Trying to figure out where to start

Yes its possible but its limited and many did not find as good results from single GPS (±0.5m is nominal). And I think that’s harder then making RTK base, because you have to find tractor settings and you don’t know if GPS is bad or your settings.

Sure when you got system operational but cant get corrections and you have tractor settings nailed you can try single but even then results may very.

RTK base can be as simple as rtk2b/antenna kit with NTRIP master connect to home wifi pushing to rtk2go.

Exactly. Single works absolutely fine for autosteer if you are not after centimetre accuracy and repeatability. We use it for raking regularly. Actual steer quality is basically the same, just with less precision.

Once you try dual band RTK, nothing else compares. :grin:

So if you’re using wifi from a cell phone or hotspot for RTK signal correction, is guidance going to get off when you lose cell service? Wouldn’t radio antenas be more reliable? What are the pros and cons of each?

If you have good cellular service, it is by far the easiest and most reliable method.
How often do you drop calls?

The F9P handles loss fairly well and almost a minute before noticing that its driving a little off, but nowhere near as bad as WAAS on its best day. As soon as corrections come back it fixes again in seconds. The first fix of the morning can take 30s, but usually much less.

Radio can be very reliable, or not depending on type and setup. Pros and cons are very much tied to how large an area you have to cover with the transmitted data, and if there are any natural barriers like trees or hills.

Get a Wifi router in the cab, or a usb to Ethernet adapter for the surface.

I have one farm where cell service is almost nonexistent currently.

I know of guys who have installed Deere Base stations on towers 100’ up and get coverage out to 10 miles radius with flat ground and lots of trees. Towers are not within my budget.

It sounds like these radio antenas need to be close with a clear line of sight. Before those other guys put up towers, they had a mobile base station on a tripod, but it had to be set up for 24 hours before use so it could find itself in space. Does the radio version of this require that kind of time to “find itself”?

I’m just not familiar with RTK without the radio. So both the base station and the rover must to have access to cell service? Does the base station communicate to the cell tower and back to the rover? Alternatively, does the cell tower serve as a base station and you don’t need a separate base station?

Can one set up a system to work with both cell and radio? Would that be advantageous? What other options are there?

That’s a lot of questions. I apologize; I’m just trying to learn the best way to move forward.

Base can be connected to internet (NTRIP) or radio or both.

On rover side then you must have internet to recive corrections from caster. Or radio connection.

For radio you need clear line of sight if you have obsticles you lose signal. For long range radios you probably need licence, cost of setting up is high.

NTRIP based corrections from internet you have to have cell signal but if you have it just make hotspot from phone and connect tablet. (No need for second data plan). Base 》caster (like rtk2go) 》rover.

This is one good option if you cant get any signal as it doesnt require long range radio can work anywhere, you can make permanent spot in field for antenna and write down cordinates after 24h survey (maybe also PPP), once done you write those cordinates into base place antenna into that spot and you dont have to wait. You can make as many spots as you need to cover all fields, but you have to move base and change cords for each spot.

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Actually on the rover side too both could be used, radio or NTRIP. I have two tractors with an OEM modem that does both radio and NTRIP and my base too has both. In practise I never use radio as our cellular coverage is perfect.

DarrenLobb has very good videos also.

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No, that’s not how it works. A cell tower is not a base station.

A base station contains a GPS receiver and a way to get that signal out. You need a base station nearby your rover. Members can have disagreements whether the max allowable distance between the base station and the rover is 10 miles or 30 miles or 50 miles, but definitely no further than that. The closer by, the better. Your in field accuracy is reduced with a greater distance.

A base station can communicate to your rover over radio, over the internet (ntrip, cellular), over a really long data cable, smoke signals, flashing lights with Morse code, whatever you want. They are all just mediums of communication. Obviously a cable has a distance limit in feet, radio has a distance limit of miles, and the internet doesn’t really have a distance limit. That doesn’t change the fact that the base station must be located nearby your rover.

There are freely available base stations available on the internet. Some free base stations are operated by individuals, some are operated by states’ dot. Some people are lucky enough to have one of those free base stations close to their fields.

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Just to add here, the base station and rover must see the same satellites at the same time. The more satellites they have in common the more accurate the corrections. Each satellite signal is corrected. This gives the rover how much to correct each signal it receives. If the base is seeing 18 satellites and the rover 12 satellites, most of these need to be the same. The father you are from the base, less and less of the same satellites are seen. Hence, less and less corrections can be applied to the satellites you see.

What is a good antenna to use? Does the base station and the rover use the same kind? Also, I need some insight as to which hydraulic valve to use.

This is what many members use 2x, one kit for base other for rover, antenna is good for both applications, but you can get better if you need.

Doesn’t have to but they can.

They need to be able to send or receive RTCM3.x correction streams.

For example currently I use an Emlid to make corrections for a Trimble and a sparkfun F9P board.

So im working on ordering an antenna etc, what is the with or eithout headers soldered option all about? Anything else that i should order from these folks? Im ordering from the link on this page

With headers you can plug it into for example an All in One board.

You can solder them on yourself, far cheaper, as long as your confident soldering.

So the aio board is more of a simple setup right? It has more of the stuff put together already?

If you order it assembled. If nothing else, a single cable coming out makes for a tidier installation.

More questions… so in that link, it talks of single antenna, dual antenna, and rtk. I guess i thought that dual and rtk were the same.