Middlesex County, Ontario | Where in Ontario are you? I'm just NW of London. I dove really deep into DIY autosteer this winter and put together my first base and DIY autosteer system (had trimble before). I can maybe help get you going now, but I cannot be the guy that supports you if something goes wrong in spring.
There's about a hundred different ways to do this and its hard to capture everything in one post. I'll just describe a few different ways and you can run with one or we can bounce back and forth about what you don't like.
First some assumptions: the Novatel Flex 6 is what you want to use as the base station, right? And the Flex 6 has an ethernet port? I'm assuming it's able to send the right RTCM messages for whatever GPS system that you use? And you want to make the connection between the tractor and base over internet, right? Using a cell phone and lefebure app in the tractor?
Glancing through the Flex 6 manual, it looks like the Flex 6 can be setup as an NTRIP server. That's perfect. You'll have to decide how to make the connection between the tractor and the base, there are many different ways to do this.
The easiest and least expensive way to do it is with a free NTRIP Caster service like RTK2Go, Emlid Caster, or Centipede. All you'll need is some setup time, an ethernet cable between the Flex 6 and your router, and to sign up for 1 free site. Your base will become publicly available at RTK2Go, and anyone within range can connect to it over internet. Here's a map of all the bases, yours would become one: http://monitor.use-snip.com/?hostUrl=rtk2go.com&port=2101
It looks like there is one close to you: http://rtk2go.com:2101/SNIP::MOUNTPT?baseName=PeelDom And it looks like his setup is very very similar to mine, running a UBLOX F9P receiver through RTKBase on a Raspberry Pi or something. If you know who that is you can probably go talk to them and just connect to their base (you can do it right now without talking to them, but best to ask and make sure its up all the time).
The Flex 6 manual has a section that describes how to configure a NovAtel base and a NovAtel rover through a third party NTRIP caster, that's all you'd be doing.
The downside of that method is that other people can connect to your base, and also if you screw up (leave system running without sending data because antenna is disconnected, etc) they'll ban your IP address for a day.
A second method: Instead of using the public NTRIP Caster, you can also host your own NTRIP Caster. You'd need a PC running anytime that you want to use the base, using free software like SNIP Caster (also free from RTK2Go). The benefit being that you don't have to share, can't get banned, and you get a pretty map display that shows all the tractor's locations (so your wife knows what files you’re in).. The downside being that keeping a PC running 24/7 isn't always great.
A third method: you don't need a caster if you make a direct connection, either through port forwarding or a VPN. Its a lot more setup and can expose your home network to the world if you do it wrong, but done right its totally safe and secure, can't get banned, don't need a machine running 24/7.
Edited by WildBuckwheat 3/10/2023 17:27
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Setting up a home base station - SNIP??
