Internet Base Station broadcasting

What kind of range are you getting?

The furthest I can remember is around 7000 feet. But there is a lot of hills where I work so usually between 2000-3500 feet.

> The furthest I can remember is around 7000 feet. But there is a lot of hills where I work so usually between 2000-3500 feet.

I would think it might be a little better than that. With a good environment in a very quiet rural area we've seen 25K feet. But you're right, the hills and background noise can affect it drastically.

My question is: has it always been that way? One of our GR-3s started getting picky about talking to the base. We realized it was worse as the temperature would rise.

It never actually quit working, but got real aggravating to deal with. I finally put a new tran$mitter board in the base and it cleared up. That's been 3 years ago. I used that set earlier in the week 6 to 7K from the base in hilly country and it seemed to work fine.

Its always been that way for me. Just curious. How much did it cost to have new radio installed?

I think it was around 2.5 to 3K...for one transmitter in the base. It was enough to chap my butt...

EDIT: I REMEMBER NOW.

They put a new board in and shipped it back. It worked for a day and then started acting up again. I sent it back and the antenna had a loose connection.

The shop said the loose connection had probably caused the transmitter to eventually fry. I wondered why they didn't catch it the first time around.

Thanks fer joggin' my memory...:-@

In my opinion that is an unfair amount that they charged. I mean we are talking about a 1 watt 915 mhz radio on a board. Probably not the repair shops fault but whoever named the price on that part should be ashamed of themselves for charging hard working people that much. I can get a similiar part outsourced out of Japan for less that $200 bucks with the same specs. Anyone else know if the GR-3 is able to broadcast corrections to the internet?

Anyone use the Topcon GR-3 to broadcast their base station via internet or know if it is possible. Or can I put a Sim card in the base and rover and have limitless range via cellular?

I recently started using a Trimble R10, everything is built in (Ntrip, etc), I just had to install the SIM card and get a plan from AT&T. Since then it has been so easy to use that even when I was close by I used the cell system rather than a radio. Plus they make you get a 5 GB plan, which I could never use up in a month.

Do u have 2 r10s. One being a base and one being a receiver? You then put a Sim card in both of them and the base sends corrections via cellular to your rover that receives via cellular?

If so do u think I can do the same thing with my Topcon Gr-3 base and rover?

Not all GR3 units had the internal modem. Some had GSM and some had CDMA.
Easiest way is to use the Magnet Relay feature. You can use the internal modem in your GR3 or a data collector, and broadcast corrections thru their Magnet enterprise service to the rover.

Can I set my base up to transfer using the Sim card slot? Can I then set my rover up to receive using the Sim card slot? In other words 2 Sim cards and 1 base and 1 rover. They are both topcon gr-3.

if they have the internal GSM modem then yes. A TRU report would confirm.

Is it possible using SurvCE? I do not have magnet.

I only have 1 R10. The other end (an R8) does not have a cell modem. I have several ways to get the corrections:

1) Intuicom RTK bridge...this is the easiest, turn it on and it connects directly to the R10 over the cell network and then broadcasts corrections to the local rover over a radio link, same as if the base were transmitting. This uses the same style as a typical RTK over radio link survey
2) TSC2 wifi to cell phone hot spot, NTrip
3) TSC2 wifi to mifi (portable hot spot) NTrip
4) Yuma 2 (Trimble tablet) running Trimble access. The yuma 2 has a cell modem built in that can use either a sim card (AT&T) or verizon (no sim). I set it up to use verizon, it just shares my data plan for an extra $10/month. I wish I had that choice with the R10, but it only works with GSM (i.e. AT&T)

As I mentioned, option 1 is the easiest. The RTK bridge can have 4 profiles, for example a couple of VRS and the R10. But that is an extra piece of gear, not cheap, and it requires a separate data plan as well. As far as I know you cannot share data plan with the RTK bridge, verizon wants it on a stand alone plan.

I like the fact that the yuma 2 has both systems (GSM for AT&T and CDMA for verizon). That means I can go anywhere in the world, buy a SIM card, and use it on GSM. I prefer verizon in the US but it is nice to have that dual capability, as I do work occasionally overseas.

Hi Topconman,

The NSPS News and View had an ad for a company that may have the product you need.
Intuicom

Have you thought about adding a 35 watt external radio?

survCE may require a static IP. Never tried with that program. Easiest way is external radio or a repeater

He's using 915 mhz which is spread spectrum and explains the short range. A 35 watt uhf wouldn't be compatible to his internal rover radio. Depending on your cell service I would pursue the cellular Internet approach over uhf I think. The intuicom recommendation seems like a great place to start.

> Depends on how the base will be connected to the internet; and what options you have for the rover (e.g does it have a modem inside already that can be activated, or can the DC connect to the phone via Bluetooth or cable, or can the DC do Wifi to conenct to a MiFi/Jetpack?)

> The rover (connected to the internet by any of the methods above) can point to the IP of device server or NTRIP caster. But for both of those base approaches you will need a static IP (usually costs more than a standard internet service) or use one of those IP-forward service like "No IP".

I don't know about him, but our GR-3's have internal GSM modems, and 915 Spread Spectrum modems. (Maybe the same modem, different output paths, I have no idea.) The manual implies that you can use the internal GSM modems to connect the base and the rover. 915 range is very limited with hills and trees, however, we love it for construction sites.