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Some Observations about Omnistar XP
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tedbear
Posted 5/1/2007 21:17 (#145015)
Subject: Some Observations about Omnistar XP


Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn.
I use a Trimble 332 with Omnistar XP as the GPS source for my Trimble Autopilot which is interfaced with my Insight.

I have just spent 5 long days in this tractor planting corn and finished this afternoon.

Overall the system worked well as it did last year. Once again the proof will be when the corn comes up but "roadside touring" looks promising. My biggest problem is turning consistently on the ends. The 8120 with a 12 row 1760 takes a while to "square up" behind the tractor. Thus I have some narrow-wide rows at the start of a pass which is no fault the the autopilot system. I had this problem before. The simple solution seems to be to plant 36 end rows rather than 24.

But anyway, I have some observations about the Omnistar Convergence that I will share for what they are worth.

I lose Convergence when I transmit on my two way radio system. Simple solution - somebody calls - don't talk back. Use the cell phone which doesn't cause the dropout.

Observation: If I transmit on the two-way when I'm stopped, I lose Convergence but it returns very quickly after I quit transmitting. However, if I lose Convergence while I'm moving because of two-way use then there is a major delay in regaining Convergence.

Another observation: Last year as I drove into my brothers yard for fuel, I would lose Convergence by a certain tree in his driveway. Due to many buildings GPS reception is poor in his dooryard. However as I drove out of the yard, I would regain Convergence quickly by the same tree where it was lost.

From the two observations, I am thinking that Reconvergence can take place rather quickly if the location where it is lost is the same as where it restarts? By the way this is with Autoseed OFF. Autoseed should only affect startup anyway - I think.

This year I left the GPS ON for the 5 day planting session and always parked the tractor out in the wide open spaces. Each morning the system was Converged at two inches. This morning I lost Convergence due to some trees on one end. The system switched to VBS and steering appeared to be quite acceptable. After about 10 minutes, the system had Reconverged down to 4 inches and eventually got to 2 inches.





Edited by tedbear 5/1/2007 21:19
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