Temporary RTK Surveyor Base setup
Any tripod with a ¼” camera thread will work. The Amazon Basics tripod works well enough but is a bit light weight
and rickety. A cell phone holder is clamped to the tripod and the RTK Surveyor is held in the clamp. The ¼”
camera thread is adapted to ⅝” 11-TPI and a L1/L2 antenna is attached. A Male TNC to Male SMA adapter
connects the antenna to the RTK Surveyor.
Once the base has been setup with a clear view of the sky, move the
Setup
switch to "Base" and turn the unit on.
The red LED will blink for 60-120 seconds. Once the survey is complete the red LED will be constantly illuminated
and RTCM data will begin to be broadcast. You can verify this by viewing the LEDs on the telemetry radio (a small
red LED will blink when serial data is received from the RTK Surveyor). The RTK Surveyor is designed to follow
the u-blox recommended survey-in of 60s and a mean 3D standard deviation of 5m of all fixes. If a survey fails to
achieve these requirements it will auto-restart after 10 minutes.
More expensive surveyor bases have a ⅝” 11-TPI thread but the top of the surveyor base will often interfere with
the antenna’s TNC connector. If you chose to use a surveyor’s ‘stick’ be sure to obtain a ⅝” extender plate to raise
the antenna at least an inch.
If you’re shopping for a cell phone clamp be sure to get one that is compatible with the diameter of your tripod and
has a knob to increase clamp pressure. Our tripod is 18mm in diameter and we’ve had a good experience with this
clamp. Your mileage may vary.
Note: A mobile base station works well for quick trips to the field. However, the survey-in method is not
recommended for the highest accuracy measurements because the positional accuracy of the base will directly
translate to the accuracy of the rover. Said differently, if your base's calulcated position is off by 100cm, so will
