I am looking into the Trimble VRS from Western Data Systems. Does anyone have any experience with this system in Rural settings? How far from a refrence station do you feel comfortable taking shots? The Trimble guy was telling me that it works great at or under 20 miles from the station. He also said the someone had used it with good results at over 50 miles but having to stay setup on the points for a minute or so.
I am thinking of putting a reference station at my place. The nearest stations are 70, 80, and 110 miles away.
I would appreciate any reviews or advise.
Thanks,
WQ
I have used a VRS in a rural setting West TN. It is okay, but there were some dead zones where we did not have cell coverage.
The farther you are from your base , the higher your HRMS will be. The private company that has the VRS in our area had already committed to install one in our county, and I got the company that I worked for at the time to get on the bandwagon, and that had it installed at their office. Very convenient.
For those areas without cell coverage, you are just out of luck for GPS RTK. My work area is so great, that I prefer a base/rover setup.
Hope this helps.
if it is a "true" VRS system, with the stations networked together, the distance from the nearest base station should not matter.
if it is a network of single base stations, then distance certainly will matter...just like with a conventional base and rover setup.
I'm not an expert here, but I understand it like Mr. Bryant says. The software on a good system, puts a "virtual" base station at the position you set it at, and that position is based on a "best fit" of all the VRS stations at once. Other systems simply use the closest site for the coordinates in your RTK survey, and the distance from your closest station would make the difference. From what I have read, Trimble does the "best-fit" virtual station, so your limitation is how far you are from the virtual station you create.
My apologies if I didn't word that well, or if I am wrong about any of it. Just an amateur here trying to reiterate what I think I know.