I bought a pair of these at the beginning of this year, and I have been very impressed with them. I wonder why I carried around those satel radios all those years. I have a backup set of them in the truck as well.
The longest range I had ever reached out with them was around 600 feet, and that was on a commercial site, not long after I started using them. I generally don't like being very far away from the gun, and most of my robotic work is not on larger sites.
I was working in a rural area yesterday, and I took a shot that was 864 feet from the gun, using the short stub antenna that comes with the unit. I was very, very impressed. Granted this was a rural setting, and I was working along the road, so clear line of site, and little to no interference.
Buy Longer Antennas
Paul in PA
Yes, I was using the older 100's and switched a month ago to the 1000's. What a big improvement in range. I have the longest (5in) one at the gun, but only the stub on the DC. Been getting 700-800 feet through the woods and 1000 feet in open. I bought two of the 5 inch, but have not had to use one on the DC yet. I run into hills before I get over 800 feet around here.
I agree!
I have used them to connect data collectors that lack a 'physical' serial port to old total stations that only have cables.
Here are couple of neat things:
- you can invert the TX and TX as needed, so you don't need a null modem
- you can jumper the adapter so it ignores RTS and CTS
- it seems to run for a long time on a charge
The price is reasonable too. (~$120)
Buy Longer Antennas
Paul,
The range is great. I like the short antennas. I don't like being that far away from the instrument anyway.
Jimmy
Pay attention to the antenna thread.
The earlier Parani units used a left hand thread for the antenna. It looks like they went to a right hand thread so pay attention to which you need for your unit.
Pay attention to the antenna thread.
> The earlier Parani units used a left hand thread for the antenna. It looks like they went to a right hand thread so pay attention to which you need for your unit.
You can buy an adapter that allows one to be used with the other. Cheaper than buying a new antenna, but it does add a bit of length.
> I bought a pair of these at the beginning of this year, and I have been very impressed with them. I wonder why I carried around those satel radios all those years. I have a backup set of them in the truck as well.
>
> The longest range I had ever reached out with them was around 600 feet, and that was on a commercial site, not long after I started using them. I generally don't like being very far away from the gun, and most of my robotic work is not on larger sites.
>
> I was working in a rural area yesterday, and I took a shot that was 864 feet from the gun, using the short stub antenna that comes with the unit. I was very, very impressed. Granted this was a rural setting, and I was working along the road, so clear line of site, and little to no interference.
Aloha, Jimmy: Great to hear yours are working great. With a lot of help from this forum. I got mine to work. I have two long antennas. I was able to reach up to about 950ft through a lot of shrubs and trees. :good: