We ran a little test this morning with the Marine IV antenna on the POST and the Super CA-12 receiver. Ran session to a monument in the yard (Station YARD) a short distance away (Locus unit) and to a city control point over 4 miles away. I downloaded the SCA12 to Reliance Processor then copied the file to Ashtech Solutions for processing. I didn't try to download directly to Solutions and am not sure if I can. A few questions now:

1. Why does the SV elevation data not show up on the AS2.6 charts? The S-N chart seems to work and the vector residuals chart appears o.k. as well.

2. Is there something about the Marine IV antenna (I think Bob B. can answer this) that makes the Signal to Noise Ratio range from 20 to 70, while the Locus tightens the range from 35 to 55. I don't know if this should even be a concern.

3. What is the maximum length of antenna cable for the SCA-12 and Marine IV antenna. I am seriously considering laying a conduit out to POST and setting the SCA-12 up as a part time base station tied to a DC converter.

I was real impressed with the results of this little L1 session. It's making sense now to carry a bipod pole around while doing basic "locates". Never know when you may want a fixed point.

J.D.,

First you should be able to use Solutions to download the SCA-12. I've tested it once before and it worked. However, my main method is to use the "Add Files From Disk" option. I always download the data to my hard drive just using the stand-alone Download program prior to running Solutions.

As for the rest of the questions, I'll try to answer 1 and 2. Phil should be able to answer 3.

1. I'm able to see the elevation data just fine with my SCA-12. I'm using AS2.6, but I'm using 1I00 firmware instead of 1J00. For more info on why using 1J00 is not a good idea check here...

"SuperCA and Incorrect Antenna Heights" 4/1/2002

2. I wouldn't concern yourself with it. I've had discussions with Phil why the SNR is so much higher on the SCA-12 compared to our Z-Surveyors. He said it's something to do with the receiver. He and I both agree that the SCA-12 is able to pull in much better signals than almost any other receiver. I've seen SNR as high as 210db! On average my highest SNR runs from 120db to 140db. I'm using the 700700c antenna, which I believe is the Marine IV.

Tommy McClain

Tommy

Thanks for the reply. Since my post I've had phone conversations and e-mail correspondence with several other knowledgable folks, to which I now add you to that list. I have the 1J00 firmware, but have been assured it's fine, and from our preliminary runs seems o.k. I've been told that the sca-12 receiver, for some reason does not alow viewing of sv elevations in AS2.6. It really doesn't matter anyway. And as for the download directly to Solutions, I think it's required to have only the single file on the receiver, or did I misunderstand that. Either way, it's not a problem to download to Reliance Processor and copy the file to Solutions to "load from disk". That's how we are getting Locus or PM2 base data into Reliance - by downloading to AS2.6 and copying the files to Reliance Processor "base" folder. No problem there either.

I'm sure we will have other questions in the future, but our next step is to incorporate some type of basic GIS software into the mix.

J.D.

J.D.,

No problem. The only problem with 1J00 firmware is when using Survey Control for the Husky FS2 to enter antenna heights while doing static work. I don't like having to manually enter the site ID and antenna heights into Solutions every time we import data. So we use Survey Control to enter that data while in the field.

Whomever told you that SV elevations can't be viewed when using the SCA-12 and AS2.6 must be doing something different than I am. It's always worked for me and we've only used AS2.5 and AS2.6. Maybe it's due to the fact you don't have the sub-cm option like we do?

Another thing that might help is to try using the older Download 3.2. With the latest Z-Surveyor firmware we had been having problems using Download that comes with AS2.5 and AS2.6 from not storing the site ID and/or antenna heights. So we've gone back to using Download 3.2 that comes with RCS 3.2. However, I repeat this was only required for our Z-Surveyors. AS2.5 and AS2.6 seemed to work fine for our SCA-12. If you want to try out the older software, you can get it from their ftp site here...

ftp://ftp.ashtech.com/software/rcs_32/

Officially Ashtech doesn't support running this, but like Phil says it works for me and that's all that matters.

In my opinion, if you could get away with not using Reliance Processor to do your downloads and instead use one program like Download, then it would make life much easier. Unfortunately I don't believe RCS works with the Promark2. Anyway, personally I don't see any reason why you can't use the Download that comes with AS2.5 or AS2.6 with your SCA-12. Unless of course it has something to do with not having the sub-cm option.

Good luck with the new toy. Also, if you have the opportunity to get the sub-cm option, then I would definitely try it out. You'll be amazed with it.

Tommy McClain

Tommy

We have the "decimeter option". Post processed in AS2.6 gives some pretty "amazing" results.

I think the reason we were not able to view satellite elevations in Solutions is due to the fact that Reliance Processor itself doesn't record that part of the data. Our only trial runs using the SCA12 as a static unit involved downloading through Reliance Processor and copying files to Solutions. That should really no be much of a problem for us, I don't think.

We are now using the FS2 with a limited 1 meg ram with the basic Famlog software. For the purpose we purchased this unit, Famlog should be adequate. Too late for us now, I sent the other handheld we got in our deal (a FS3 with 16 meg) to some crazy guy in Mississippi. I think he needed the extra ram for a dos based design program he's writing to assist his research and development of the next generation of "Kitchen Utensil Choke Ring Antenna", which should revolutionize the entire field of static positioning. This product should eclipse the "Pizza Pan Ground Plane".

J.D.

Oh, well don't I feel like the AFLAC duck in Las Vegas right about now....
The next generation antenna design is going to consist of the strainer portion from the crawfish pot, in an inverted position. It's going to be an "all in one basket" situation with the antenna recessed into the bottom of the strainer. This way, I can have the M 12 on the ground, protected from varmits by the strainer itself. And the holes in the strainer will allow for adequate cooling. Extra security to be provided by surrounding the setup with Acme "Black Holes". When the session is done, I just flip it over and grab the handle of the strainer and I'm on to the next point.
I thought about mounting the antenna in the cooker lid, and then attaching same to top of strainer via industrial strength slinky. But those are really hard to find, and probably on back order ifin I did find one.
Soon as crawfish season is over I should have this in operation. Will post results.
Modified By Dave Huff on 4/24/2003 at 7:24 PM

Dave,

I would be worried about data loss with a crawfish pot strainer. I would think the data could just go right through your leaky bucket...

By the way, that is too bad about the tornado y'all had. You and your community are in our prayers.

Shawn