From the posting here sounds like you guys with the Promark2 may be able to help me with reducing the learning curve of this new equipment. Anyway I have three brand new recievers shipped to me today what would advice would you give me. like a beta test etc.
thanks
Mark
The manuals are in the zipper pocket under the lid of the soft case. It took me a month to discover this.
1/ Play with the navigate for a couple of trips, then forget about it till you really need it. It takes vital life out of your batteries.
2/ Buy batteries, they go fast in the cold.
3/ Get familiar with the the info entry format. i.e. play with the keypad.
4/ Buy batteries.
5/ Set up on 3 known points in a good traverse to convince yourself how reliable they work. Play with the solutions program, i.e. figure out what a vector is, don't worry about coordinates yet.
6/ Buy batteries.
7/ Download from NOAA and occupy some known GPS points at the same time, check out those vectors and coordinates.
8/ Buy Batteries.
8 hours in the field and 8 in the office should give you enough confidence, to put them on a money job. The rest is learn as you go, call for support when you need it during business hours and hit the board with a specific problem as they develop. There are enough guru's to keep you in a relatively forward state of motion.
Good Luck, Paul in PA
Thanks for advice guys
Rig up a pigtails with a 9 volt connectors with alligator clips for each unit so that you can use 6 volt headlight batteries as the external power source.
You can look back on the posts and you will see where one of the guys describes running a test using the 6 volt. Seems like it ran for 35 hours?
I made some up for our units and they have been the best power source for static work.
Print a copy of the obslog (observation log)I think it is a file named obslog.rtf and run several copies of it to use for your field notes of your observations. Don't throw them away when you are done with a project. Keep them in a big ring binder or the sorts for future reference.
Consider acquiring some fixed height 2 meter poles and prism pole tripods/bipods unless you have some tribrachs and tripods and keep your field notes as above.
Check your mission planning and print out the numbers on one side and the graph on the other. Take this with you to the field. Personally, I prefer a mission planning report with a "cut off" angle of 12 degrees as I usually find I am actually logging 1 more than planned with it set at 15 degrees.
Don't push the envelope quite yet. J.D. and Shawn will tell you how to do that. I'm just "Dangerous Dave" as Phil calls me.
Welcome to the gang,and have fun learning how to use your new tools!
Modified By Dave Huff on 1/8/2003 at 12:31 AM
Dave brings up a good point. Our observation logs were slightly modified by cut and paste, but should definitely be used and saved. We wanted more room to do a sketch with tie locations. Make a copy for the general ring binder, the original goes in thr job file with your Solutions printout. Log even Fixed GPS sites and when you use them again just check your ties, rather than having to resketch everything from scratch.
Paul in PA
Mark, thanks for asking the question. Mine came last Thursday, and now I don't have to search for a month to find the manuals!
Visit known points to begin with to get comfortable with the results, a really handy tool is the "Control Tie" tab. This will give you comfort in knowing that GPS is not voodoo.
Scan those field logs and your other paper records that go with your GPS project. Put them on the CD with your GPS data files.
I like what Kevin said about testing it where you already know the answer.
If you are going to compare with your total station measurements take both of them to an official EDM base line and test both the GPS and the total station.
Take a couple of hours or more and go back through the all the post on here. Lots of good info. Also, go to the ashtech.ftp files and read the material.
Thanks guys again for help. I believe I'll break out the gear this weekend for a beta test.
Mark R.P.L.S.