Montana State University

MSU GPS Lab

Montana State University
PO Box 173120
Bozeman, MT 59717-3120

GPS Lab Manager:

Diana Cooksey
Tel: (406) 994-5684
Fax: (406) 994-3933
E-mail: dcooksey@montana.edu
Location: 245 Leon Johnson Hall

MSU GPS Base Station: NGS CORS Station ID MTSU

College Office

NetRS Receiver

DAT, RINEX


DAT and RINEX files are available for download. For security reasons, the base station files FTP site requires a username and password. Complete instructions are posted below. Please read and follow them carefully.

Note: If you are using Pathfinder Office software, accessing base files through the PFO differential correction wizard is now very straightforward. Simply update the base provider list and select CORS, BOZEMAN (MTSU), MONTANA. Be sure to choose "Use reference position from base provider" to avoid introducing a datum shift. The reference position stored in the base files is referenced to NAD 83 (CORS 96) and the reference position PathfinderOffice uses is referenced to ITRF 2000. Choosing "Use reference position from base files" in PathfinderOffice will introduce a shift of approximately 1.22 meters in your corrected data.


Site Details

Datum: NAD 83 (CORS) Elevation Mask: 5° Data collected with Trimble
Latitude: 45° 39' 40.37669" N Logging Interval: 5 s NetRS GPS receiver and
Longitude: 111° 02' 42.01023" W Rollover period: 1 hour GPS Base software
Height: 1495.512 m Antenna ht: 0 m  

Note: this is the official NGS position.


Data Storage:
Data files are normally available online for at least 28 days, after which they will be deleted. Data are not archived prior to deletion and are therefore unrecoverable. Users are encouraged to download data as soon as possible.

File Naming (DAT files):
Each file is named using a MTSUDOYS.DAT format. MTSU is the station ID, DOY is the day of year, S is the hour of the day (A through X) based on GPS time (not local time). 

File Naming (RINEX files):
Files are named as described above for DAT files, except for the file extension: in place of "DAT" are standard RINEX file extensions.

To download data files:
Select the link "DAT, RINEX" above.  You will see a "File Download - security Warning" window pop up, asking you if you want to run the FTP batch file. Click Run and you will be taken to the login page for the base files FTP site. use the following login information to access the site:
username: gpsguest
password: guest
You are now logged in to the base files FTP site and can access files to download.

Click on either DAT or RINEX, depending on the type of file you wish to download. Navigate to the appropriate subfolder; subfolders are arranged by year/day of year/site (mtsu). All available files will be displayed. Right click the name of the desired file and select "Save target as..." to download the file to your computer. 

Important note: 
Unless the system is experiencing technical difficulties, the last file listed should contain data for the most recent complete GMT hour and the current date. Because your computer may cache and then display an earlier version of the window, it may not show the most recent files available. If the file you seek is more recent than the bottom file in the "ftp" window, the listing can be updated by refreshing the window.


 

     

 

satellite

Trimble