Howdy!

I recently bought a JD W235R windrower with a Gen4 AutoTrac setup, and I also have another tractor that I retrofitted with a different guidance system.

The problem is that I've never used any ag guidance technology before. Just a few hours after the windrower was delivered, I left with my family for a trip to Wisconsin, so I haven't had much time to dig into the manual. I've watched videos and talked with service techs from both John Deere and Kubota, but most of the material seems to assume I already know the basics.

I've spent most of my life as a software developer. While I grew up on a farm, my dad and I never used GPS guidance systems. Now that I've taken over the farm after his passing, I'm trying to learn technology that's completely new to me.

So I'll admit it: this dummy needs a tutor.

If there's a student, former student, or experienced operator in the College Station area who would be interested in providing some one-on-one training for pay, I'd sure appreciate it.

I live in College Station, and the equipment is near Calvert (about 35 miles north).

Thanks!

mike (at) hnatt.com

PS - my youngest daughter in the pic

EDIT: I gave an explanation and credit to our good local dealer from United Ag in my follow up comment just two posts after this one.

Your dealer should absolutely provide you an on-site setup and walk through service on a new machine at no cost. All our (both Deere and CaseIH) dealers will come out and show how to run the machine and electronics after purchase.

Assume that's a $200-300k machine. You paid for that service call already.

Just call your dealer and tell them to get your Precision Ag tech out to ride with you and show you how to use it. Simple.

My brother - wait until you (and maybe you do and haven't said so) send a non-English speaking, past middle aged, set of drivers, whose exposure to tech is a smartphone at best - out into the world with Gen4 displays. Don't get me wrong, I love these guys / they're my family during daylight hours and I couldn't do what we do without them. This isn't a knock on them, instead, it's comic relief of some of the things I have had to UN-F* in displays and have seen for guidance line names.

It's better in the Deere universe than it was in AutoFarm/AgLeader - but I've had guidance lines named: my phone number, my marendomo's phone number, the model of the tractor, code to the barn's security system, "AYUDO" (if the system was said in Spanish), "HELP" (when it was an English), and every possible combination of the tract name you can think of. It doesn't help that every field on the farm has at least three different names. There's its English name, it's Spanish name, and every name that it gets for each particular driver who came along later and didn't learn the real name. So to make things simple I'm the only one who gets to name boundaries - but guidance lines can really be a comedy.

We tried the displays in Spanish for a while, but my foreman, who doesn't speak or read English, came and said "hey I think we were better off in English because the guys get too brave when they can actually read the words and it creates more problems. I think it was better when it was a mystery. I remember the button presses just leave it in English."

ETA - how did I forget the channel for the RTK base station. That's another common when the guys type in to try to get the screen to go away. Lol.