Radio module for communication from the base to the rover

GPS / RTK / GNSS
1

hey i’m tarsio,
greetings :smiley:
a few months ago I bought the LR kit from ardusimple and in relation to the f9p i have nothing to complain about, it is excellent. However, what really disappointed me was the Xbee sx868, which on the day of the purchase I did not take to the letter that said the coverage would be impaired without the line of sight, and in my region the terrain is very undulating, where even taking a mobile base with me, I would still not be able to cover an area of ​​20 ha (internet communication would be impossible, here the cellular signal is non-existent). but I know it is my fault for not doing enough research on the module, if I had seen that its power was 35wM I would not have bought it, this has been giving me a headache for some time, and I cannot solve this problem. so if anyone has experience of radio communication from the base to the rover and would like to help me I would be grateful

2

I am in the same situation. Ended up buying a pair of rfd900 ultra long range radios. They are capable of 1 watt, and pretty simple to set up with mission planner or the rfd900 program. All free to download. There are a bunch of YouTube videos of how to set them up. Doesn’t take long and pretty simple. I bought a couple of extra USB to rfd900 cables and used them to power from a cigarette lighter plug to USB. Then you connect tx from base module to rx of base radio. TX of rover radio to rx of roxer module. Should be some videos on that as well. May have to connect to rx2 on rover, not sure on ardusimple.
I set my base radio up in the barn to test before making a permanent install, with the TX power at only 100mw front inside the metal barn , it would stay connected half way across my home farm. About 4 to 500 yards. Haven’t tested distance since but supposed to reach a couple miles or so.

3

35 W here:

This is what commercial RTK providers often use. Not cheap and needs a licence.

4

I thought of something like 5w or more, not too expensive, this 35w would be around 10 thousand dollars for my country

5

Hi,
What do you use in the tractor to connect to this base? Also a satel device? Do you know anything about the satel 3as protocol?
I am looking for a cheap alternative

Thanks in advance

Jaap

6

The commercial auto-steer systems we have are AGCO branded Topcon AGI-4 receivers. They have a combination modem consisting of a Motorola cellular module for NTRIP and a Satel radio module for a radio link to the base. I use both options.

On my AgOpenGPS setup I use NTRIP, internet connectivity from my cellphone (bluetooth PAN or WLAN access point).

7

Thanks!

8

I think you can attach two way booster modules to your xBee so you can boost it up to 1000mW (one in the base station and another in the rover), you can find cheap modules in china web pages, in addition if you use antennas with higher gain you have more chances to succed in the link.