So I’ve looked at a few other posts, and I previously made a post about trying to get a Dozer connected to our RS2 through the Emlid nTrip caster.
Since that point, I have done some more testing.
The TL:DR is: No change in results.
Things I have done:
I was able to borrow a Trimble TDL 450H to push out a 450mhz range radio signal.
The result was unchanged, I was able to get a fix on the dozer for ~10-15 minutes. Then it would lose fix for a similar time.
I also tried the nTrip caster with a Topcon Hiper VR.
The results were the same. 10-15 minutes of solid fix, then it would float for 10-15 minutes and get a fix again.
I tried multiple different settings for the RTCM3 messages
Legacy or not, the results were exactly the same.
Our RS2 nTrip base station has been in place for almost the entire season at this point, it has worked almost flawlessly and gets great results when I connect using the RS2.
Originally I thought this was an issue on the Topcon end of things. But at this point, the newest Topcon rover with all the constellations has exactly the same results.
So has anyone else gotten a reliable -all day- fix using an RS2 as a base?
Sadly it seems that topcon products are highly dependable upon L2P which is not tracked by the Ublox chips, and likely never will be.
The L2P signal is being replaced by L2C which is much better in so many regards, so highly doubt that we will see L2P on ublox chips ever. As a fix between rs2’s usually work very nice, ublox (and Emlid down the road) hardly have business to gain by adding L2P, as that would just cause older units to stay in the field longer, not being replaced by i.e. an RS2.
I was fighting with similar issue with M2 base over ntrip caster and novatel(old) + hemisphere(new) rover for a long time. In my situation it worked for random time (10min to 30min usually) and suddenly rovers revert to single solution.
I did a factory reset and firmware update in all equipment and since then they work great without interruptions. Right now I am on firmware 27 and not updating to 27.1 because it may stop working.
I don’t know about topcon receivers but I think they are more strict about 3rd party equipment.
Indeed, @vgo195 faced pretty similar behavior with their Reach M2. I remember this case. And I can confirm that 27 firmware version fixed things. So, Grant, what version do you work with?
Also, @vgo195, 27.1 works the same as 27 in terms of RTK. So, it should work for you as well. If it doesn’t, we’ll get back to our investigation.
@wizprod I don’t think anything to do with L2P is broadcast on a standard nTrip server or Base station.
Right now there is no real reason emlid shouldn’t be able to match a normal base station broadcast. I really don’t know what is different, but obviously it’s on the Emlid side and not Topcon.
Ublox f9p isn’t tracking GPS L2P and older gear can’t use L2C, so you are essentially stuck with a L1-only fix.
You have 2 options:
replace the legacy equipment with an RS2 or M2 with your favorite antenna, as it is probably overdue anyway (preferred, it you control client purchase)
use a base that can broadcast L2P as well as all the other obs-types.
