I am another that is trying to sort out this process of putting all the pieces together for an affordable auto steer. Our state DOT has a VRS GNSS system that is free to use, The closest base is 11 miles from our farm. Should that work to where all i need is the receiver (rover} on our tractors? No base required?
On a side note this adventure of trying to learn how this all works has been the most fun i have had in a long while! Thanks to all that post and answer on here!
I use Iowa’s free state service and it works great. We’re lucky to have these services or we pay for them so we might as well use them.
True, we do pay plenty! That is the answer i was hoping for. Whose receiver do you use? Any recommendations?
With VRS the closet base is right beside your tractor, if you are inside a triangle of the network coverage the magic software will use the readings off multiple bases to polish up the corrections sent to you. As if the base were right beside you.
The most popular:
from their site or mouser or digikey
Interesting, I was not aware of any free VRS service for farmers.
11 miles to a base would be good even without VRS.
Thanks for that link on VRS. Not gonna lie the more i read the dumber i feel. LOL How would I determine if i am inside a triangle of coverage?
Are you in the middle of at least 3 base stations in the VRS network that could draw a perimeter surrounding you?
You will have to send your GGA back to the VRS caster for the magic to work.
Sensor Map.pdf (432.6 KB)
Here is a map of the state sensor locations. I marked our farm and should the distance to the closest sensor.
Your in the middle of many stations so VRS has lots of data to come up with tailored corrections for your actual location.
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I’m working on building my first system with AgOpenGPS. I bought a SimpleRTK2B starter kit (board and antenna) and set it up with an old computer I have (I am in the process of purchasing the all in one PCB board and the rest of the hardware for the board). I also have a subscription of to a local ag dealers RTK VRS system for the our planting tractor. I input all the information for the VRS connection we use on our planting tractor (using a Trimble monitor/setup), but I don’t believe I am receiving the RTK fix. I was using this How to guide to help me set up the board and RTK: https://www.ardusimple.com/how-to-connect-gnss-rtk-receiver-and-agopengps/
I want to make sure I’m not doing anything blatantly wrong before I go back to the Ag dealer and ask for more info from them regarding their VRS system. Does it look like I’m doing anything wrong based on the pictures I attached?
Thanks again for everyone that provides support on discourse!
OK so you’re obviously receiving at least something from the NTRIP caster. 2 kb of data so far. Does it ever get past the “Authorizing” stage? It should, in a few seconds, start alternating between “Listening”, and “Send GGA”. That is displayed on the top left side.
Also, if you click the 
arrow, then you can view more data, including a message box that shows the NTRIP messages coming to AgIO.
Both of these apply to the main AgIO menu.
You mentioned Trimble and the MountPoint has CMRp in the name, so I think it is probably a fair assumption that the base station is using CMR+. The F9P will not work with CMR+, it requires RTCM.
There is a phone app called Ntrip Checker that allows you to enter the credentials and connect to a base station. It is a handy troubleshooting tool sometimes.
Edit: I see in your MountPoint List that it is CMR+ and that you have some RTCM bases. It should work with one of the RTCM bases. The F9P antenna will also need a clear view to the sky to get an RTK fix, yours appears to be inside.
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Thanks for the responses! I relocated the antenna outside and changed the mount point to the VRS RTCM base but I was still unable to get RTK fixed. It still alternates between authorizing and waiting. Thanks for the support.
I’m going to contact the agent dealer to see if they have any insight into connecting. If I come up with anything that is helpful to the community, I’ll be sure to edit my initial post.
