The 2024 crop season is quickly approaching so this article will help you prepare your GPS monitor for the planting season. The ISU Extension and Outreach has a web-based guide that can be used either from a computer or smart phone using a web browser like Google Chrome. This web-based interactive monitor guide can help farmers, crops advisors, and agronomists work efficiently with most GPS monitors for both the planting and harvest seasons.
The web-based guide provides instructions to the monitor operator for managing the products and variable rate prescriptions and to clean up old data or export new data. It is designed to be used on a mobile device so it can be easily used in the tractor cab or on a desktop or laptop computer.
This guide has drop-down menus for users to choose the operation type—Harvest, Nitrogen, Planting or Wireless Data Transfer—and select the brand of their display, the display model, and the function they want it to perform. While most veteran operators understand how to use their displays, it has also been a few months since these operators have worked with the monitors and this guide should help to quickly remind operators on the proper steps. Also, this guide is a great resource if you are starting with a different brand of monitor or if you have a new monitor operator.
Finally, if you are a crop advisor who works with multiple displays or a farmer wanting to master your own display, this interactive guide will provide the knowledge and reference you need throughout the crop season. The website is updated periodically as manufacturers release software updates and new monitors to their product line.
To get started follow these simple steps:
- Click on this link to open the display guide-- www.extension.iastate.edu/digitalag/monitors.
- Select the Operation type by clicking on the down arrow on the right on the selection box—Harvest/Nitrogen/Planting/Wireless Data Transfer
3. Click on your monitor Brand (manufacture name)
4. Select the Display Model
5. Select the Function
For questions regarding this guide, email Doug Houser. For additional information and resources on equipment and technology, visit Digital Ag Extension.