Thanks Pat. Nothing like getting advise from someone who already has experience. What are the most common issues you have with the internet base stations and how often do they occur?
Very minimal. You just need to make sure everyone is using the correct base but everything has been fairly solid. I think in the 3~4ish years we have been using this we have had 3 hours of time where we couldnât connect.
I name ours with a standard prefix and name so for instance our base at our office is SVT5-Candia That way our operators and field techs know where they are roughly located. You will also need to make sure you have decent cell coverage in your area. Not every project may benefit from this but it will cut down on a lot of setup and coordinating.
So far the two we have setup are in areas with good cell coverage. We will keep that in mind if we expand. Thanks for your help.
Iâve never heard of a Trimble Access base. Was it less expensive than an 855? Iâm assuming it doesnât have an internal radio. Looks cool.
https://www.trimble.com/Real-Time-Networks/Trimble-Alloy.aspx
We went with this because we have partnered with a VRS provider and this is what they recommended. This is the latest and greatest for base station technology, tracking all constellations and utilizing the maxwell 7 chip and Propoint engine.
Our base station network is made up of 2 Alloys, 3 NetR9s and 4 SPS855s.
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Pat,
We have been running two of these base stations now for a couple of years (man time flies). One is directly hooked to an ethernet cable at our office and the other is using a sim card. The one at our office has worked fine but the other seems to vary through the day with cell usage. It is along a major hwy with plenty of cell towers around. Do you find the external antennae needs to be perfectly positioned facing a tower? Have you used any type of cell boosters? Any problems more from the signal on the equiment? I would appreciate any insights you may have.
2 years does fly.
-Starlink could be a good choice.
-https://rtkmobile.com/ - Allows for all 3 major mobile providers incase the area has questionable service.
We use these for our hotspots with external antenna to increase reception.
https://www.amazon.com/Cradlepoint-600Mbps-NetCloud-Essentials-Support/dp/B07FYY37HB/ref=sr_1_9?hvadid=557589221219&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9002296&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=13204496680044854772&hvtargid=kwd-6904419753&hydadcr=18001_13447350&keywords=cradlepoint&qid=1696965416&sr=8-9&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.ac578592-0362-4e0a-958c-0f2dd61d30d4
We have had pretty good luck. You may want see if there is any data saving settings or influence by peak hour throttling.
The R780 directly supports a SIM now too. This could be a good option to test. They donât however, support Verizon.
We are considering setting up our own base network. We have had what appears to be latency problems when running machines on a repeater within 5 miles of an internet base. Rovers seem to function normally, but the machines seem to be a second or two behind. Any thoughts on how to improve this setup? Itâs tough to justify adding bases when the setup you have doesnât seem to live up to expectationsâŚ
I have 2 Starlink units now and they work fantastic.
Also, Starlink just introduced the roam with 50GB/ month for 50. This should be more than adequate for base corrections and some minor misc.
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