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Central SD | This link describes some networks around the midwest. http://www.agweb.com/news_printer.aspx?articleID=132113
"Across color lines. The Rural Tower Network (RTN), based in Fargo, N.D., is owned by three machinery dealerships—Butler Machinery (Challenger), RDO Equipment (John Deere) and Titan Machinery (Case IH).
Unlike AutoFarm and Signal One, which mount their receivers on existing structures, such as elevators, grain legs or existing towers, RTN constructs new towers strong enough to hold receivers for each company’s RTK base station. Farmers pay a one-time fee of $3,000 to enroll and an annual subscription fee ($1,000 for one tractor or $1,500 for multiple tractors) to their machinery dealer. After two years, the company has erected 28 towers."
This is the only tower network I have investigated. I got some information from them a year ago. If I remember correctly, to put up a tower they wanted at least 5 subscribers (3,000 x 5 = $15,000) plus the yearly fees (which would be 5 x $1,000 minimum = $5,000). I believe this also gets you access to other towers in your area other than the initial tower you signed up on, if there are any. Not much chance of this happening in our area, too big of farms - too spread out - too few farmers. Not to mention different levels of GPS adaptation.
Edited by Kamp 12/19/2006 15:10
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Is RTK really necessary?
