How to use Ublox F9P base for Topcon RTK

Hello,
As per my knowledge, To integrate Topcon rovers like the Hiper SR, the process can be a bit nuanced. You should follow these points:

  • Verify RTCM Messages
  • Check Message Settings
  • Firmware Versions
  • Receiver Configuration
  • Check Base Station Settings
  • Diagnostics and Logs
  • Consult Manuals and Support

I hope this will help you.

Respected community member :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Okay I will look into that. I’ve been reading about Topcons software TRU it will show me lots of info for my Topcon rovers. Thanks I’ll get back if I find something

Here is some more information on my Topcon hipersr
It’s pretty up to date and accepts rtcm. I will try to get rtk with northern farmers advice and will get back if I fail or succeed.





@NorthernFarmer dose the 1008 handle the TADJ? or do i need to enter that here?
Capture
also did i fill this out right? Edit: ive heard theyve fixed this issue with tadj with newer versions of rtklib :man_shrugging:

Now I stream rtklib v.demo5 b34i to snip and I get this info


I was not successful in getting rtk from that process. Maybe i didnt send the right rtcm msgs? I know the ntrip is working and sending data over wifi. Maybe i need to look more into snips PFAT features? Did you guys notice anything i did wrong? All i get is initializing. Here are some more pictures



I will try these msgs
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Edit: same failed results, no rtk. I even let it sit for 10min

Ok i use topcons TopNet Live Correction service for RTK for my Topcon rovers. I was able to login via snips relay streams so i can see what RTCM msgs it is sending out. here is what i got:
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I know these work for rtk on my topcon so i will try these with my f9p! Edit: same result no rtk,ill try more tomorrow, i’m still not sure what tadj even is really i know its something with observation time stamps and i want to make them rounded but i’m not sure where to put that info. thanks

Your receiver looks OK, quite similar capabilities as the Fendt branded Topcon AGI-4 we used to have.

Interesting that TopNet Live is sending RTCM1007, no RTCM1008. Honestly I cannot remember why but we used to send both RTCM1007 and RTCM1008 for our AGI-4.

Something obvious you could mention: your base and your rover are placed under clear sky view, not inside (from the number of satellites this looks ok)?

Can you explain your caster configuration. Are you using SNIP as the caster that Hiper sr connects to? How do you connect to TopNet and how do you connect to SNIP? The Hiper sr user manual is vague, there must be some configuration manual separately, it does not mention anything about NTRIP or connectivity settings, does not mention wifi, just bluetooth and cellular.

Your STRSVR had all messages configured for the same rate, still SNIP reports a more typical schedule, 1004 and 1012 every second, the rest less frequently. How did this work out? Does no make a difference here though, just curious.

You did not show any scenario where RTK correction age would have been acceptable. Must be so with TopNet, you should confirm us that you get less than a couple of seconds latency from your private base.

The user manual briefly mentions that the receiver needs to be configured as a rover or as a base. As long as it is not configured for a fixed base location, I’d expect it to work as a rover but just guessing as the product documentation (that I could reach) did not say anything.

If you can see low RTK correction signal latency, you might try a quick test and enable only GPS on your rover (other than GPS and Glonass are not useful in any case, must be automatically ignored).

Yes I have a clear view of the sky. I average around 40 satellites at all times. below is a picture of my base and a chart for satellites



I am using this Antenna . the wire goes into my house to the f9p to my pc.
Edit: i did not mention this but my topcon rover also has a clear view of the sky when i am testing

The way I connect snip or topnet to my topcon rover is with topcons android software Pocket3D. I connect the topcon rover to my android tablet via bluetooth in pocket3d, Then in Pocket3d i have the option to get corrections from ntrip. When i am out in the field i can use the cellular from the android tablet to connect to topnet via ntrip. When i am home i connect to my wifi so i can connect to snips stream of my f9p via ntrip(this is for testing purposes,in the future id like to send the snip ntrip data to rtk2go so i can access it from the tablets cellular data plan) also i can see the age of the corrections in pocket3d its usually around 0-1 with topnet or snips stream of my f9p (picture below of snips f9p stream age) so i know its getting the data, it even shows the distance i am from my Private base.




I will try to stream topnets ntrip thru snip and connect my rover to snips stream and see if that even works. Edit: wow i was successful and got rtk using snip but snip is streaming topnet(not my f9p). To be able to connect topnet to snip i have to send my location to topnet(i think it uses that info to stream the closest base to my location for best results) Edit2: the cool thing about this is topcon charges $1500 a year for topnet to only send ntrip data to 1 device (that is the plan i have now) but then if you want to use 2 devices it is $3000 a year. i wonder if i can just stream topnet to snip then snip can send that data to multiple devices for free (you do have to buy snip full version to use snip longer than an hr but that is a one time payment i think)

Yes for my first STRSVR test i did have all the msgs at the same rate, I sent that to snip and i think snips PFAT parse feature automatically configure what rate it should send out. When i tried to copy topnets msgs i did add the rates to STRSVR (picture below) and i got the same rates in snip but that still did not work for rtk
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I did not include -TADJ=1 in the options because i am not even sure thats where it goes. i have no idea what is and what to do with -TADJ=1. how do you implement -TADJ=1? do i even have to? I also did notice i didn’t send a 1007 but a 1008 instead. i will try with the 1007msg and i will also try to enable just gps on my rover

Edit1: here is what i got in snip from my f9p STRSVR
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Edit2: Failed results no rtk. i even did try gps only on my rover. maybe ill try 1007 and 1008 together?
Thank you @NorthernFarmer for taking the time to help me

I cannot find anything wrong with your approach. I can neither give advice on the TADJ issue, I use it on the RTKBase app that passes the parameters to RTKLIB.

