Loyal
All righty-then. Maybe the brand I used was just too large, bulky, and a point that tended to try to fall off the mark. I have set up many different types of tripods over many different difficult situations, and those were the worst I have encountered.
Not only that, if you are in a high-traffic area, they take a lot of room subject to vehicular or pedestrian traffic.
They probably have their place, but I will definitely take the more portable, adjustable-height tripods for most applications.
Andy J
yes, I suppose technically this is a 'variable' fixed height unit, with positions to lock in at 1.5, 1.8 and 2.0 meters. I almost always use the 1.8 meter stop, so for me, it's a "fixed height" .
the trick is to get the feet in good with all the the locks loose. one of the legs has two locks, so I tighten the lower one on that first. snug the other two so that it moves freely, but can be tight with one good half turn. level the bubble and tighten all the remaining locks.
Not Really One Lousy Ruler Reading, But 4 Readings
Height of antenna is a measurement and should be checked. Because most GPS receivers actually store the height in meters. The proper antenna measurement is height at setup in feet and meters and height at breakdown in feet and meters. even if you have the correct height written down it is still possible to enter it wrong ft/m in the receiver or data collector.
My L1 antennas on a fixed height rod, measure a slant height of 6.99' which I would enter in the receiver, which would convert it to 2.131m. When it was downloaded into my processing program that 2.131m would be converted to 6.991'. I finally gave up and now enter 6.991' even though I cannot read such a number on my tape measures.
Paul in PA
Not Really One Lousy Ruler Reading, But 4 Readings
A tidbit of information...this trick works on the Trimble TSC2 Survey Controller software:
When you are at the Antenna Height entry field you can enter the measurement in the units of your choice even though it expects the entry in metres.
You can add the unit type to the data entry. For example, keying in "60in" as the antenna height will be converted by the controller to 1.52 metres in the display. Use "ift" for international feet, "sft" for US survey feet, "ch" for chains, etc.
It might work with other software.