@bryan.wheeler , I again am interested in your opinion on this development.
Please see the attached screenshots. They were taken this morning (rover rtk antennas are still swapped, still the same originals.) As you can see, everything is perfect, gps signal is awesome. I have done nothing different. However, today for the first time in several days the sky has no clouds.
Could cloud cover have been the problem? Are these robots (sadly) that overly sensitive to cloud cover? Or, could it be that the antennas are defective (weak) so that they lose signals under cloud cover and I need new antennas?
They can be affected by it for sure but it generally shouldnāt impact it to the point of no operation when out in the open. If your dock and or DC has obstructions, it definitely will have a negative impact. It will be the difference of clear skies all good vs cloudy skies no good. I bet your DC is borderline. What does your survey look like today for the DC? This was your previous. While itās usable, itās not above 40 where it is ideal. 36 is the minimum. Keep in mind your rover and DC have to see the same satellites for the correction data to be usable. Do you remember the conditions the day you snapped this?
@bryan.wheeler , Iāve attached a screenshot of the DC survey (and two others further below). The DC DEFINITELY has a perfect view of the sky, it is up on the roof, and nothing has changed up there. (The roof mount is the only place I can get the required view of the sky due to trees and structures - well, except for mounting it in the middle of my driveway, which would not be very satisfying. So, I hope the DC is okay, since my ladder climbing days are far behind me.)
Iāve attached two other screenshots from just a few minutes ago. Now I have zero gps signal, despite what looks like wonderful diagnostics. I donāt get itā¦..
Give the DC a minute to recover from the diagnostics survey mode and it should recover full signal. Youāll notice the latency is really high. When that settles back to 1-2 it should be good. Iām wondering if your DC could maybe use a new antenna. Do you have a picture of its install location? If itās installed out in the open that seems pretty low. Itās also possible itās still the borderline antennas in the rover, but that wonāt have an impact on your DC CNR values. Just when weather or satellite visibility is poor.
(As an aside: Based on our earlier exchange above, I just went ahead and purchased two new rover tall RTK antennas, just in case. They arrived today - well, I THINK they arrived today.
Here is a photo of the original rtk antennas on the robot that came with the robot:
You can see that the top of what I received today looks very different from what came with my robot and what is shown on Yarboās accessories web site. What I received has some kind of cable attachment thing on the top, as if something is supposed to be screwed onto the top of it. But, other than screws and washers - and some kind of mysterious black, triangular shaped thingy that I have no idea what it is for - there is nothing else in the box, no instructions, nothing to screw onto the tops of these things - nothing.
What do you think is supposed to go on top of these things? I donāt want to make assumptions. It looks to me what Yarbo sent is something different from what I ordered.)
So that is the new flexible RTK High Mount. The antennas screw on top of that. The metal piece they included is a frame that clips into the housing on the core and then the mount goes on top and screws down. The metal gives it some strength.
DC location looks good from what I can see. If you want new RTK antennas, they are here:
The frequent GPS signal lost while my Yarbo is out in the open is frustrating. I brought this believing RTK superior gps would be a great thing but this is so unreliable. The Yarbo team needs to make this more stable.
@dhalia Hi there, weāre really sorry for the inconvenience caused by the GPS signal issue. We understand how frustrating that can be, especially when you were expecting RTK performance to be more stable.
You may try adjusting the PPVS setting to a higher value and lowering Yarboās moving speed to see if this helps improve signal stability and reduce GPS loss. These adjustments can sometimes make tracking more consistent in certain conditions.
Please let us know if the issue continues after trying these changes ā weāre here to help.
Iām experiencing the same issue. Was working before, sat for a couple weeks with no snow, tried to run yesterday but poor signal. Almost ran off the bluff. Iāve done the suggested troubleshooting (connection tightness, full power down and restart, wait some time for satellite changes) but no change. I also checked solar flare activity, which is reported to be at a high level. @Yarbo-Forum is there a way for you to verify when solar activity may be impacting signal? Only difference is the overcast weather. I am unable to clear my steep driveway, which becomes problematic as if I donāt keep it regularly cleared, it gets more difficult to catch up on the clearing. I also received many notifications of snow falling in the area in the last week, even though the sky was clear. The DC RTK survey appears weak, DC issue? There has been no change to the DC since original installation (besides firmware updates). Help highly appreciated.
Ticket submitted #169053. Here are stats for reference (DC version 1.1.1):
Your DC CNR values are too low for operation. Is it covered with snow or anything? Maybe the antenna needs to be tightened? Anything new like snow covered trees possibly blocking the signal more? The minimum usable CNR value is 36. Have you powered off the DC for 5 mins to see if that helps at all?
Thanks for reviewing and confirming Bryan, I just got a visual on it and thereās no snow nor new impediments blocking LOS. I will check the antenna tightness. I get a lot of wind, so itās possible the HaLow antenna brace acts like a ratchet in the wind and loosens the RTK antenna? I might 3D print a better one that doesnāt brace off the RTK antenna. Yes, I did power off the DC by unplugging from PoE port for a couple hours.
Itās possible. You could check the tightness and also swap it with the right antenna (as you face the rear of the core) to see if that helps. That will confirm if the antenna is bad.
Found a early January screenshot of the RTK details for posterity sake, while the cnr is still nothing to write home about, it does show a major difference compared to today. Iām curious on the solar activity thresholds and whether @Yarbo-Forum can determine if this could be a cause. Still need to get the ladder out, waiting for the missus to get home so Iām not home alone on a ladder, in winter.
I only chimed in because this has been like that for a long time. Understand ai am not just experiencing this momentarily. In order for me to get around the gps issue, in that PPVS I nearly maxed out the distance Yarbo can go while gps signal lost. So at some point it gets a momentary signal but it will sit there out in the open trying to get signal and there is nothing between it and the sky.
I hope they are testing with the idea of implementing new antennas. These Y antennas need to go back through some testing compared to other models available. There has to be better preforming antennas out there.
I had to replace the DC couple of months back and because it was a water ingress issue- trust me it is on tight. My RTK is on the roof with more than the 120 view. My Yarbo is close to the building and gps is weak there but Iām talking about when Yarbo is out working or I am mapping with mainly clear sky and it loses gps. So respectfully this is not a loose antenna issue.
When it was working through the last major storm in the northeast, I thought it might be due to ice accumulation on the antennas on the rover so kept cleaning ice off when I could.
