Electromagnetic underground utility locating relies on a radio frequency transmitter and receiver to trace underground utility lines. To achieve the most accurate results possible, locators must understand how the tools they are using actually work.
“Many locators have been trained in more of a procedural way,” says Mike Parilac, President and Owner of Planet Underground, as well as a renowned trainer who has been in the underground utility business since 1982. “They’ve been taught an order in which to do things when using an electromagnetic locating instrument. They get poor results on some locates, and they know it. But they are so procedure-driven that they aren’t prepared to do any additional problem-solving on the site. So while some of these locating professionals are quite functional on a site, they might not be as effective as they could be.”
A lot of variables can get in the way of accurate locating. “The more people understand how the locating equipment works and why certain things happen, the better they can adapt to different situations and work their way through difficult locates,” Parilac says.
React to the information you’re receiving
For starters, a utility locator will become much better at interpreting the information their equipment is providing. The heart of the locating system is the receiver. According to Parilac, a lot of locators think the receiver simply tells them where the line is located. In reality, the receiver provides a lot of information that can help determine if the results are accurate or not.
“Locators need to understand all the pieces of information they are given, and what that information means to the accuracy of whatever it is they are trying to locate,” Parilac says. “That takes a different kind of mindset and training.”
Let’s say the receiver is providing information that suggests a poor locate. The receiver can’t do anything to help because it is simply a tool designed to analyze. However, changes could be made at the transmitter.
“How and where you use the transmitter can change the results of a locate,” Parilac points out. “This type of approach flies in the face of procedure-based locating, where the operator is simply following steps in an operator’s manual. But the analysis is just as important as the procedure.”
Case in point, a lot of locators are taught that 33 kHz is the best frequency to use. Thus, they never try anything else. “But different frequencies exist because they can react differently in different situations,” Parilac says. “You don’t know how those different frequencies are going to react until you try them. To ensure the best locating results, locators must be willing to try different things once in a while.”
As another example, locators are taught to use the conductive method of locating whenever possible. But according to Parilac, there could be instances when the conductive method doesn’t produce the best results. If a locator understands how to analyze the information the receiver is giving them, they could adapt their procedure accordingly and try using the induction method. Locators could also do something as simple as reposition the transmitter. Any of these real-time decisions are based on real-time analysis of the data—along with a thorough understanding of how the locating equipment works.
“All of this electromagnetic locating equipment works on the same principles,” Parilac says. “During the tour, I will be pointing out certain features of the different equipment we look at. But whatever the attendees learn will apply to whatever type of equipment they own today or may own in the future.”
About the speaker
Parilac’s extensive utility industry resume includes his involvement with Staking University, a utility locator training organization he created in 1999. Over the past 20-plus years, Staking University has helped train more than 1,000 organizations at its campus near Chicago. Additionally, Staking University conducts roughly 25 locator certification seminars across the country each year, along with roughly 50 training sessions at their customers’ facilities.
“At The Utility Expo 2023, we did things ‘Staking University style,’” Parilac says. “We’re actually explained how the equipment works and where the receiving antennas are. We also explained what happens when you apply alternating current to a metallic conductor, and how the shape of the resulting electromagnetic field can change based on the presence of nearby metallic objects such as existing utility lines, guardrails, and garbage dumpsters.”
In addition to Staking University, Parilac has also been a driving force behind other prominent voices in the utility industry, including American Locator magazine and Planet Underground TV. Although he officially retired in 2022, Parilac remains heavily engaged in the industry as a speaker, expert, and advocate.
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