As I mentioned in a previous thread, the service formerly known as RACAL was taken over by Thales GeoSolutions (Landstar), some time back. We had subscribed to this service last summer after deciding the risk of investing in coast guard beacon receiver in a known "dead coverage area" (per the beacon coverage map) was not worth the money. So, we invested some bigger bucks in a RTCM receiver (and combo antenna) to mate with our Reliance unit, and a one year subscription to the service. Upon setting up the equipment, we immediately noticed a bias in the reported positions, and with Phil's advice we downloaded Ashtech Evaluate software and ran a few log files. This proved the bias we were seeing: 1.5 meter North by 0.5 meter East. The good folks at Thales GeoSolutions analyzed the Evaluate log files and confirmed our results. No big deal though as a few tweaks here and there in the Husky Famlog gave us a nice work around. But, I digress, as the point of this post is concerning the present.....

Last week, while on a project, our RTCM receiver quit giving RTCM corrections. We tested cables, etc., and think the problem is in the radio. Knowing that Thales GeoSolutions was recently taken in by FUGRO, we decided it would be a good time to get some details. OmniSTAR is also in this mix, and to our pleasant surprise, we are now subsrcibers to OmniSTAR, Inc., and within a few weeks will be able to have our Mark IV receiver tuned to the OmniSTAR signal (given that the radio is functioning). This will be a really good thing. No more coordinate offsets to worry about, and possibly a much stronger signal.

It's been a real asset having true submeter capabilities, even though it required using a big hammer to get that precision, but the future system is really looking good.

I have "contact" information for anyone that would like to investigate the possibilities.

J.D.