Colin,
The only people in the world who use angle right are US surveyors. Right or wrong. I used angle right wit all of the data collectors I used in my early years but then I put on my big boy surveying boots. I am not trying to be disrespectful but all of the other posts have me laughing. The Leica instruments are inherently direction instruments. So if you setup over a known point and backsight a known point any software calculates the azimuth between the two. Mathematically you need the azimuth (or bearing) to calculate any coordinates. Period. So US Surveyors (and I are one) have decided that the old angle right trick has to be the way and the only way to survey. Not sure why anyone who knows how to calculate a delta northing or a delta easting long-hand has trouble with this concept. Again, I am not trying to aggravate anyone... but angle right was for old-time drafting when it boils down to root level.
If you want to display angle right on Leica TPS1200:
First change a setting in the setup menu.....
1. From main menu go to 2 Programs
2. Next choose 02 Setup
3. In the next screen select F2 CONG (the configuration for applications is always F2 or F2 (CONF)
4. You will see on about the firth line a field called "Display AR" - change this to YES if you want to display angle right
Now, Leica gives the unique capability to display whatever and in whatever order you want on the Survey screen and other screens. Damn handy option.
So to display angle right instead of Azimuth in your survey screen....
1. From the main menu choose 5 Config....
2. Next choose 1 Survey Settings
3. Next choose 2 Display Settings
4. in the next screen the Define: field should be Mask 1
5. Next choose F3 (DMASK)
6. Now highlight whatever line is set to display you horizontal angle reading and select the enter key
7. Scroll up or down and change this line to Angle Right and select the ENTER key
8. Select the F1 (CONT) key until you are at the main menu
Now you have angle right.
Now all the Leica haters will pick this post apart. At least Leica has options. Angle right... and again I used it for 15 years.... is the old way to do things and in the background the software is converting every angle right recorded into an Azimuth to compute coordinates.... regardless of what software you are using.
I hope this helps
Mark
The real old school way is to turn deflection angles, right or left, when traversing. That way it is very easy to calculate the next bearing on a traverse.
I used a TDS Ranger with the 1200 series instrument.
Now I am using an S6 with a TCU. The S6 is light years ahead of the Leica instruments. It is so much smoother, less vibration, I get better results on Forest traverses and lighter too.
Dave,
Yes the S6 is o.55 lbs lighter than the TPS1200. But since you have to pack around 10 lbs of extra batteries to power the S6 for a days work when you only need one that weighs 0.3 lbs to operate a TPS1200 robot all day... then in reality you would carry more weight with a tremble.
Light years ahead.... absolutely not. The only thing any of the mag drives can do better is to spin around faster. That does nothing for as a surevyor. It only makes a good demo when you are a salesman for tremble. Leica is still ahead in every category that actually matters when surveying.
Fair enough, use what works for you.
The lack of motor vibration has helped tremendously in loose, steep setups. I didn't really expect that, it was a pleasant surprise. I have had far fewer bad sets with the S6s. Just the overall smoothness of the operation (software and hardware that like each other) has been a big help.
I grant you using the Leica software would probably be much smoother than any of the common third party software packages when using Leica gear. That just wasn't a convenient office processing option for us.
David
One note on comparison. If you want to compare an S6 to Leica, then you need to do so to the TS15 robot. It has the different drives, etc. Or really get fancy and demo the TS30. You cant sprint fast enough for it not to track you, plus very little vibration if any.
Matthew
I'm just happy to be caught up to 6 years ago ;-).
If I could buy brand new equipment that would be great.
I'm not having an issue with the S6 batteries. In the Forest we clip the TCU to the instrument so one fully charged battery will last all day although we usually have partially used ones so we carry spares. Just seems to work out that way.
I read a old smi manual the other day and it contained a "letter to azimuth surveyors" which outlined why the surveyor should abandon the AZ and embrace the HZ.
That manual is a gas, another favorite in there is explaining how they assume the user has a mouse but will include all the dos commands just in case the user is a little behind the tech curve.
"light years ahead"????
You must come across too much funny tobacco burning out in the woods to really believe that.
Also, I am constantly in amazement at the accuracy and reliability of the 1200, no matter what the terrain I set it up in. Perhaps your vibration issues are attributable to some outlying cause?
Actually, if you stop
to think about it, Leica has had instruments that were almost impossible, or at the very least least, difficult and time-consuming to set to 0.
Remember the T-2, T-3 and the T-4?. Weren't they first made in the 1920's?
Almost 80 years and they didn't change much, at least in that respect.
Obviously the Leica instruments are good instruments. We got good results from them, no doubt.
I can only speak to my own experience. With the Leica I get more bad sets and the operation isn't as smooth. When i get a bad set then i have to re-turn it. I attribute that to a couple of things mentioned above.
