This is to share and confirm that another way to setup a Ntrip caster in your home to save on cost of subscription is by using Tailscale vpn.
My hardware setup for the Base station is:
- Lg290p(3) from Waveshare configured as base station connected to esp32 wroom running on xbee ntrip master inside the same box with separate power supply modules.
- A patch antenna encased in a high grade plastic junction box mounted on a pole attached to the wall of my house outside with clear 360 deg unobstructed view of the sky.
- A 12v ups used for router to supply the receiver and the esp32.
- A Raspberry Pi 3B with two external 32g usb ssd. One runs on Dietpi and the other on Ubuntu server 22.04. I used both alternatively and for redundancy. Both were installed with Stefal’s rtkbase.
- A fiber broadband router router with dynamic ip.
- A minipc with Ubuntu Linux OS for managing the headless Raspberry Pi 3B.
The Xbee Ntrip Master is setup to connect via wifi to my router. I found the built-in caster to be not so reliable so i setup the esp32 to be a pass thru for UART and the tcp server socket option. In this way i can run QGNSS 2.5 to connect via tcp also if i need to reconfigure the Lg290p.
The Rtkbase connects thru a tcp to serial virtual port (ttyV0) to the esp32 tcp socket server. I made a script tttyV0.sh with the linux socat command. I simply connect the virtual serial port first before i turn on the Main and RTK Caster switches of the Rtkbase.
I installed Tailscale in the Raspberry Pi and turns it on by simply issuing the command " sudo tailscale up --qr" thru a remote terminal connection. My phone picks up the qr code that appears on screen and this enable the login process to the free Tailscale web service.
Note on the LG290p: I run it at 115200 baud and updates at 2 hz. Works much better than using 1 hz. I consistently gets a RTK Fix even under a foliage within less than 3 minutes and holds it well during the staking process. I disabled GLONASS, Navic and QZSS to save on data bandwidth. About 1,500 to 2,500 bits/sec on the average. This does not affect my accuracy. BTW my location is in SE Asia.
My Rover hardware setup is:
- LC29Hda with esp32 wroom running RTKlib Uart to BL/Ble bridge with one 12v to 3.3v power supply module.
- A portable 12v Ups to power both.
- A patch antenna mounted on a pole. Carefully centered as much as i can.
The LC29Hda is configured as a rover, receiving corrections at 115200 baud. I use the SW Maps app in an IOS phone connecting to my home-based RTKbase caster. I installed the Tailscale app in my phone. I login to Tailscale web service first before I open SW Maps. Once connected to it I can see the ip address of my caster and edit my rover caster service settings accordingly.
To test the accuracy of the rtk fix, i set up several control points with known gps and local coordinates which i monitor before i do a survey. I also put a control point in the site of the survey days before i do the survey to check my accuracy during the day of the survey. I noticed that i have to power cycle occasionally at most three times the LC29Hda before i achieve the same gps coordinate reading on the control points.
Thank you for so far reading this. I hope this helps those who are trying make their best in this endeavor.