MACHINERY dealer O'Connors has extended its network of Global Positioning System base stations into North East Victoria.

Already up and running in the Wimmera and Mallee, the O'Connors' Real Time Kinetic network was launched in the North East recently when a demonstration day was held at the University of Melbourne's Dookie campus.

O'Connors precision agriculture manager Phil Streeter said the demonstration day was attended by about 50 farmers, representing broadacre and horticulture.

"We have a strong presence in the Wimmera and Mallee with 75 base stations and more than 150 subscribers and it's great to be able to offer the network to farmers in the Goulburn Valley and North East regions," Phil said.

An RTK network is a form of satellite navigation that uses a series or network of base stations. The base stations constantly transmit a corrected GPS signal to provide accuracy down to 2cm whereas a non-corrected signal is closer to 30cm accurate.

The base stations or towers are set up within a 12km range of each other throughout the network and the signal can be utilised by subscribing to the network through organisations such as O'Connors.

Phil said the base station transmits its data to a tractor, for example, by radio waves, which means the tractor or harvester requires a receiver.

"So if your farm is located near a base station, all you need to access the network is the receiver in the tractor and the appropriate software," Phil said.

Phil said having access to an RTK network means machinery such as tractors and harvesters can be driven very accurately.

"With 2cm accuracy, farmers can use the technology to implement practices such as inter-row sowing, controlled traffic, automatic or hands-free steering and applying chemicals at varying rates."

Phil said a relatively new application of the technology was contractors using GPS guidance to cut hay.

"We knew of several contractors that use GPS guidance for auto steering for hay mowing and raking this year as it allowed them to do the job much faster and more accurately," Phil said.

Technical support for the O'Connors network will be based at the Shepparton branch where they have appointed a precision agriculture specialist, Tom Glover.