Believe me I would love to go into the Leica store and get all Leica everything but budgets never seem to allow for that. Also Leica generally is designed as a complete system (not just the gun) so it's frustrating when previous generations didn't buy the whole system, just the gun.
How I set to ZERO on a Leica 1200
hello Colin,
setting zero for me seems to be pretty easy on the 1200, unless you are trying to do something different again?
whilst in the main measuring screen the [F5] button should be available as 'SETAZ'. press it, and the first screen should enable you to enter a dummy/temp point number, and to enter any azimuth you wish. enter the dummy/temp point number and the azimuth ([F4] will set AZ=0) and press 'SET'.
azimuth is now painlessly set to whatever you wanted it to be. if you weren't setting to a prism make sure to not be in 'LOCK' or 'ATR' mode as it will perform a prism search and inform you of the lack of prism.
is this what you were after?
How I set to ZERO on a Leica 1200
I found this in the Leic My World site
SetOrientation V4.60 12/10/2012 Download
SetOrientation for total station to zero or any user entered value.
Maint. Date:12/01/2012
44 KB
I have not tried it yet. It is an app for the CS15 data collector.
How I set to ZERO on a Leica 1200
I can't get my hands on the gun until early Jan, when I go back to that job, but I will try the "dummy point" trick. Don't you have to create a job and point first though? I did try to just enter a point there and then but it didn't seem to work.
The reason for my posting was simply that every Sokkia or Topcon gun I ever used has a "one hit" button to set zero and that is a feature I do actually use (though apparently I shouldn't ever want to according to some!). I was just wondering where/If/whynot?? on the Leica. If there are more than 3 or 4 steps involved I can set zero thru the datacollector just a quick - it's a time saver as much as anything and just suits my workflow.
Didn't mean to start a Leica versus Tremble(?) or Azimuth versus angle right duel!
How I set to ZERO on a Leica 1200
The comments made above are helpful for someone considering what brand of equipment to purchase. I have used both the S-6 and now own a TCRP 1203. IMO the S-6 is clearly more user friendly and more productive in stakeout and topo. It is very easy to train a new instrument man to use this gun. I prefer the 1203 for cadastral work. It is unbelievably accurate. I have had the gun for 9 months and it seem to be dead reliable. The traverse program is great.
Now the negatives and frustrations. I could find serious things to criticize in each instrument, but my lawyer has warned me against saying anything bad about anyone.
Question for Leica 1200 users: Is there any way to check your backsight when using the robotic mode, then zero the backsite and have the instrument return to face you? In the old 1100 series with TDS all that you had to do was hit one key that said CHECK BACKSIGHT, and that was it! That was a huge production saver!
Stephen Zitkovich
How I set to ZERO on a Leica 1200
"check recorded point"
I have it set up as F7 in the hotkeys.
This is not the zero you are looking for !
How I set to ZERO on a Leica 1200
> I can't get my hands on the gun until early Jan, when I go back to that job, but I will try the "dummy point" trick. Don't you have to create a job and point first though? I did try to just enter a point there and then but it didn't seem to work.
>
> The reason for my posting was simply that every Sokkia or Topcon gun I ever used has a "one hit" button to set zero and that is a feature I do actually use (though apparently I shouldn't ever want to according to some!). I was just wondering where/If/whynot?? on the Leica. If there are more than 3 or 4 steps involved I can set zero thru the datacollector just a quick - it's a time saver as much as anything and just suits my workflow.
>
> Didn't mean to start a Leica versus Tremble(?) or Azimuth versus angle right duel!
hello Colin,
if i don't want to create a job i just flip open the CF card door and start survey, and close it again. it is in a free measuring mode now.
alternatively, in the same way as i have scrap paper on my desk to scribble on i also use the 'default' job on the CF card for dummy measuring. having to enter a dummy point number when setting AZ=0 is no biggie for me.
it's just familiarity. once you are practised it's no big deal. i would have AZ=0 in seconds on our 1200.
some people may reel back in horror at this suggestion but see if you can take the 1200 home one day, sit it on the table and just stuff around with it till you know everything backwards. create a dummy job and use all the functions, make mistakes, press buttons. just get to know everything it does.
How I set to ZERO on a Leica 1200
The nice thing about the Leica is that it is super configurable.
So, we set up our 1200s for topo and are about twice as fast with the Leica as a Trimble S6 for topo.
How I set to ZERO on a Leica 1200
I hate to disagree but teaching a new Surveyor how to run a 1200 with Carlson (or even MicroSurvey) for that matter is much easier than teaching someone to run Trimble Access with an S6. I like the S6, like you said it has its place in the market...I feel that place is more the machine control area though.