This is my attempt to educate the general public with news of changes affecting owners and prospective owners of John Deere Precision Ag products and services. I do NOT represent corporate John Deere. I do NOT represent any John Deere dealers. Content on this website should be considered as-is without warranty or guarantee. Please contact your local John Deere dealership with any questions, comments or concerns. Note: This post was NOT written by any form of AI (artificial intelligence).
The State of John Deere Radio RTK and Dealer-Owned RTK Base Stations - and Your Options When Losing Access to Radio RTK
Image Source: https://www.deere.com/en/technology-products/precision-ag-technology/guidance/rtk-radio-900/
What's going on with all the John Deere RTK Base Stations?
A phone call I experience multiple times every week:
'I'm losing access to my John Deere dealership's RTK base station; What are my options?'
Factors in the Reduction of John Deere Dealer-Owned Base Stations
- Dealers are tired of taking care of radio RTK base stations - they can require a lot of labor to maintain, especially if poorly located: lightning strikes, tower climbing and rental fees, expensive antennas, radio interference and signal coverage, etc.
- Newer technology like satellite-delivered SF-RTK that's "good enough" for most users, along with being much more simple
- Some dealers have already taken down base stations, others are doing so this winter, yet others have a multi-year plan to phase out base stations gradually
- Dealers are being expected to push more recurring revenue products, such as $1,500 per year SF-RTK signal
- JD Dealers have been told the StarFire™ 7500 will be last model of Deere GPS receiver capable of radio RTK
- John Deere has massively expanded their Leica-operated mRTK network (cellular RTK through JDLink™ modem)
The Other Side of the Base Station Story
- NOT ALL DEALERS ARE TAKING DOWN BASE STATIONS - in fact some are growing their subscribers as cheap activations and radios have been plentiful on the used market - see receivers, RTK activations and radios for sale here
- Solar flares can affect base stations (especially poorly located bases), however this is massively overrated and rare occurrences as we are near solar cycle maximum and unlikely to see significant interruptions in the near future, in my opinion
- John Deere has NOT ended production of 900 or 450 RTK radios or anything needed to put up or maintain a RTK base station, in fact a new software updated released late 2025 enables additional tools for StarFire™ 7500 owners to better deal with solar scintillation issues
- John Deere dealers (and anyone else) owning a John Deere RTK base station continues to keep revenue generated from their bases - there is no required continuous fee from Deere to own or operate a base station.
So what are my options if I'm losing access to John Deere Radio RTK ?
(other than buy a new receiver and pay $1,500/yr for SF-RTK)
PLEASE NOTE: this is an informational article, NOT a guide how to put up your own base station - while I do sell some base station components, I do NOT do installations. I do NOT do consulting work for base stations that are not purchased from me in their entirety
Option 1 - Cellular RTK via CloudBase Modem
John Deere StarFire™ 7000 and 7500 GPS Receiver with Permanent RTK License can receive almost any industry standard RTCM3 RTK source - the most convenient way to do cellular mRTK is with a CloudBase Modem
Pro's: no towers, antennas, amplifier, radios, repeaters etc! Extremely low annual fees! - assuming a local source of RTCM3 RTK your only annual fee is small amount of cellular data 1 cent a day plus about 3 cents per hour of usage with simbase.com, extremely high accuracy with a quality base station on the RTK source and available cellular signal, easy to move between machines as CloudBase modem bolts to back of receiver and plugs in same harness as Deere RTK Radio, retains 14 days of RTK Extend time if cellular signal drops or base station goes down
Con's: potential upfront expense - you MUST have a StarFire™ 7000 or 7500 with RTK Permanent License (RTK activations can be transferred from a StarFire™ 3000 or StarFire™ 6000 Universal receiver), you MUST have a source of RTCM3 RTK, whether that be a state DOT operator CORS network or RTK2go free public base or a private base station such as a Novatel base or another paid service such as Digifarm, no Autonomy Ready boundaries at this time - please lobby John Deere to add mRTK as an option for Autonomy
Option 2 - Move to John Deere mRTK Signal
John Deere has made huge strides in the last year on growing their Mobile RTK network. The mRTK signal is transported over the JDLink™ Modem and is available anywhere within this coverage map: https://my.jdmrtk.com/network_coverage.cfm . RTK via an internet connection is long how much of Europe has operated for a long time.
Pro's: utilizes your existing StarFire 3000™ or newer GPS receiver and it's RTK Ready activation, very high quality signal that's repeatable and offers good vertical accuracy as well
Con's: $1,250 annual fee, lines/boundaries may shift when you first switch over, JDLink™ modem MUST be on the canbus wiring system - older machines and non-JD machines will need expensive wiring to be added to get the modem on the can, no Autonomy Ready boundaries at this time - please lobby John Deere to add mRTK as an option for Autonomy
Option 3 - Move to a Non-John Deere Paid RTK Provider
Paid providers such as Digifarm and MyWayRTK have solutions for working with John Deere StarFire™ 3000 and newer GPS receivers that have the RTK Ready activation
Pro's: utilizes existing equipment and RTK activations, potential high accuracy, including vertical accuracy
Con's: annual fees, more complex equipment and provider support structure
Option 4 - Your Own Radio RTK Base Station
All John Deere Radio RTK base stations include a StarFire™ 3000 or newer base stations with an RTK Activation and a radio. The base needs a good clean power source (often times battery backup
Pro's: you are in control - no subscription fees, freedom from dealers and corporate, you can likely use your own existing receivers, activations, and radios, if the base goes down you have 14 days of RTK Extend (RTK-X) on machines with StarFire™ 6000 or newer GPS receivers
Con's: upfront investment in time and money!, potential high maintenance, radio license/interference, high knowledge requirement, increasing difficulty to cover long distances with signal (14 days of RTK-X on StarFire™ 6000 and newer receivers helps however the reciever needs to see the base for 15-20 minutes before refreshing the RTK-X time, longer to learn the StarFire™ offset; I don't recommend overreliance on RTK-X) , not as future-proof, your lines boundaries etc may move if you don't get your base surveyed in off the dealer base before taken down
Option 5 - Downgrade to SF1/SF2/SF3
I have some customers that have decided they no longer need RTK - no problem, your existing StarFire™ GPS Receiver can receive the free signal SF1, or you can pay for SF2 or SF3 siganl/
Pro's: Cheap up front - receiver already activated to RTK will already have SF2 Ready / SF3 Ready Activations, your RTK radio and RTK activation has value - I will consider buying them
Con's: long signal warm-up times! along with worse accuracy around trees, annual subscription fees and/or significantly reduced accuracy, SF2 signal won't be around much longer, I wonder if SF3 signal will see a price increase as it's been ~10 years since since SF2/SF3 prices increased, lines boundaries etc will move on SF1 and are may shift when going to SF2/3
Option 6
Third party GPS Receivers such as the Agra-GPS CRG
NOTE: I ended sales of CRG receivers - please see the CloudBase Modem for better cellular RTK experience
Bottom Line
The above options outline the available alternatives to running radio RTK off a dealer-owned base station. Every customer, area, and dealer is different; It is up to the customer to decide which solution is best for them. Please consult your local John Deere dealership with further questions as to their RTK network, it's future, and other options.