Different Antennas for (ardu) simpleRTK2B

If I buy the starterkit from ardusimple it comes with this antenna: “u-blox GNSS Multiband antenna ANN-MB-00 (IP67)” for 53.- EUR
What about the more expensive antenna: “Survey GNSS Multiband antenna” for 89.- EUR?
Does anybody has experience with one or the other or ideally both, what’s the difference and would it be worth the price. I thought I go with the u-blox.
Thanks for all your thoughts
Marcus

I use a survey antenna on the tractor. Nice to have because it has a good mounting option. Also as i was told from ardusimple, the performance should be a little better then the small Ublox one.

I just ordered a Taoglas antenna to use for my 2nd rover, Taoglas seem to have a good range of lower cost antennas

I used two ANN-MB on a 10 cm aluminium plate this year, on the nose of the tractors with some cabin obstruction. RTK fix in a few seconds, fix lost only in difficult conditions just next to buildings, under tree canopy. I would not consider more expensive antennas myself.

I use the cheap ublox ones to and they work great. Just curious tho if anyone has tested and proven better accuracy with the survey antennas. Maybe they would be better for row cropping.

RTK is <2 cm accuracy guaranteed and it would surprise me if any precision difference in that range would affect autosteer performance, considering all other factors introducing faults into the system. Probably a difference in reception is of value in difficult environments where a survey antenna will better hold its fix, but to what extent I am curious to know too.

I can get the normal ublox antennas from digikey and as everyone noted they work great. However they really need a metal ground plane for best results. That survey antenna looks good for my needs. Who makes it and what is it’s model number? Would be nice to find it in digikey rather than ordering it from Europe.

EDIT: Looks like it is a Beitian survey antenna. This seems to be the same item: BEITIAN 3 V 18 V CORS RTK GNSS Survey Antenne Hoge precisie gain ZED F9P GPS GLONASS BDS GALILEO, TNC K, BT 147|GPS Ontvanger & Antenne| - AliExpress

It really looks the same like the one from ardusimple

I ordered one from Aliexpress to test. I’ll still need to buy a cable for it, whereas Ardusimple sells a cable with their antenna.

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Well, tell me if you got it and tested it :slight_smile:

Will do. It’s on it’s way. So sometime in the next month…

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I am tested both antennas.
BEITIAN 3 V 18 V CORS RTK GNSS Survey Antenne Hoge precisie gain ZED F9P GPS GLONASS BDS GALILEO, TNC K, BT 147|GPS Ontvanger & Antenne| - AliExpress cost 62$ with 5m cable cost 18$ from aliexpress, and “u-blox GNSS Multiband antenna ANN-MB-00 (IP67)” for 53.- EUR on steal plate 150mm diameter , 3mm thickness.

Both have same amplification, 13 satellite above 40 dB.

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@torriem and @grabik how did you go with the cheaper antennas from aliexpress?

In haven’t had a chance to test it, myself. I plan to use it on the base station which will go on the new shop this fall or winter.

Hopefully @grabik has had experience with it by now.

This antenna came out recently and already has the L5 band that greatly improves reception, it would not be a better option for the f9p that is also compatible with L5.

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Yes that antenna is more future proof, since it can work with L5. However the F9P itself does not support L5 at all. According to the U-Blox specs, it supports L2OF, L2C, E1B/C, B2I, E5b, L1C/A, L1OF, B1I only.

It seems you are from Spain, so check that tax into EU is paid.

Also consider this, as amplifying signal is not all, length and type of cable is a part of the whole performance, which is why Ublox send with fixed cable.
So a 20 cm ground plate + ANN-MB-00 might be cheaper (Ardusimple ship from EU )

https://portal.u-blox.com/s/question/0D52p00009JgKIcCAN/inexpensive-aliexpress-external-antennas-for-f9p

Hi, did you buy this antenna?

I bought a bt-147 antenna a while back but have yet to use it. This antenna does not support the L5 GPS frequencies, so by 2029 it might need to be replaced. I note there is a BT-151 now that supports all the frequencies including L5. Might be a good base station antenna. On the tractors, though, I don’t see any advantage to such an antenna over sticking the ANN-MB-00 antennas from ublox on a metal plate.

I finally ordered a cable to attach my bt-147 to an F9P, so I’ll be doing some testing soon.

Hi there,

just becoming a newbie with AGOPENGPS and plan my equipment. Actually, I could get a used Trimble antenna from a neighboor, he wants to upgrade. The antenna seems to be a AG15 or AG25 from what I have indicated… will hear soon more details.

The antenna has a female TNC connector. So I think it should be possible to get converter cables to SMA connectors.

Do you expect that the antenna will work on my tractor with AGOPENGPS and ublox f9 board?

My expectations with the trimble is, that is its easier to mount and maybe more rugged, more proctected and maybe more preceise than the usual standard antenna ANN-MB

Thansk!