Troubleshooting R8-2 GNSS

Staying at the "Building Base List" message means that your rover is not picking up your base radio. There are a lot of reasons why this could be the case.

Are you transmitting from the internal radio of the R8-2 or from an external like a Pac Crest PDL or TDL? Is the radio transmitting? If it's the R8 internal, the radio light should be on and flashing off briefly once per second. If it's the external, the Tx light should be steadily flashing once per second and the Rx light should be off.

If the base appears to be transmitting, check your settings for frequency, baud rate, protocol, and message. For example, you may be using TT450S as your protocol, 8000 as your baud rate, and CMRx as your message. These settings as well as the frequency have to match at the base and the rover.

If you give me more information I can probably drill down to the problem.

Thank you for the reply Sir. This is a modest system that we are utilizing (Base/Rover/controller), everything is internal. We have been able to utilize other means, fast stating surveying as an example (as a hasty means to make ends meet). We can definitely check again our frequencies. We are a small survey community in the military. Resources are quite limiting, especially when the warranty expires. We'll follow up thanks again.

You mentioned that the R8-2 base bit the dust and had to be repaired, chances are that the radio settings got changed in that process. The frequency, baud rate, and protocol are stored in the receiver radio, not on the data collector. Just connect to the radio through the data collector and verify those settings. If you're not sure how to do that let me know.

Is this procedure done with the winflash utility? I'm not to familiar with this process. Could you explain what/where I should go with the receiver. Thanks again.

You can do it through the data collector. First connect to the base receiver, either via Bluetooth or cable. If you're running Trimble Survey Controller go to Survey Styles under Settings, or in Trimble Access in the Settings menu. Edit your RTK Survey Style, and select Base Radio. It should be set to Trimble Internal (or Receiver Internal); tap the tab at the bottom of the screen that says Connect.

The Operating Mode should be Base. Depending on whether you have 25KHz or (more likely) 12.5KHz bandwidth internal radios, the Protocol is TT450s @ 8000 (or TT450s @ 9600 if your radio is 25KHz).

After you have set the base radio connect to your rover, go to Rover Radio in the Survey Style, and again Connect. Make sure that all the settings are identical except of course the Operating Mode will be Rover.

Here's the problem - if your receivers were old and had 25KHz radio boards in them, Trimble may well have sent back the repair with a 12.5KHz radio. I think that is just programming, but if it is the case then your rover radio also needs to be set to 12.5KHz. You may be able to do this through WinFlash, but I'm not 100% sure; our dealer takes care of that kind of stuff. The way you will know is that 12.5KHz radios have TT450s @ 8000 as a protocol choice whereas 25KHz radios have TT450s @ 9600. You could try TT450s @ 4800 as long as your correction type is set to CMRx under both Base Options and Rover Options in the Survey Style; 4800 is too slow for multi-constellation messages using CMR+.

Hope this helps.

Thank you kindly for the advice. We were looking for a needle in a hay stack in a barn. We were kind of close, but your advice guided us to the right bail of hay. Everything checked out fine as previously noted, but the needle in the stack happened to be a simple frequency change from a 413... to a 411... (on the TSC). Everything came to life. Mind you sir, the military gives us an introductory foundation, but we are pretty much on our own to figure these things out as it happens. This new crew that I'm assigned to can now enjoy the benefits of GNSS surveying, which they couldn't before. Thanks again Sir, have a good one!

Glad I could help, feel free to contact me any time.

Hi I have a R8-2 and a TSC3 and cannot get the internal radio to transmit. I have set my survey style to R8 GNSS/SPS88x antenna type using Trimble Internal Radio and Trimble 450/900 radio method. Also using TT450s at 9600bps. On the bottom of the R8 it says it has a 430-450 Mhz radio module. When I go to start base with my survey style I set up I immediately get a pop up error saying that my unit cannot transmit internal radio. I feel this is more a trimble access issue vs an issue with my receiver where it thinks my R8 cannot transmit internal when it can. Any help appreciated. TIA

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Semper Fi. Where are you located. Geographically. ?ÿIf you are close by i am glad to come meet you somewhere and help. I was 0261 . Pm me if you ever need anything and glad to help.?ÿ

@brettv?ÿ

Your R8-2 may not have the transmit option enabled. That was an upgrade for the Model 2.

When you connect to the radio using bluetooth, are you able to change the radio mode from "rover" to "base"?

Not to sound dumb but did you check your frequency's match?

Sometimes on Trimble receivers it is necessary to connect to the radio to wake it up. The base will start but the rover doesnƒ??t receive the base. Stop the base, connect to the radio then hit whatever the button is (accept or continue or something like that), then restart the base. May have to do this on the rover radio too.

@brettv Trimble R8-2 receiver as the highest and most expensive model in its time has base option and radio transmit option enabled by default. But also, by default, it lacks of transmit frequencies table defined. Without it, it is impossible to setup base using internal radio despite receiver is able to work as a base. Transmit frequencies table can be created by WinFlash Supervisor utility. During the process, receiver's serial number is needed.

@rover83
Very interesting! I have the same issue as brettv. Brought two internal radios 450-470Mhz- not originally with receivers but compatible. One radio have TX/RX for sure, other- don't know. Thought CMRx-out, RTCM-out options activated in receivers are enough for base, but no option to use radio as base is seen in survey style. Your post make sense, but how and were is information whether receiver can be used as base or not?