Question about SparkFun GNSS Combo Breakout

Price nearly cut in half. It has a note stating that the Point Perfect L Band service has shut down. This can still work as a base station and send data to a phone or rover, is that correct? That’s a pretty good price if it has the same capabilities as say, the LG290 RTK Postcard.

I’m still very new to this RTK thing so sorry if I’ve missed the boat and missed the water.

No, not by itself. That breakout (and most other GNSS breakouts AFAIK) don’t have a MCU such as an ESP32 to run custom firmware, bluetooth, etc. That’s what makes the PostCard so special at it’s price point. You will need to add HW with a breakout.

PointPerfect will release a new L-Band service soon, but it’s not very similar to what we had before (target market) unfortunately.

The NEO-D9S does have some specific uses still, but not for “most” folks.

Don’t ever be ashamed to ask questions. There are tons of RTK products and it is hard to keep track sometimes…especially with the firmware evolving :slight_smile:

Thanks. I have the Postcard and Portability shield and took it for a drive for the first time today using SW Maps. Even though the GNSS stuff and antenna was inside the truck I spend some time in RTK Fix and most of the ride in Float. After I got home and inspected the track this was the furthest “off the road” that it tracked. Basically perfect through the whole 10 mile or so drive.

I’ve got the rover down and now need to make my base and have it cast to RTK2Go. Currently using RTKData but in 3 weeks my free trial will expire. Only RTK correction data available to me in my region is for pay. So I’ll build my own.

Just a hint incase you haven’t thought about it yet… go ahead and establish some permanent 5/8" Threads (Stainless or Galvanized all-thread, etc) for your Base Antenna while your NTRIP trial is still active. That way you already have RTK coordinates for the Base Antenna location.

You can always perform an extended PPP mission later, but you’ll have a head start with RTK coordinates when your 2’nd device (Base) Arrives.

BTW: I’ve tested PostCards in my truck using a good magnet antenna mount on the roof. Maintains RTK FIxed at 85 mph with no problem :slight_smile: