on and look like it was transmitting but nothing was coming out. Car and truck batteries, etc., are made to crank that one big jolt to the starter, not to push 2 amps constantly.
Lee D, post: 431718, member: 7971 wrote: I think you can load test them... in order to push, say, 25 watts out of the radio with a battery with a voltage of 12.3v, each second for the duration of the duty cycle that battery needs to be able to deliver 2 amps of current. What we found was that a lot of lead acid batteries in particular couldn't do this; the radio would be on and look like it was transmitting but nothing was coming out. Car and truck batteries, etc., are made to crank that one big jolt to the starter, not to push 2 amps constantly.
10-4. I've tried everything now going to hook it up to the pickup and see what happens. Thanks man.
One test you can do is to see the voltage as the load is applied. Most batteries will show 12+ volts with no load. But with a load, some will crap out. I'm sure you've seen it when you get in your car and the door chimes and the all the interior stuff comes on but once you put the load to start the car you hear click, click, click and lights flicker. Some digital volt meters won't catch it, but a analog will.
Lee D, post: 431718, member: 7971 wrote: I think you can load test them... in order to push, say, 25 watts out of the radio with a battery with a voltage of 12.3v, each second for the duration of the duty cycle that battery needs to be able to deliver 2 amps of current. What we found was that a lot of lead acid batteries in particular couldn't do this; the radio would be on and look like it was transmitting but nothing was coming out. Car and truck batteries, etc., are made to crank that one big jolt to the starter, not to push 2 amps constantly.
Tried with truck battery while truck was running. I'm getting the same results.
Ryan adames, post: 431681, member: 11772 wrote: I will check all of these things. Thanks for the info. You have a 35' antenna tower? My antenna cable is roughly 8-10 foot. How does this work?
We use a heavy duty, 6' tall "T" post driven into the ground near the control point, then wire the Hixon rod to the "T" post. We also use the heavy duty antenna cables that Lee D mentions. They are a great product. We get them made in lengths of 50 feet. We also spin the rod sections as we are raising the antenna so the cable gets wrapped around the rod. Tim Hixon made the pole to our specifications and added a few enhancements on his own. They are not inexpensive, but they are another great product. If it is really windy, we will use the 25' tall poles he makes.
Since you mentioned Abiliene, TX.
There is a great deal of oilfield activity there, and lots of radio frequency interference, from various sources.
You also have military bases nearby which can create more problems.
I would walk though all of the frequencies you have available to find the quietest one.
Check your radio wattage output setting on the base. I once had one drop to the lowest setting somehow, couldn't get 100 ft away without loosing the radio signal. Drove me crazy for half a day.
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I just started using Trimble R10s. When I first got them the internal radio on the base was only transmitting out 300 feet so I had to always use the TDL250 radio. I swapped the Rover to be the Base and now I'm getting 2 miles with the Base's internal radio. I didn't think of checking it with a scanner, so now I don't know if I have a bad transmitter on one unit or a bad reciever on the other one. Now I just use the TDL350 in repeater mode.
On my old 5700 setup a weak battery would cause the radio reception to decrease significantly. I've been using Optima Bluetops for about 13 years. I'm on my 3rd one.
Whistler WS1010 Analog Handheld Scanner https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IID3O72/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_awdb_BLRozb7BYP6XD
I've used a version of this scanner for the past 16 years.
Our first pair of R10's were replaced (under ext. warranty) after nearly two years of issues where lock would drop out 30' from the base. What made matters worse was that this occurred intermittently. New units have behaved ok so far (confidence slowly returning).
One thing we're still debating is the possiblity of interference from an increasing number of fixed base stations in our locality - we assigned a base index etc. but still experience the odd day where reduced range and random base corrections have appeared without warning. Wondering whether anyone else has experienced this?
A bit off topic but still related to the R10...
I have six R10 batteries. Just this week one of them seems to have "expanded". I was not sure if it was the battery or the R10, but it would not come out of the R10 as it usually does. I had to get vice grips and grab it and pull it out. I put a different battery in, no problem, which seems to indicate that the battery somehow expanded slightly. A visual inspection and comparison to another battery does not reveal any noticeable difference. And it just happened this week. Could this perhaps be a Lithium-Ion ready to explode?
When I met having RTK problems the first thing I do is try a different channel, preferably as far away as possible in the frequency list.
The last time we had no trouble on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday we couldn't get going. I noticed the wastewater pond was filling, I think they have some sort of radio telemetry that was interfering with our radio. Changed the frequency all the way to the bottom of the list (base and rover) and BOOM problem solved.