I've got about 52 DAT files that I need to have converted to backdated RINEX so that GPSurvey will process them. They use two receiver/antenna combinations and have various antenna heights. I've attempted without success to install and execute Trimble's batch RINEX conversion utility, so my remaining option is to convert these using the older command line utility.
If someone is willing to do the conversion and run the backdate program, I'm willing to pay for the service if the end result is something that will actually process. I'm assuming that I'll probably have to manually enter station names, receiver/antenna combinations, and antenna heights when I import the RINEX into GPSurvey. Trimble supposedly has patches for TBC in the works that will solve the problem, but that will happen when it happens.
I'm thinking that this is about a $200 project. If you're interested or want to talk me down on the fee, my email is:
kentmcm@swbell.net
Howdy,
While I don't want to deny anyone the opportunity to earn this handsome fee, you can easily accomplish your goal using teqc iteratively in a batch file.
You can include changes to antenna type and antenna height in th batch file.
Cheers,
DMM
FYI - you may want to look at what John Hamilton just posted. He wrote a program that will convert the date in the .dat file to 2006.
John's program will indeed work with the dat files,
I've tried some of Kent's files with the latest convert to Rinex utility from Trimble but that could not open the dat files. I had success with an older version 3.5 dated 1992-2002, that will convert one file at a time, but I think we can live with that.
Chr.
(Save your $$, the utility is free)
> While I don't want to deny anyone the opportunity to earn this handsome fee, you can easily accomplish your goal using teqc iteratively in a batch file.
>
> You can include changes to antenna type and antenna height in th batch file.
It would probably be worth at least $100 NOT to have to use teqc to convert 52 DAT files. :> Unfortunately (or fortunately), I don't use teqc enough to become familiar with its extravagantly clunky features; so figuring out how to run a batch file with 52 different files to be converted sounds like a surefire way to expend at least half a day.
> John's program will indeed work with the dat files,
> I've tried some of Kent's files with the latest convert to Rinex utility from Trimble but that could not open the dat files. I had success with an older version 3.5 dated 1992-2002, that will convert one file at a time, but I think we can live with that.
High marks for that utility you wrote to backdate RINEX files. Very nice work. That definitely does the trick with RINEX generated from stop-and-go DAT files as well.
Kent
I just got home from a weekend trip out of town. I think Christof is working with your files. If anybody can convert them, it will be Christof. If for some reason you still need help, I'd be happy to take a stab no fee of course! That is what this board is all about- helping each other.
John
> I just got home from a weekend trip out of town. I think Christof is working with your files. If anybody can convert them, it will be Christof. If for some reason you still need help, I'd be happy to take a stab no fee of course! That is what this board is all about- helping each other.
Christof volunteered to convert some of the DAT files to backdated RINEX, but declined to accept any compensation other than a tour of Austin when he visits the US at some time in the future.
The RinexDate 1.0 utility worked fine, soit looks as if the weak link in my procedures is simply being able to do batch conversions of the older DAT files to RINEX. The Trimble RINEX Converter evidently has a bug that prevents it operating on DAT files from my 4600LS units, and for some reason the later release of DAT2RIN.exe 3.50 only opens in a command prompt window to do single file conversions.
Randy Rain was willing to do the RINEX conversion in TGO, ran the files through RinexDate 1.0 and I was able to process them. Probably Too Much Information, but it has been an adventure just doing something trivial like processing L1 vectors. Possibly TBC will eventually be patched, but at this point I'm not so sure that I'll bother with it once I find a decent batch converter of DAT files to RINEX.
Kent
Sounds like you have it coming together, sort of.
I just ran a test of RinexDates 1.1 and it now edits dates in SP3 files as well as OBS and NAV files. If Christof keeps going maybe pretty soon he will have a version that bakes cookies too. Processing baselines can be hungary work!
John
> Sounds like you have it coming together, sort of.
> I just ran a test of RinexDates 1.1 and it now edits dates in SP3 files as well as OBS and NAV files. If Christof keeps going maybe pretty soon he will have a version that bakes cookies too. Processing baselines can be hungary work!
The one downside about the RINEX route is that somewhere along the way the point descriptors are disappearing, which is a pain because otherwise stop-and-go kinematic data seems to process just fine. John Hamilton's approach of editing the DAT files themselves is, of course, very neat and would bypass that difficulty as well as simplifying the workflow. I haven't been able to test his conversion program, though, to see if it works with GPSurvey 2.35a
t$$ for RINEX conversion of DAT files
Kent I saw John's post but won't be able to try it until tomorrow. Got some "honey do's" right now.
John
teqc is the solution ...
Howdy,
While I get no commission from the UNAVCO folks, I still think teqc is the simplest way to achieve your goal. Here's what I'd do:
Copy all *.dat files into an empty directory. Copy teqc.exe to the same directory.
Open a command prompt and change directory to the location of the files you just copied.
Run command dir *.dat > files.txt
This command creates a plain text file (here named files.txt) containing a line for each file with a *.dat extension. You can use the cut and paste features of many text editors (NOT word processors) to speed creation of the batch file. A batch file is merely a set of instruction, one to a line, that are run from the command prompt. Use the extension BAT for the file.
The generic command to translate a Trimble binary *.dat file to RINEX is: teqc -tr do "dat file name" > "RINEX file" Having both teqc and the DAT file in the same directory means you need not worry about file paths.
To edit the antenna file name and antenna height, use the RINEX file just created as input with the following two switches: -O.at and -O.pe[hEN,m]
antenna topocentric correction, in meters
for antenna type and antenna offsets respectively. The NGS antenna calibration page should show IGS-compliant file names.
The antenna type name should adhere to the IGS naming convention. Antenna offsets should be meters. The triplet of offsets are north, east and up. Use zero for N and E.
After the translations are performed check the converted files to insure their lengths are not zero; if so check your batch file and fix the problem. You may get a GPS week warning. It is a warning to verify that the software calculated the date of observations correctly. It most likely did. Otherwise use the switch -gpsweek #### in the command line after the "do".
The information above was from memory. I have neither data nor PC here to check. I have however done it enough to know how easy it is.
HTH,
DMM
teqc is the solution ...
> While I get no commission from the UNAVCO folks, I still think teqc is the simplest way to achieve your goal.
Thanks for the description of how to use teqc in batch mode. I suppose that there is simple and there is simple, but a simple solution to me is a program with a windows interface that can :
- make a conversion of, say, fifty DAT files residing in the directory of the GPS processing software to which they were stored when the receiver was downloaded,
- store the agency, observer, and runby values,
- store antenna type settings,
- convert the multiple DAT files to RINEX obs and nav files and store them in a designated directory (which ordinarily won't be where the DAT files resided.
- take less than a minute to do fifty file conversions.
I have to think that teqc would be a much more useful bit of software if someone would just write an interface for it (and rework the documentation).
