LED
Here’s how the LED indicators look on both the wired (advanced) and wireless (budget) base stations:
| Advanced | Budget |
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Purple LED – Indicates that the power is on.
Green LED – Indicates satellite reception.
- On advanced (wired) stations, it blinks when satellites are being tracked and remains off when there’s no reception.
- On budget (wireless) models like ELT0233 and ELT0633, it stays lit when more than 30 satellites are being tracked, blinks when fewer than 30 satellites are visible, and turns off entirely when there’s no satellite reception. The blinking pattern is calculated as 33 ms / andlt;number of satellitesandgt;.
- On the budget ELT0733, the green LED stays on when an autonomous solution is available.
Yellow LED – Indicates that the station has an internet connection. It blinks during WPS mode — see “WiFi Setup Using WPS PBC” for details.
Red LED – Lights up when the first (A) NTRIP server has successfully connected to the NTRIP caster.
Built-in Splitter
We are sometimes asked how the built-in splitter works and whether our design includes a power blocker.
Indeed, dual-channel splitters from lesser-known manufacturers often use a simplified design that includes only a power blocker. This saves the manufacturer a few euro cents but causes a headache for the user when choosing which splitter output to use.
We don’t cut corners on our customers. That’s why we use the full design, including a load simulator and protection circuitry. In this setup, one receiver powers the antenna, while the second receiver sees a simulated load. Both receivers detect current in the antenna circuit. This allows connecting geodetic receivers that monitor antenna current directly to the splitter.
Here is the antenna section schematic from our base station. You can request the complete schematic by emailing us at info@gnss.store. I’ve highlighted the load simulator so you can see for yourself how negligible the cost savings would be if it were omitted.
In the schematic:
- C9 – power blocker
- R4, L2 – load simulator
- D7, D8, D9 – protection circuitry
Frankly, companies that save money by omitting the load simulator often skip the protection components as well. The protection circuitry won’t replace a proper lightning rod, but it may save both your base station and the connected receiver if lightning strikes the rod on your building or a neighboring one.
The insertion loss of our splitter is specified in the datasheet for the BP2G1+. At GNSS frequencies, the splitter’s insertion loss is 0.4 dB. You lose about the same—or even more - at an SMA connector. Additionally, you lose 3.01 dB (i.e., 50%) due to the inherent signal division between two output channels; this is a fundamental limitation tied to the number of outputs.
As you can see, the datasheet includes tables and graphs. But what about the splitters from lesser- known firms? Do they provide graphs, tables, or even precise numbers? IMHO, the less information a manufacturer provides, the more questionable the quality of their solution. That’s exactly why we use splitters from the reputable firm Mini-Circuits and openly publish as much technical detail as possible.
© Eltehs SIA 2025