Have you been able to verify your F9P base with any other GNSS receiver? Anyone near you who could test it? I’d like to see that the base coordinates are OK, to be sure F9P is not in survey mode. I guess SNIP would complain if RTCM1005 was not OK.

Interesting that you got Top Net sending to your NTRIP caster. I thought RTK providers had means to disable signal sharing. I have no experience on commercial RTK corrections though, always used my own base.

now I don’t use STRSVR anymore but when I last used it I used convert from rtcm3 to rtcm3, don’t know if it matters?

This is how I start my base, i connect the f9p to my pc via usb, open u-center i connect to f9p com port, rates are usually set up at 115200, if not i change it to 115200, my f9p base is already configured to send ubx and rtcm3 messages so all i have to do is put it in timemode3 and manually put in longitude latitude altitude (the way i got my long lat and alt is i surveyed the point where my f9p antenna will be with my topcon rover with rtk) I saved that configuration to my pc so i can just load it to the f9p.

Now i could just start a ntrip caster with u-center and send the data to my f9p rover and i get rtk easily or i can disconnect my f9p from from u-center and connect it to STRSVR via serial and output to ntrip server (snip) with the conversions from ubx to rtcm for my topcon rover

huh i just noticed that the long lat height/altitude (LLH) of snip (right) is a little different from u-center (left). I can use snips pfat feature to correct this and see if that was the problem

these are the coordinates i got for my f9p antenna with my topcon hiper v with rtk. also note that u-center rounds up or down the last 3 digits even if i type all digits in timemode3. and if you notice the height/altitude is about 6 inches off from what u-center reports is because the f9p antenna is about 6inches up from where i surveyed.

I do have an other topcon receiver that accepts ntrip data for my mini excavator but ill have to try it when i bring the machine home because everything is wired around the machine. i don’t know anyone else that could test my base for themselves. i will try to see if i can get rtk with my f9p rover using snips stream from my base i will not correct the LLH in snip yet and i will kept the same msgs from STRSVR conversions.

edit1: okay i was successful in getting a fix using the snips stream(picture above, right side) with nothing changed, snip wasn’t as fast at getting a fix as just streaming ntrip data through u-center, it was a little unstable at first to but after a minute it was locked on a fix. i connect my f9p rover via usb to my Microsoft surface (tablet pc) and connect to u-center and entered the ntrip credentials

I have never heard of the RTKBase app and ill look into it. can i ask how your setup process is? @NorthernFarmer

edit2: i deleted the pictures with the coordinates for privacy reasons

Trying to recapture to be sure I got the above right: you had an F9P rover receiving RTK corrections from your own F9P base and the F9P rover got RTK fix but your Topcon sr still does not work with your F9P base? Progress in any case. Hopefully someone familiar with Topcon sr will figure out the issue.

Probably makes no difference here but I’m puzzled about the base coordinates being different as reported by SNIP. I run SNIP too, my RTKBase feeding a stream to snip and in my case SNIP reports exactly the same coordinates as I’ve entered on RTKBase. Are you sure you are using TIME MODE “2-FIXED”?

Your Topcon tool reports coordinates at extreme resolution. By default F9P uses 6 decimal digits (hope I got this right from memory) and 8 digits in high precision mode. Seems you are configured with HP which is essential but no further resolution is needed. This should be in some mm range, a fraction of practical accuracy anyway.

I’m not sure if it makes sense for you to more to RTKBase just to cover some RTKLIB details. You would need a Raspberry Pi, not too expensive to try though. I see you have a paid SNIP app, I’ve never paid anything for AG GNSS SW, perhaps I’m too concerned about spending a few dollars. I understand you have used some excavator tools, I guess those are even more expensive than commercial agriculture GNSS tools.

RTKBase is discussed here:

More here:

I’ll add more about my RTK base experience via a private message.

Yes i got a fix with my f9p rover using the same msgs topnet uses.

I am using time mode 3 ,2-Fixed Mode (picture below)

For snip I am using a Evaluation Copy of Snip it is free to download and i think includes everything the premium version but i can only use it for 1 hour than i have to restart the program. if i can get this f9p working with my topcon stuff it’s highly likely i’ll buy snips PRO version for $4,850 I think it’s a one time payment.

I haven’t learned much about using raspberry pi but i’m willing to if it’s what i need to do

I will private message you to and if i find out anything useful for using an f9p for topcon rtk i will add it to this forum. thanks for all the help i hope to resolve this issue. any advice from anyone is much appreciated.

Here is my excavator setup if anyone was wondering about the topcon 3d system i have






2 Rovers are topocn GR-i3 not sure what the screen/data collector is maybe mc max the modem is a mc i4 i think and the radio is a UR-1