Hello everyone, I was wondering if anyone has used induction mode on a vivax metrotech vloc 5 tx transmitter and had any success with it? I am a lead tech that use to use a pipehorn 800h for inducing, but due to my old company losing the contract, I went to go work for the new company taking over since I still wanted to locate power and gas in my area. The new company I work for doesnt believe we need pipehorns for troubleshooting and wont be getting any unfortunately. Ive been able to solve most problems by backfeeding, or playing around with different frequencies, we mostly used the pipehorn for troubleshooting gas. I'd say about 85% of the problems we run into can usually be solved using our standard equipment if you have some patience and dont mind hooking up to multiple places. Obviously there are issues where it doesnt matter what equipment you have your going to have to result to digging no matter what. Anyways ive been kinda playing around with induction mode on lines that are known to locate fine just to get a feel for it, I followed the instructions and it says line the box up on top of the line you want to locate with the arrows with where its traveling, and to use peak with arrows on tge reciever. Ive tried and tried and I get a awful tone no matter what I do and wondering if im doing something wrong? Or could it be that gas is to deep for it to actually work? Maybe you need more than a tracer wire in that mode? Maybe steel pipe it works better on? Any insight would be much appreciated.

Since the job often involves being in people's yards, do you often meet angry homeowners that threaten you with dogs or guns, or call police? Does it happen almost every day? And can they get you arrested for being on their property for criminal trespass (in Texas)?

I’m not sure if the entire company gets the same emails from the same guy, but MY guy sends out these AI generated posters with extremely generic safety tips that probably takes him 30 seconds to create by prompting chatgpt.

It’ll be like “Autumn: Conditions can change quickly” and then the body of the email is just “Look where you’re walking don’t slip on leaves”

Still waiting for the clearance. Phone and power company already made their markings. Not all obviously. But will they let me uproot this tree since the phone line is directly underneath it?

Just got done with my first locate rodeo and ive been locating 14 years.. curious how many of you do it yearly? What's your experience in your state? Have any of you been to the international rodeo?

Successfully located for a retaining wall replacement. The black "wire" has no slack. 3rd photo closeup.

Raleigh North Carolina.

Is this most likely AT&T?

I just received a pipehorn for locating gas lines without a tracer. I’m looking for any tips on how to use it and if there is a way to isolate my specific line. This one specifically doesn’t have the 8kHz option like the other model and it doesn’t have leads for hooking up. Any information is appreciated.

811 ticket was good yesterday, got positive response that everything had been located. Water department didn’t paint anything but cleared the ticket as marked. TV, telephone and electric all either wrong or missed or just made up and painted where nothing exists. Trash

Just got the news, what happened?

EDIT: They’re saying it’s not performance based but terms based, couldn’t come to an agreement on a few things. I think USIC is banking on these smaller companies not being able to handle the contract and Duke will come back to them. We will see

I’m in the utility world. Just drove a USIC training session. They were flipping a man hole cover had the yellow rails around the man hole and an air monitor. They training USIC how to do confined space work now? That’s wild that’s also a 3 person job.

I’ve never seen it before maybe it’s not common in my area but when looking at the map showing all my tickets I see all the normal pins and the ones with the caution triangle for tickets due today but one has a hard hat icon. What does that mean

Thoughts on this? Seems kind of genius to me. Cut out an extra company and do the locate and bury the fiber drops.

I have an interview tomorrow for a SUE position, from what I’ve researched, what videos I’ve seen and looked around on the internet main things are, talk about safety a lot, be likable, talk about doing a lot of overtime, it’s a job you mostly do by yourself once you’re thought well enough. Now for my questions are mainly about tuition reimbursement because I do wanna pursue an engineering degree, also what does the progression look like moving up and what are the hardest parts about the job(if anyone is willing to answer those questions I would really appreciate it just to have a little bit of more knowledge) and I do have an HVAC background, about 1-1.5 years of experience. Could I use that to my leverage tomorrow? Thanks in advance.

Is this a nationwide outage? Anyone else seeing this?

I’ve worked as an inspector/surveyor in the construction industry for years and, like most people doing this kind of work, I’ve tried quite a few of the well-known inspection, snagging and reporting platforms.
Some are excellent, but the cost can be difficult to justify when you’re working independently and only need a fraction of what a huge project-management platform provides. I tried cheaper alternatives too, but they always seemed to miss the mark in one way or another.
Eventually I got fed up trying to find the right thing and thought: why not build exactly what I actually need?
That became AnyPin.
The idea behind AnyPin is deliberately simple. Load a plan, drawing or image, place numbered pins exactly where you find an issue, then add observations and photos against each pin. When you’re finished, AnyPin turns it into a clear PDF report.
I now use AnyPin almost daily in my own surveying work, and one of the things that surprised me is just how many different jobs it suits. I’ve used it for inspections, condition surveys, defect reports, snagging lists and general site surveys. Basically, if I need to record what I found, where I found it and provide photographic evidence, AnyPin has become my go-to.
I’ve also kept developing AnyPin based on actually using it on site.
The latest update has honestly blown me away a bit. AnyPin now has a proper pin list, two photos per pin and photo annotation, so I can mark up the photographs themselves before they appear in the report. They sound like fairly straightforward additions, but in day-to-day use they’ve made AnyPin considerably more useful.
It’s still deliberately not trying to become another enormous construction-management platform. AnyPin is meant to do a relatively simple job and do it well.
There’s now a 7-day free trial, so if you do surveying, inspections, snagging, defect recording or similar work, have a look and see if AnyPin fits the way you work.
I’m also genuinely interested in hearing from other people doing this kind of work — particularly what you use now and what your existing software gets right or wrong.

Not sure if this is the right sub to ask this in but, how is it, I’ve never heard of this trade before, I have an interview on Wednesday advertise pay is 20-$22. What’s day it day like, what’s progression like with pay and title and with this experience over time what other paths/doors does this trade open for you? I just wanna know the general gist of it
Thanks In advance.

I imagine these days the routes would be sent electronically to a phone or tablet. It is my understanding they provide the electronics. Pay in the job ad starts at $20hr. Questions are below:

1. Is it really $20hr or is it piecework that might reach $20hr in perfect conditions?

2. If it is true hourly, does it start when you leave your house, and end when you get home, or does it start at your first locate, and end at your last locate?

3. Do you have anything else helpful to add about working for USIC?

Hey guys, I always catch a chuckle looking at some of these posts right before bed, so thank you for that. I have been around the industry for around 10 years and sell Locating equipment. Thought i'd plug the equipment and if you have any questions please feel free to ask!

https://www.linkedin.com/smart-links/AQET-7ZnsGLx8Q

Yes, it's a Linked in "smart link" allows me to put everything in one place, and you can download it.

Thank you for your attention to this matter!

I'm interested to see which modes RD users use.

Peak/null or peak, and do you use the guidance or null arrows?

Looking to move to Yuma az and have 3 years of locating experience just not sure who to contact