Hello to the community, a couple of months ago, I bought a used set of a Leica 1200 SmartRover from Poland. It comprised of a set of a colored RX1200, a SmartAntenna ATX1230 as well as GFU24 digital phone modem (Siemens MC75). Here are the photos of the package and the setup from my backyard:
Now everything is working flawlessly except one little problem: the radio. From a lot of googling and some of what I read, It was sold as a Rover-only because most of the countries in Europe/America/Oceania already have a networked reference Bases and the CORS setup and the user only have to pay for a fee to get an access to the network and get the corrections to their Rovers. In Madagascar where I live, there is no such network. So I have to buy for a separate Base in order to obtain the corrections. Since this is my first GNSS setup, I didn't want to buy the Leica System500 or System900 because these are a bit too dated. The newer GS14-15-16 models were also tempting but too expensive for a student like me.
Up to now, I only learned the most basic things: In the RTK setup, the rover gets corrections from the Base through a radio link. Nonetheless, in the set which I received, there seems to be a digital phone (GFU24-Siemens MC75) and no radios. How is this supposed to work? I have already done a lot of googling, researching and re-read the User manual at length but there seems to be no exhaustive or friendly explanation on how to get this working.
I decided that I will buy a Leica 1200 Base and I stumbled across this item from eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/155018924030
Now, as a fairly beginner, I am kindly asking for your expertise and advice about which radios I should additionally buy to get this setup to work. From the Leica manual (page43), this is what I found:
1- From my understanding, the PDL GFU15 is receive-only so could it work only for the Rover? And what should I use at the Base if I decide to go with this one_?
2- From my understanding, the Satelline 3AS GFU14 is a transciever so could these work both for the Rover and Base? And I need a pair of these to make it work right?
3- Last but not least, the SmartRover package came with the Siemens MC75 GFU24 digital phone as I stated earlier. Can I get this to work somehow or should I throw it into the dustbin if I cannot make it to work in Madagascar?
Thanks a million for helping me out on this for clearing some of my confusion. Billy
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From your pictures it seems you have a antenna ATX1230 GG (GG-GLONASS Satellites also, not only GPS)? If you have Glonass option enabled at your Rover you would also need Glonass Reciever (GX1230 GG) and Glonass Antenna (AX 1202 GG) at your Base to use satellite correction from both systems.
For Base-Rover Radio setup see here Page 22(Base) Page 28(Rover).
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Take care of frequency regulations in your country, what frequency is allowed to use in your country and according to this buy allowed Radio??s with right (same) middle frequency. http://www.artec.mg/
In germany frequencys?ÿ433,05 - 434,79 MHz are almost free to use, freqency plan (page 293) looks like this: frequency plan germany
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"1- From my understanding, the PDL GFU15 is receive-only so could it work only for the Rover? And what should I use at the Base if I decide to go with this one_?"
I do not know PDL GFU15 but from the manual:
"The PDLGFU15 is a radio modem receiver that is compatible with the PDL and RFM96 product family of radio modems. The PDLGFU15 is designed specifically for integration with Leica Geosystems GPS 1200 System devices. Its small size, light weight and power efficient operation provide superior performance.......
Compatible ?? Interoperable with RDDR, RFM and Trimble?? products"
So maybe some Pacific Crest Transciever for sending data like RFM96W or PDL4535 or maybe some older Trimble TT450S or Trimble HPB450 might work as base if you like PDL GFU15 at your Rover.
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"2- From my understanding, the Satelline 3AS GFU14 is a transciever so could these work both for the Rover and Base? And I need a pair of these to make it work right?"
Yes that??s right i have 2x GFU14-0, Satelline 3AS radio modem (433.525 MHz, 25.0 kHz channel spacing, 0.5 W) running with my GPS1200GG Base Rover system.
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@mike1202 Thanks a ton for this comprehensive explanation Mike, it's deeply appreciated. Also I am glad to feel that at least I'm not the only person still using Leica's GPS 1200 series. I thought I'd be the odd kid on the block with these.
Also, thank you for sharing your setup about the 2x GFU14-0 Satelline 3AS transcievers. I actually might go for the GFU14 as well because this seems to be the most beginner-friendly approach. Just let me know if the GFU14 work out of the box or these require some preliminary settings such as setting up a frequency table etc...
