Old School

Old school, that’s a term we hear when someone uses methods to get a job done that doesn’t take advantage of newer technology or methods. Many times, it’s a method learned from years of experience, and sometimes, a stubborn attitude. It’s a term used with respect for old methods usually used by older contractors with the will to get the job done whatever it takes. Chuck Cohen is one of the guys that uses old school methods to get the job done, and he’s been getting the job done in the HDD industry for over 50 years.

Early this year, Chuck found himself on a job that was not going well using his older locator. The job required him to drill from the parking lot of his local post office, through a parking garage with cars moving in and out, and power paralleling his bore path. If that wasn’t enough, he had an 18” wide window to hit at the building wall, and the concrete had already been cut out. In other words, no room for error. Chuck gave it a try with his older locator and knew he would need some help. He gave his old buddy Mike Young a call at Underground Magnetics and asked for some help.

Mike made the drive over on a rainy Saturday morning with a new Mag 9 system with one of UM’s Echo 50XF transmitters. The 50XF has a dual coil antenna that allows the transmitter to work in very low frequencies below 1 kHz, all the way up to 41 kHz. Mike arrived and knew this job would require a frequency below 1 kHz and set the transmitter in K32, or .32 kHz. This frequency allowed drilling around the active power they were paralleling but also work around the passive interference like rebar and wire mesh in the parking garage.

They made short work of the job with this new technology and hit the pit with no issues. Old School meets high tech. In today’s HDD world, there is still room for both.

Mike Young
President, Underground Magnetics Inc

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