Can I use an Arrow GNSS receiver without an antenna cable?

GNSS antennas rely on radio‑frequency (RF) signals, which must travel through a physical RF cable or connection. That is why the GNSS antennas you’ll see on the market are either cabled or integrated (inside the GNSS receiver). For the same reason, you aren’t likely to see a GNSS antenna that can Bluetooth® pair to its receiver, because Bluetooth® technology is not capable of transmitting these types of RF signals. (So a “Bluetooth GNSS antenna” isn’t scientifically possible, at least not today.)

If you’re a current Arrow Series® receiver user looking for a way to protect or eliminate your antenna cable, there are two key options we recommend:

1) Modify Your Field Mounting Setup

First, there might be a way to modify your current field-gear setup with minimal investment of time and budget.

Range Pole

If you have mounted your Arrow to a surveying range pole (typically for an RTK workflow), the first step is to ensure your cable is as short a distance as possible to your receiver. This means mounting your Arrow receiver as close as possible to the antenna and either using a short cable (such as these 10-cm quick-disconnect cables part 1 and part 2) or wrapping your longer cable around to reduce the possibility of interference from physical objects.

Here’s how we would modify these setups:

Avoid an antenna cable mounted with this much length remaining between the receiver and antenna — We would recommend this customer swap their long antenna cable for a much shorter one. This setup makes it easy for something to get caught in the cable.

This customer started to wrap the antenna cable around their range pole, but there's a lot of loose cable hanging outward that could get caught on an obstruction. We would recommend wrapping this cable more closely around the range pole. The cable shouldn't be so tight it can't breathe, but it should hug the pole.

Here are some better examples of mounting to a range pole:

This customer's setup looks great! The receiver is mounted about as close to the antenna as possible. The short cable leaves almost no room for physical interference.

This is another good setup, though we might recommend mounting that receiver even higher to reduce the space separating it from the antenna.

Backpack

If you mounted your Arrow antenna to a telescopic pole in a backpack, first ensure you’re using this smaller mounting plate intended for submeter Arrow receivers.

Next, a GNSS backpack should have a built-in protector whose purpose is to have the cable run through it. Running your cable through this protective pouch further reduces the chance something catches during field work. Here is the backpack we supply, which has this protector. If you’re using your own backpack, consider sewing a fabric flap along the outside through which you can run your cable to the receiver on the inside.

Here’s how we would rate these setups:

Although this worker has all the right equipment, their setup could be improved. The antenna cable could be wrapped more closely to hug the telescopic pole. Also, the cable should not protrude from the backpack zipper but rather feed into the protective pouch and onward to the receiver inside the backpack. — Although this worker has all the right equipment, their setup could improve. The antenna cable could be wrapped more closely to hug the telescopic pole. Also, the cable should not protrude from the backpack zipper but rather feed directly to the receiver inside the backpack.

This is a great backpack setup. The customer is using a small antenna mounting plate; the antenna cable is wrapped snugly around the telescopic pole without room to catch on anything; and the cable runs directly into the protective pouch, connecting the antenna to the receiver within.

This customer does a good job using an existing backpack. The antenna is mounted as high as possible without using a telescopic pole, and the cable feeds directly into the backpack with little opportunity to catch. Due to not having a telescopic range pole, this customer will experience reduced accuracy from their head blocking signals to the antenna. We would recommend they add a telescopic range pole and, if necessary, a backpack that can accommodate it, to their setup. But it's a good example of working with what they have; if the accuracy is acceptable, it's not bad. — This customer mounted his antenna to an existing backpack. He fed the cable directly into the backpack with no room for the cable to catch, which is great. However, due to not having a telescopic range pole, this customer will likely experience signal interference from their head. We would recommend they add a telescopic range pole and, if necessary, a backpack that can accommodate it.

Safety Vest

The safety-vest mounting option shares many of its considerations with the backpack mounting option.

You’ll want the antenna cable wrapped snugly (but not airtight) around a telescopic pole. The cable should run directly through or under the vest in order to protect it from catching on an obstruction. Here are the safety vest and we supply, which has built-in components (e.g., receiver pouch, cable passage) to help you run the cable. If you’re using your own safety vest that has a cable passage and receiver pouch, use those. If your vest doesn’t have these features, simply run the cable underneath the vest (within the fabric) to protect it from the environment. We also recommend always using your vest with a telescopic range pole to keep the antenna above your head.

Here’s how we rate these setups:

The first thing he's doing correctly is using a telescopic range pole with his safety vest. He's also run the cable through the vest to the Arrow receiver in a pouch designed for this. His cable is a little loose, however, and could catch on something. We would wrap this more snugly.

Chestpack bad2 — This isn't a bad setup, but it could be better. His antenna should be above his head by expanding the telescopic pole. His cable is also loose and outside of his vest.

Ten out of ten vest mounting. Her cable is nicely wound around the telescopic pole and the part we don't see is protected by the safety vest, connecting to the receiver in its pouch. — This is a great vest-mounting example. Her cable is nicely wound around the telescopic pole and runs directly into the safety vest. She uses a receiver pouch designed to receive the antenna cable.

Hat and Pouch

If you mounted your Arrow antenna in the provided hat and pouch (included with the Arrow 100+, Arrow 100, and Arrow Lite receivers), then the best way to protect the cable is to run it under a safety vest. Simply don your hat and pouch first, then put on a vest or jacket over it, so that the cable is protected from the environment.

We would recommend he run his cable inside his vest.

This cable should also run inside the vest, which should be zipped for added protection.

This is a perfect hat-and-pouch setup. Notice her antenna cable runs down her neck, into the vest, and through the bottom to connect easily to the receiver pouch. — This is a perfect hat-and-pouch setup. Notice her antenna cable runs down her neck, into the vest, and through the bottom to connect easily to the receiver in the pouch.

Arrow Handheld Bracket

Finally, an increasingly popular option is to mount your Arrow with this newer handheld bracket. This handheld bracket is available from some Eos Positioning Systems resellers. Contact us today to inquire about purchasing one.

The beauty of the handheld bracket is that it consolidates your antenna and receiver into one compact handheld setup, with brackets to attach your phone or tablet. The short quick-disconnect cables connect your antenna to the receiver through connection points designed for this purpose.

This setup is not designed for RTK-level (i.e., centimeter) accuracy. Because there is no range pole, human influence (i.e., moving, tilting the handheld) will impact your accuracy. Your torso will also block more signals than if the antenna were raised above your head. For this reason, we recommend using the Arrow handheld only when some error may be tolerated (e.g., several inches).

The Arrow handheld bracket lets you mount your GNSS receiver and antenna with a short cable connection.

There is also a bracket to hold your phone or tablet.

2) Consider Skadi Series® for the Future

Talking about handheld setups is a great segue into the second option: Consider a Skadi Series™ GNSS receiver.

The Skadi Series was designed as an evolution of Arrow technologies with more features, including an integrated antenna. (Recall that this is the other way to transmit the RF signals.) You’ll notice right away that there is no antenna cable required for the Skadi Series.

All Skadi receivers include pole and handheld mounting gear. The pole mounting cradle assembly lets you mount the Skadi to a surveying range pole without cables. Meanwhile, the Skadi Standard Handle™ and the included phone and tablet mounts allow you to use a handheld configuration out of the box.

For those who wish to do survey-grade accuracy with a handheld, the Skadi Series also offers the first-of-its-kind Skadi Smart Handle™, which makes use of advanced sensors to retain survey-grade accuracy without carrying a range pole. The smart handle is compatible with three models: Skadi Gold, Skadi 300, Skadi 200.

Here’s what each of these setups looks like: