Range issues with SurvCE on FC-2500 w/RS-1 Radio

Stephen Ward, post: 194596, member: 1206 wrote: Equipment: Topcon 9003 Robot w/internal spread-spectrum radio
FC-2500 DC w/RS-1 Radio
Topcon A7 prism w/ RC-3 remote
SurvCE 2.61

When I switched from TopSurv to SurvCE on my FC-2500 in May I immediately noticed that I had more communication issues between the dc and the instrument. Over time, I realized that the issue was directly tied to my distance from the gun. After some testing I discovered that when running SurvCE the radio link gets flaky beyond 500' and is unusable beyond 1000' with clear line of sight to the instrument whereas with TopSurv loaded I got out to 2500' with no issues. TopSurv configures all of the hardware behind the scenes so I can't compare radio settings between TopSurv and SurvCE. I've checked my configuration with both my dealer and Carlson and I've sent data dumps to John Gerber w/Carlson so he can see what is going on but no luck so far.

Have any of you run into this problem? Any solutions?

Hi,
I'm reviving an old thread here, but I'm wondering if you resolved this as we are having the same issue with a GPT-9003A and a FC-250 with a RS-1 radio

Regards,

Dizz

Dizzy, post: 368717, member: 11613 wrote: Hi,
I'm reviving an old thread here, but I'm wondering if you resolved this as we are having the same issue with a GPT-9003A and a FC-250 with a RS-1 radio

Regards,

Dizz

I never did find a solution. I'm pretty sure that it has to do with how Carlson handles the radio when the signal gets weak or interference causes info to go missing in transit. With Topsurv I would see a slight increase in the time to take a shot whereas SurvCE just loses its mind and crashes if the radio conditions are challenging.

I finally made the jump to a Trimble S6 with Trimble Access on the Yuma2 tablet. Access isn't as intuitive as Topsurv or SurvCE but it's largely bug free for the type work I do and the radio link has been bullet proof in every environment where I've used it in the past year.

Thanks for the reply.
It's a pity you didn't get it sorted.
I've just modded the RS-1 to fit a +5dbi antenna, so I'm hoping that has a good outcome in keeping a strong signal. It also helps in that the antenna is removable and doesn't flop around like the stock RS-1.
I note that wifi card in the RS-1 is just a 3rd party unit, so I'm also looking at getting one and trialling a serial link for our Getacs so we can do away with the rubbish-dull FC-250 display and RS-1 all together.