RTK base station · Bude, EX23 · Commissioning autumn 2026
Centimetre positioning, free, from Bude.
There is no public RTK station within thirty kilometres of Bude. The nearest is a community unit at Bideford. We are building one on the Atlantic Highway to serve farms, surveyors, drones and boats across North Cornwall and North Devon, and the corrections are free to anyone who wants them.
Coverage, town by town.
Every figure here is computed from coordinates: the baseline to our base, the baseline to Bideford, and the accuracy the receiver datasheet predicts at that distance. Where Bideford is closer, we say so — it is in 16 of the 24 towns in our range that Bude is the better station.
Well inside the radius where RTK performs at its best. Fast fix, full accuracy, no compromise.
| Town | To Bude | To Bideford | Horiz. | Vert. | Best station |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stratton Cornwall | 0.5 km | 30 km | 8 mm | 15 mm | Bude |
| Bude Cornwall | 2.2 km | 33 km | 10 mm | 17 mm | Bude |
| Marhamchurch Cornwall | 4.3 km | 32 km | 12 mm | 19 mm | Bude |
| Kilkhampton Cornwall | 4.8 km | 27 km | 13 mm | 20 mm | Bude |
| Widemouth Bay Cornwall | 5.4 km | 35 km | 13 mm | 20 mm | Bude |
| Morwenstow Cornwall | 7.6 km | 27 km | 16 mm | 23 mm | Bude |
| Poundstock Cornwall | 8.0 km | 37 km | 16 mm | 23 mm | Bude |
| Week St Mary Cornwall | 9.9 km | 36 km | 18 mm | 25 mm | Bude |
| Bradworthy Devon | 11 km | 20 km | 19 mm | 26 mm | Bude |
| Holsworthy Devon | 12 km | 24 km | 20 mm | 27 mm | Bude |
Inside our practical service radius. Expect a reliable fix with accuracy a little below the ideal, entirely usable for guidance and survey.
| Town | To Bude | To Bideford | Horiz. | Vert. | Best station |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hartland Devon | 18 km | 23 km | 26 mm | 33 mm | Bude |
| Clovelly Devon | 19 km | 17 km | 27 mm | 34 mm | Bideford |
| Boscastle Cornwall | 20 km | 50 km | 28 mm | 35 mm | Bude |
| Shebbear Devon | 21 km | 14 km | 29 mm | 36 mm | Bideford |
| Black Torrington Devon | 22 km | 20 km | 30 mm | 37 mm | Bideford |
| Launceston Cornwall | 25 km | 42 km | 33 mm | 40 mm | Bude |
At the edge. A fix is achievable but takes longer to converge and is more sensitive to atmospheric conditions. Fine for guidance; check the numbers before survey work.
| Town | To Bude | To Bideford | Horiz. | Vert. | Best station |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tintagel Cornwall | 25 km | 55 km | 33 mm | 40 mm | Bude |
| Camelford Cornwall | 27 km | 56 km | 35 mm | 42 mm | Bude |
| Delabole Cornwall | 28 km | 57 km | 36 mm | 43 mm | Bude |
| Bideford Devon | 30 km | 4.5 km | 38 mm | 45 mm | Bideford |
| Great Torrington Devon | 30 km | 3.5 km | 38 mm | 45 mm | Bideford |
| Westward Ho! Devon | 30 km | 7.6 km | 38 mm | 45 mm | Bideford |
| Hatherleigh Devon | 31 km | 20 km | 39 mm | 46 mm | Bideford |
| Appledore Devon | 33 km | 7.5 km | 41 mm | 48 mm | Bideford |
Too far for a single-base RTK solution to be reliable. A nearer station or a network service is the right answer here.
| Town | To Bude | To Bideford | Horiz. | Vert. | Best station |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Okehampton Devon | 38 km | 30 km | 46 mm | 53 mm | Bideford |
| Braunton Devon | 39 km | 13 km | 47 mm | 54 mm | Bideford |
| Tavistock Devon | 41 km | 49 km | 49 mm | 56 mm | Bude |
| Wadebridge Cornwall | 42 km | 71 km | 50 mm | 57 mm | Bude |
| Barnstaple Devon | 42 km | 12 km | 50 mm | 57 mm | Bideford |
| Bodmin Cornwall | 43 km | 70 km | 51 mm | 58 mm | Bude |
| Padstow Cornwall | 44 km | 74 km | 52 mm | 59 mm | Bude |
| Chulmleigh Devon | 48 km | 23 km | 56 mm | 63 mm | Bideford |
| Ilfracombe Devon | 50 km | 24 km | 58 mm | 65 mm | Bideford |
| South Molton Devon | 52 km | 23 km | 60 mm | 67 mm | Bideford |
Connect a tractor, and we print you the mount.
Most guidance antennas ship on a magnetic puck that walks across the roof. A rigid, bolted mount with a known offset is what RTK actually wants. We make one, in ASA, free to anyone connecting to the base.
The things that decide whether this works for you.
Two of them are not in our gift: the badge on your receiver, and whether you have signal in the field. We would rather you knew now.
Is it really free?
Yes. No subscription, no account beyond an email address so we can send you the connection details. We run it because we need it for our own robots and because there was nothing else within thirty kilometres.
Will my tractor work with it?
It depends on the badge. AgOpenGPS, CNH and Topcon systems accept third-party NTRIP corrections directly. John Deere StarFire needs an RTK activation and usually an external modem; Trimble's free tier does not accept third-party casters at all. If you tell us what you run when you register, we will tell you honestly whether it will connect.
I have no signal in the field. Does that matter?
Yes, and it is the honest limitation of any internet-delivered correction service. NTRIP needs a data connection at the receiver. Where 4G does not reach we are looking at a UHF radio link from the base, which needs no mobile signal at all; register and say where you are, because that decides whether we build it.
How accurate is it?
Horizontal accuracy is roughly 8 mm plus 1 mm for every kilometre from the base; vertical about double. So at 10 km expect around 2 cm horizontal. The town pages give the exact figure for where you are.
Why 25 km?
Beyond about 20 km the atmosphere over you and over the base start to differ enough that corrections lose accuracy, and past 35 km a single-base fix stops being reliable. Multi-band receivers push that boundary out; we run one at the base and recommend one at your end.
What about Bideford?
There is a community RTK2Go station at Bideford. It is useful and we list it on every town page. It has no service guarantee and its absolute position is unverified, which is fine for guidance and not fine for survey. Where it is closer to you than Bude, we say so.
Tell us where you are and what you run.
Where you are decides whether we build the radio link. What you run decides whether we tell you it will connect before you spend anything.