rftop
May 3, 2026, 9:37pm
4
@sparky says the ESP-NOW radios perform well at 500’.
Welcome!
What is the best way to maintain a stable link between the base and rover at distances up to 1/2 mile?
WiFi is best, then cellular (you’d need two phones, one for the base, the rover is usually your own phone). If neither of these is viable at your site then yes, a packet radio is the next best option to go 1/2 mile.
Since you’re just getting started, I’d recommend not focusing on the radios for now. Get your Rover/Base working at home with cellular and WiFi, and then move to the internal ESP-NOW radios . They work great up to about 500ft.
I’ve seen a lot of examples of people placing a base directly above a known point and setting a manual position, but using the rover to hit a known point to calibrate the system would be a much easier workflow because I can set the base in a safe location near the work area and no tape measure or alignment would be necessary.
Personally, I would drive a stake or marker at the site. Then capture 24 hours of RTCM, run a CSRS based PPP …
I’ve been meaning to test (2) PostCard’s in Base/Rover with the ESP-NOW radios…I just haven’t had time lately. I typically try everything to get NTRIP/Cellular working before going the temporary Base route.