Has anyone got an opinion on what kind and level of data 'cleaning' should be undertaken on static obs where baseline solutions won't fix? I know from experience (and from reading many other surveyors posts) that fiddling around with elevation masks, span times and reference SV's can often make a baseline fix, but it's hard to know whether the final solution is always reliable. I know the stock answer is to use a well conditioned network with multiple redundancy...but this is real life, and that isn't always possible!

On the same topic...how come software doesn't perform some of this cleaning? It seems to me that an iterative adjustment of elevation mask could be performed by software where vectors aren't fixed...and the results displayed.

Finally, external power for a Promark 2..I have had to 'customise' power leads for a Map 330 receiver and connect to sealed lead acid batteries. Is there a more elegant solution?

JC, UK.

Ignoring the 'way outside the box' discussion below on very long base lines (VLBL's), then I'm going to assume you refer to normal data sets that follow your manufactures rules of baseline length and occupation times.

The software could be forced to automatically raise the mask (much like an iteration of the least square adjustment), but the mask isn't always the problem on short lines.. Much more problematic is very high RMS on one or more SV's in the solution.
After I process a line then I look at the RMS plot for all SV's used in the solution. I look for a generally smooth line across the session. Some because of obstructions, multipath, ect are just bad observations (very spikey, or they rise and lower substantially from the 0.00 baseline of the plot). These, when taken out, usually let the software 'fix' the solution.

When 'cutting' data, I tend to remove all the SV's and usually at the start or end of a session. I don't recommend cutting small sections of a SV in the middle of a section. (see Mr. G's post on this for the possible reason's)..

There are too many variables at play for the software to automatically determine what needs to be done on a problem line. It can't tell that you were in trees, next to a skyscraper, ect..This is why it's left to the user to do the edits. You were there, so at least you might have an idea on what could have been happening between the SV and you unit...

TM