Tougher than tough enough.
The SPS986 GNSS Smart Antenna is small, tough and useful. As a GNSS rover system or as a base station, the SPS986 does it all.
Rugged, All-in-one Solution
- Combines unprecedented strength and durability into a compact form that is easy to use and virtually indestructible
- The most rugged receiver Trimble has ever built, so you won’t experience downtime with equipment that doesn’t work
- Sensor onboard shows verticality on-field controller screen; in the dark or hard to reach locations, work more efficiently and save time when you can’t easily see the rod bubble
- Longer battery life in the field; keep working longer
Trimble xFill Technology
- Trimble xFill technology expands site productivity by allowing short excursions into valleys and other locations where GNSS corrections were not previously available

Flexibility
- Can be easily moved from carrying case to range pole, tripod, t-bar, or vehicle with a single click
- Easier and faster to get going and allows for more flexibility of operation techniques
Tilt Compensation
Using the Trimble SPS986 GNSS Smart Antenna and Trimble Siteworks Positioning Software, capture accurate points while standing, walking or driving the site in a vehicle, while the receiver is not level. From inside the vehicle, contractors can set the height of the antenna and quickly interrogate surface models using the real-time 3D surface display. Tilt compensation allows for faster data collection—create larger digital terrain models faster and with improved accuracy.
- Easy to learn for beginners, saves time for experienced surveyors
- Easily and safely survey hard to reach areas (corners, traffic lanes, utility flowlines)
- From a moving vehicle, capture higher accuracy measurements on steeper slopes
- Capture more accurate volume measurements to save time and money on material planning
- Auto-measure antenna height
- Faster measurements, more efficient stake-outs
- No magnetic interference

Applications
The Trimble SPS986 GNSS Smart Antenna and SCS900 Site Controller Software are ideal for:
- Measuring and verifying original ground levels and site features
- Monitoring real-time cut/fill information
- Checking finished grade and laid material thickness against design elevations and tolerances
- Computing progress and material stockpile volumes
- Monitoring, and conducting quality control for earthworks and paving operations
- Assessing as-built measurements and generating high quality reports for approvals and payment
- Recording tilt data when taking measurements
Rover
When used as a rover, the SPS986 enables wide variety of site measurement tasks including pole-mounted for grade checking, ATV-mounted for progress monitoring, and truck-mounted for site supervision.
For initial site reconnaissance, you can deploy it with satellite-delivered GNSS corrections without a base station. For higher accuracy site measurements such as grade checking, it can receive Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) corrections via the internal wideband radio, Wi-Fi or the Internet.
A grade checker can mount the SPS986 to an ATV and easily conduct site topos, check as-builts and verify road centerlines where it is not easy or safe to walk with a range pole. Extending its productivity, the same unit can then be mounted on the roof of a supervisor’s truck roof to collect and manage progress data.
Wi-Fi Base Station
As a base station, the SPS986 incorporates Wi-Fi communications for small site projects and wideband radio for long-range operations on large projects.
Designed for ease of use, it will automatically establish a connection and transmit RTK corrections to another rover or machine control system. When it is that easy, construction crews can spend more time doing the work and less time setting up and maintaining the equipment.
Technical Information
The SPS986 GNSS Smart Antenna can utilize more GNSS constellations, satellites, and signals than traditional GPS, so it delivers greater accuracy in more challenging conditions such as under tree canopy and in congested construction sites. That also means more uptime using the system and more productivity for job crews.
The SPS986 is powered by advanced Trimble R-Track technology and the following satellite systems and correction sources:
- GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS and BeiDou Navigation Satellite System
- Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) such as WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS, and QZSS
- OmniSTAR VBS, XP or HP
- Precision GNSS base station (RTK corrections)
- DGPS using UHF radio links (RTCM)
- Virtual Reference Station (VRS)
- Trimble Internet Base Station Service (IBSS)
- Trimble xFill™ technology