OK, some time back, a gust of wind blew my rover over. Broke the data collector screen. Cracked the LegAnt Antenna. So, I went and swapped the base and rover antennas. Thursday, I was out working, and the rover unit quit tracking. Changed batteries, and checked everything. Finally found the TNC connector on the bottom of the LegAnt GPS antenna was the culprit. I rotated BOTH the wire, and the Female Connector (attached to the Antenna) And, it began working fine again. This told me something was amis inside. I took it all apart. Found that the WIRE was twisted up, and had pulled partially out of the TNC connector. I trimmed the wire, and that part is all good.
HOWEVER
I found cracks in the antenna, as shown in the pics below.
Anybody that can supply me with information, as to what it might do to my performance, it would be appreciated.
I'll sillicone it all together tomorrow. It was working fine, even with the cracks. But anything anybody knows, would be nice.
Nate
Unknown, BUT many (most/all?) antenna covers aka radomes say DO NOT PAINT, I would think anything you do to the antenna won't be good like glue and silicone.
I think I would ask Javad, maybe you can replace the antenna if the unit is otherwise in good condition and worth the time and money?
SHG
FYI, there's a RegAnt (green LegAnt?) on ebay for $265 Buy It Now.
Thanks Jim, for the link. I was just looking at it. I'll have this all stitched back, in an hour. Then, Tomorrow, I plan to check it.
Shelby, I'm trying to hold out for a nice new Javad LS. I'm intrigued by new toys!
N
[USER=291]@Nate The Surveyor[/USER] Those cracks could seriously effect the phase center of your antenna. Do what you are going to do with it then run your standard baseline check on your receivers and see how they compair to the last time you checked the calibration. I discovered that the antenna on one of our OPUS X90 was cracked a while back. I contacted Mark Silver and he shipped me a replacement that day with a prepaid address label to return the old one. I have one of those on the calibration range right now. I will be looking at the data for any anomolies while I put a different receiver on the cabibration point.
I sent pics of it to Dr Javad, to see what he says.
I plan to set it up, and slowly spin it 90å¡ at a time. I am thinking of doing the verticle first, (set them up close, and at the SAME level.) Also, set them up close, and box tape between base and rover, while spinning it 90å¡ at a time.
Here was the reply I got back from Javad et al:
Dear Nathan,
These cracks affect the stability phase center of the antenna .
Please, you replace the antenna on the new.
Best Regards,
Dmitry Dubrovsky,
Javad GNSS Inc.