"Take care of frequency regulations in your country, what frequency is allowed to use in your country and according to this buy allowed Radio??s with right (same) middle frequency. > http://www.artec.mg/ <"
Thanks for the word of caution Mike. Actually I don't have to worry much about the radio regulations here unless I go with the 2.4GHz and the 5.8 GHz which is mainly used for UAV/recreational drones (these need a permit).
Last but not least, you are absolutely correct about the AX1202 GG coupled with RX1202 GG base for Glonass-enabled positioning. Nonetheless, despite my efforts I wasn't able to find a proper AX1202 GG with the RX1202 GG on sale that looks decent enough. The only one I found already looked like scrap/salvage parts. Now if I am ready to abandon the Glonass positioning, will my proposed setup still work even though I will only have GPS connection at the base? I understand that I am therefore not taking full advantage of the Rover's capabilities but I just need a working setup at this point. I will true to think about upgrades later (Maybe I?ÿ will opt for the ATX1230GG) at the Base as well in the future because the GX1230GG are a little hard to find at the moment.
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I did not mention that GFU14 Radios just have 0.5 Watt or 1 Watt transmit power. Max. 2-3km with free line of sight with my test. If you want to cover longer range?ÿ you have to use maybe Pacific Crest PDL4535 with 35Watt.
Configuring GFU14 is pretty easy. Just set the number of channel you want in Rx1210 controller same at both Radios and test connection.
If you just want to use GPS, maybe a cheaper Leica GPS500 with Radios GFU5 housing with satel 2ASx or 3ASx radio might also work?
@mike1202 ???? I just realize I actually could have just bought a System500 as you suggested.
I guess I'll just have to move along with these and next time, I will upgrade the receiver into a Glonass-enabled device at the Base. But that's for another day.
I definitely have the PDL4535 external radio in the back of my mind. Do you use it yourself? I was thinking about using either 2xGFU14 or 1xGFU14 at the Base + an external radio at the Base. This normally will require a second tripod to hold. I will also plan to tie the antenna on top of a 5m telescopic pole because I have one.
The PDL4535 external radio costs around $1600-ish used (no accessories such as whip antenna, no cables).
Another alternative is maybe the 35W chinese knockoffs radios on alibaba which seems to cover the same frequency range as the PDL4535 and sells around $450 complete set (whip antenna, cables, transport case included).
I have contacted the seller about the claimed compatibility with Leica devices. I will keep this thread updated about how this turns out in the end.
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I definitely have the PDL4535 external radio in the back of my mind. Do you use it yourself?
No i do not have used/tested PDL4535 because in germany at 433Mhz it is just allowed up to max 0.5Watt i think.
PDL4535 seems to be the same like Trimble HPB450 with just yellow case ???? .
If you want to try with Satelline GFU14 at Rover there is also a higher Power Radio (10W) from Satelline "Satelline 3AS Epic Pro". But you would need special cable "GEV125 1.8m Cable, 15 pin RS232 to 8 pin LEMO. Connects Satelline radio modem to
GPS receiver. Only required if housing not used.". Like written here (page 10) GPS1200+Equipmentlist. Since this list is for System GPS1200+ i am not sure if it will work with your GPS1200 (without "+"). Maybe even "SATELLINE-EASy PRO" with 35W would work but this would need also further research and also not tested by myselfe. And this Radio is also not the cheapest ????.
I used forum search... maybe also look here:
https://surveyorconnect.com/community/surveying-geomatics/radios-for-base-and-receiver/#post-530399
https://surveyorconnect.com/community/gnss-geodesy/base-station-ufh-radios/
https://surveyorconnect.com/community/surveying-geomatics/gps-base-radios/#post-194625
https://surveyorconnect.com/community/surveying-geomatics/fcc-narrowbanding-update/#post-119286
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Hello, I am Amar from Algeria, I have just read your article relating to your gnss leica 1200 with gfu24, I recommend buying an emlid reach RS2 on ebay, you can have it at auction at $1200 instead of 2400 $, you make a free registration with emlid caster, you put 2 sim cards, one in your gfu24 and the other in the REACHRS2, you connect to the caster and you configure one of your devices as a base and the other as rover, so you will send and receive corrections through the internet, with a baseline of up to 80 kms, goodbye.
@tabbi Thanks a million Amar!
I actually did this. I bought an Emlid RS+ instead which is the single band version. I know that I get a loss in performance since I will be only receiving corrections on the L1 band but I needed to try this. I will update you on the results shortly.
