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Leesburg, Ohio | We just rebuilt our 14 year old RTK system after a lightening strike.
We have north of $20k in the new system with all new components, but you could get one done for probably only about $10k with a used globe and RTK activation. Our new system meets the standards for our local dealer RTK network, but we are not officially part of that network right now. We may have a neighbor or two using our system in the future.
We had our receiver on the platform top of our tallest grain bin, and the antenna on top of the leg, with coax cable running up a pipe from the receiver to the antenna.
An optima battery and a cheap battery charger under an upside-down plastic igloo cooler held down with a tarp strap worked fine for all those years. Had to replace the battery a couple times, the radio two or three times, and the globe once or twice from small lightening strikes.
This last strike blew everything to shreds, literally.
We now have a steel cabinet on the bin by the new receiver, with a signal amplifier, a 20' tall antenna on the leg to replace the 10' antenna, and new heavier coax. It is all powered direct from 110v outlet on the bin.
I recommend getting the newer 450mhz radios instead of the 900's. The 450 has much better range, especially through trees.
The new system has a viable footprint covering our whole county plus parts of two neighboring counties...probably about 30 mile range according to our Deere tech.
For a while this spring after the lightening strike, we got by locally just fine without a big antenna, just using the standard Deere rubber-ducky antenna on the receiver on the bin. | |
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Costs to go RTK with own base station?
