J-Tip Handle

Nate The Surveyor

Well-Known Member
Nate,
Do you rely entirely on the J-Tip? I am trying to become comfortable enough with it to be able to just use it.
I feel if I knew more about how to tweak the settings or "dial it in"...It would work great.
There just is not enough information out there on how to use it fully. What would help is if there were some "pre-set" selections on tones etc and you could just roll through options 1-5 until you found what worked best.

Any tips?
I don't have it all figured out. I often set a nail, or a rebar, and use that to make sure of how sensitive the J tip is.
I'm so used to a SIMPLE system, (volume and sensitivity, ie, shonstedt) that often, I need to absolutely know how it's behaving, at any given moment. I get mine to work, but I don't fully comprehend all that's there.
Thank you,
Nate
 

John Troelstrup

Active Member
Nate,
My experience is mostly the same.
When doing a Boundary Survey ( I do mostly Lot & Block residential ) my typical procedure used to be I would walk around, beep up all the corners with Schoenstedt.
Then I would set up my base and begin the location work.
I have however learned it is more efficient to set up base first and after finding and locating the first corner - using the GPS as a measuring tape to aid in finding the remaining corners. I have to now carry the Triumph, a bag with shovel and metal locator.
If I could master the J-Tip...It would lighten my lode significantly.

It would be ideal if they could modify the J-Tip settings to have perhaps 4 presets for different scenarios..Kind of like the sensitivity setting on a Schoenstedt.
 

Shawn Billings

Shawn Billings
5PLS
I use the J-Tip exclusively for locating boundary corners and have for several years now. It's a huge part of the field approach to my business model. I agree that it needs to be simplified.

For now, I'll say that I use the Z direction (as it helps eliminate signals from fences and other objects) but it probably hurts when broad area search compared to XYZ. I use differential which means that it determines the polarity of the object instead of the user specifying a polarity. I use the clear button often. Currently there is no sensitivity setting. The tones are scaled based on the strongest signal you pass over from the last "clear". So if the strongest signal you pass reaches 14, then the tones are scaled for zero to 14. Then you pass over an object with a strength of 100, then the signals are scaled from zero to 100. So the meaning of the tones changes constantly, which is a frustration of mine. Why is it like this? It's designed to constantly pinpoint the strongest signal in the search area. Each time as you pass over, the strongest signal is the highest pitch tone. Javad was sure this was the best approach, but for most field operators we know that the strongest signal is often not the object we are looking for. My workaround has been to watch the signal strength bar on the screen. I can watch for a small rise in signal strength even if it isn't the highest signal strength I've passed by. I also use the clear button a lot. We've been discussing the need for letting the user select the "sensitivity" which really doesn't change the actual sensitivity but would set the scale of the tones to some fixed values. For example the very sensitive setting may go from 0-10, then next might be 0-50, then 0-100, then 0-200 or something like that. Any values above the maximum number in the scale would simply peg out at the highest tone, so with the most sensitive setting a 10 and a 30 and a 400 would all sound the same. The signal strength value would still show on the screen, so you'd still be able to see a difference in a 10, 30 and 400, you simply would not hear a difference at that setting.
 
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