Hi, Just thought, would it be technically possible to program the nav joystick on the portability shield to take observation marks? So, like, double press (or long press) records/logs the xyz for that moment? ideally in a separate project csv file. Cheers, Andrew

Hi Andrew, The older RTK Firmware which runs on RTK Facet has this feature. But we removed it in RTK Everywhere because most users prefer to collect points through their GIS App. You are welcome to open a “[Feature Request]” issue on GitHub and we will certainly look at it again. Best wishes, Paul [image] sparkfun/SparkFun_RTK_Everywhere_Firmware Centimeter precision GPS/GNSS using L1/L2/L5 signals broadcast over Bluetooth, WiFi, and Ethernet. - sparkfun/SparkFun_RTK_Everywhere_Firmware

Ahh, nice thanks! Just with the postcard, I think it’s too much for the poor wee thing to try and output NMEA at the same time as logging rtcm for ppk. A self contained unit press would lighten its load and allow yet another option from this compact beauty!

Unless, is there a way to output NMEA over Bluetooth, but not log it at the same time as the rtcm on the sd card? This would achieve the same result, but using an external app.

Woody, I think it’s helpful to explain what you’re wanting to accomplish. Based on your recent posts, I think you want to replicate Emlid Flow’s “Stop & Go” functionality for PPK, but not restricted to specific hardware. Summary: Both the Base and Rover store continuous Raw Observations. The Rover also stores Start/Stop timestamps while occupying specific point locations (our POIs, GCP’s, etc). After PPK, the clutter of the continuous Rover track is removed and we are left with the post processed “point locations” instead of the full kinematic results. There “might” be a way to accomplish these Timestamps with SW Maps or other freeware…But this is normally reserved for expensive professional survey packages. I hope that I’m not overstepping here (PM me and I’ll delete), I’d like to find a simple solution as well :grin:

Yeah, that’s exactly what I was seeing if it’s possible to do. I’ve been trying to use SW maps, which works, but I’m finding that having the NMEA being streamed at the same time as the rtcm data being logged seems to be overwhelming the postcard. So, out of curiosity, I was wondering if the NMEA could be cut out altogether and just use the unit alone to record the points of interest along with sat data, time, coordinates, Hdop etc. I’m just on a bit of a mind adventure with this fun little unit. I think Emlid studio is running rtklib as its engine as far as I can tell, so assume that’s why it’s free. (Also quite a neat way of enticing users exploring RTk to think about buying one of their units, which, should I start requiring serious RTk, I might well do.) so I don’t feel too bad trying to use the software with other equipment. It’s a nice simple gui, and it would be great to have an affordable unit or two like the sparkfun units and squeeze as much out of them as possible. I haven’t got around to adding swmaps cv export into the emlid project cv format yet, not even sure if it’s possible, but either way, the ability to be able to have a tiny unit like the postcard, and use it headless would be a fun thing to do I think. Cheers!

On a side note, I did use chat gtp to come up with a way to achieve the same “stop and go” results using Qgis, but also haven’t had the time to try that method yet either. It shouldn’t be all that difficult

[image] PLAN8: the ability to be able to have a tiny unit like the postcard, and use it headless would be a fun thing to do I think. That’s a very interesting thought. I was one of the vocal users that didn’t see a need for the “Mark” function in the previous RTK firmware (or the portability shield for the PostCard for that matter)…but you just changed my mind on both of those concepts. I generally think of PPK as having the steepest learning curve in the GNSS market… and I usually avoid the PPK topics on this forum for that reason. However, if a freeware workflow could be simplified – it could solve a lot of problems. No Cellular Coverage for a Network Rover’s NTRIP ? – no problem No Radio link between Base & Rover ? – no problem No time to pre-establish Base coordinates with OPUS or CSRS-PPP ? – no problem Solutions to All those could be accomplished with (2) headless PostCards, assuming a more streamlined PPK workflow was created.

Yeah, that’s my thinking, Our cellular network reception where I live is useless, very unreliable. The nearest RTK2go base station is too far away, and even if I set up my own ntrip base, the phone network is too patchy to make any use of it, so my only option is to use a local rtk base, which I will do when Ive squeezed as much learning as I can out of this single unit, but we do have PPK rinex stations near enough to work ok. My target for buying this postcard was to find an affordable solution to take GCP measurements for drone survey, a pocket sized gismo like the postcard would be perfect I think, I just need PPK solutions for each gcp , so a simple, pull it out, let it settle down and press a button would be great. just one simple, small bit of kit.

RTK Postcard + Portability Shield - obsv button?

GPS/GNSS

PLAN8 September 9, 2025, 3:02pm 11

It works… Request for a sample Emlid Project.csv file - #3 by PLAN8

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RTK Postcard + Portability Shield - obsv button?

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