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Trimble Catalyst DA2 RTX, Satellite vs Internet

  • 1.  Trimble Catalyst DA2 RTX, Satellite vs Internet

    Posted 03-31-2025 23:57
    I'm using a DA2 in Ethiopia currently on a 60cm subscription. I'm curious that on my last two peaks it was using RTX (Internet); on our first peak it used RTX (Satellite) as I think it usually does. Internet signal tends to be patchy,  slow to correct and accuracy less good (73cm instead of 60cm for Satellite).

    Would anyone know why Satellite isn't avaliable? There were around 20-30 satellites available so it seems odd that the correction satellite should be unavailable, over the course of 45 minutes. On a mountain top, mostly open terrain. 

    Rob Woodall 






  • 2.  RE: Trimble Catalyst DA2 RTX, Satellite vs Internet

    Posted 04-01-2025 13:01

    Hi Rob,

    I'm going to assume you are using Trimble Mobile Manager. The system will prioritise Internet over satellite RTX if there is an Internet connection available. Satellite will be used if there is no Internet connectivity.

    Regards,



    ------------------------------
    Mark Kellaway
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: Trimble Catalyst DA2 RTX, Satellite vs Internet

    Posted 04-01-2025 22:07
    Hi Mark

    No, I'm using TerraFlex,  with a workspace set to local coordinates and datum. I use Mobile Manager only to switch to 1cm on demand on occasion, but always TerraFlex for measurements. Does TerraFlex work that way too?

    Yesterday it was back on Satellite although there was a reasonable 4g signal. 

    Reviewing screenshots from Argentina I can see that both were used at different times. I can't immediately see what it uses in the UK. I'll check when home. 

    I only noticed because it seems unusually slow to acquire correction here and rarely achieves 60cm. Could that be related to lack of base stations? I doubt there are many in this remote area.

    Thanks
    Rob




    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Trimble Catalyst DA2 RTX, Satellite vs Internet

    Posted 04-06-2025 02:25
    On yesterday's peak (still in Ethiopia) the DA2 got to 60cm accuracy (H and V) within a few minutes, best performance for a while.

    This got me wondering again about base stations distribution. Also about whether the DA2's accuracy is as good as the readout claims, in more remote areas. In Patagonia this January I noticed the elevation jump by 2 metres as it settled from 80cm to 60cm accuracy. How confident is Trimble about these error bands worldwide? Can anyone comment?

    It seems hard to find out where GNSS base stations are located, even in UK, but especially in somewhere like Ethiopia. The IGS network https://network.igs.org/ lists only a couple in the whole country. This article https://www.gim-international.com/content/article/developing-a-fully-fledged-cors-map-for-africa discussed the difficulties (in 2018) obtaining this info, and distinguished the various types of station:
    AFREF, 
    IGS, 
    Non streaming, 
    RTK streaming

    Is there a listing/map of the base stations used by Catalyst?

    Thanks 
    Rob




    Original Message