SELF-CONTAINED, SELF-SURVEYING DIFFERENTIAL GPS BASE STATION AND METHOD OF OPERATING SAME

A self-contained, self-surveying differential GPS base station system and method of operating same are provided. The system and method use a conventional differential GPS base station. The base station's National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) data sentences identify a determined position of the base station and fix quality information associated with the determined position. The system and method automatically identify the determined position as an acceptable position when the fix quality information associated with the determined position satisfies a selected criteria which is stored on-site. The system and method then automatically average together each acceptable position to generate an updated position. The updated position is automatically supplied to the base station at a prescribed time for use by the base station in generating Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) differential corrections for transmission over the air waves.