Setting Up a 500 Series Receiver
1. Connect the antenna cable to the ANT Port on the front of the receiver, and to the antenna.
2. If you are using the PacCrest radio module, screw it in place over Port 1 on the receiver and attach its antenna cable. Otherwise, connect any radio being used to Port 1, 2 or 3.
3. If an external power source is being used, be sure to plug it into the PWR Port on the front of the receiver.
4. If external power is not being used, ensure that there are batteries in one or both of the batter slots on the bottom of the receiver.
5. Plug the 9 pin serial connection cable into the serial port of the computer running Carlson Field and into the Terminal Port on the front of the receiver.
Configuring Carlson Field for Use With a 500 Series Receiver
1. Select "Configure Field" from the Field pull-down menu. This will open a new window with several buttons on it, as well as a pulldown list labeled "Equipment Type." Select "Leica 500 Series" in the Equipment Type menu, then select "Communication Settings."
2. Ensure that the COM port is set to the one that the serial cable is plugged into, and that the Baud Rate is 9600, the Char Length 8, the Stop Bits 1, and the Parity None. Close this menu and the Configure Field menu.
3. In the Field pull-down menu, select "Equipment Setup." This will open another menu with several selectable options and several buttons.
4. Use the radio buttons on the top right to select whether the receiver will be a rover or a base station. Also be sure to select the antenna types being used from the pulldown menu at left.
5. Enter the desired Satellite Elevation Cutoff in the text box above the column of buttons. All satellites with elevations less than this number will not be used in position calculation(receiver default is 15).
6. Select the "Radio Settings" button. This will open another window with several selectable settings. Select the Port number the radio is attached to on the front of the receiver, the baud rate of the radio, number of radio stop bits and radio parity. These last three settings should be listed in the documentation for the radio being used. Also, select the desired format to use for sending and receiving messages from the bottommost option. Exit this menu.
7. If the GPS receiver is being configured as a base station, select the "Configure Base Station" button from the Equipment Setup menu, and proceed with step 8. Otherwise, the receiver is ready for use.
8. There will now be a menu with a few buttons to select a method of determining the base station's present location. The options are:
Read From GPS- Read one or more position readings from the GPS and use this position or the average of several positions for the base station corrections.
Enter Lat/Lon- This option will bring up a menu to enter the exact Latitude, Longitude, and elevation of the receiver's position by hand.
Enter State Plane Coord- This option will bring up a menu to enter the coordinates of the position of the base station according to the state plane coordinate system.
Read from File- This option will read a coordinate set from a file already saved to the computer.
Select whichever method will be used, and enter any necessary data. The receiver is now configured and ready for use.
Other Buttons In the Setup Menu:
1. Power Cycle Receiver will shut the receiver down and then power it up again. Used to clear the receiver's memory.
2. Power off Receiver shuts the receiver down. Note that if this button is pressed, any settings changes made while in this menu will not be saved to the receiver.
3. Send command to receiver allows for sending messages to the receiver. The user must enter the message by hand. This feature is only intended for use in conjunction with the technical support provided with Carlson Field.
Troubleshooting the Leica 500 Series in Carlson Field
Several possible errors can occur in the course of using a 500 Series Leica receiver with Carlson Field. Carlson Field will use all its standard error messages to report usual types of error messages, such as an inability to communicate with the satellites that are being tracked. In addition, the Leica 500 Series of receivers will have their own set of error messages unique to themselves. This type of error message is reported if there is an error during the transmission of various configuration messages to the receiver to set up the base station settings. Such messages will say "Set Port Message Rejected", or "Set Base Antenna Message Rejected" or "Set Antenna Height Message Rejected" or "Set RTK Message Rejected." Each indicates which particular facet of the configuration failed. If one of these messages is rejected, it is likely a momentary transmission error. If, on the other hand, several (or all) are rejected, it is possible there is a problem in the communication line between the computer and the receiver, which should be checked.