A first for me (interaction with Ag-based GPS)
I was out on a small job this morning for the rural electric co-op placing a new aerial line. As far as jobs go it was easy and not too long and all the corners were in and I figgered I’d be out of there in an hour or two.
I had my base high on a hill about 500 yards south of the east-west section line where the work was going on. After my last shot I headed back down the road to pick up the base and start thinking about lunch. Now the narrow road was blocked by a fairly large tractor with a gang of discs in tow all folded up. I bet this rig could disc up a city block in two passes.
The operator was out on the ground talking on a cell phone and looking at the only house in that section, almost a half mile north. What intrigued me was in his other had he appeared to have a piece of equipment that looked a lot like a DC. I got out to see if he needed a ride or something. My only other alternative was to backtrack 4 mile around to get to the other side.
He said he’d move in a minute. He was in the middle of trying to tell his wife how to ‘reset’ his GPS base at the house “cause the whole thing is screwed up”… he was a little agitated..
After he hung up he showed me his screen and I it was evident it was screwed up. It showed his equipment about 1500′ north of his house, out in the field facing east. His equipment was definitely south of the house 2000′ and facing west. I suddenly realized his “rover” had latched on to my base and had the whole world turned upside down.
Before his wife called back I explained I had a base on top of the hill to the south and was still running. I asked him to let me get up there and turn it off to see if that might help. I also told him he probably needed to shut off his unit until I could get up there. He moved so I could get around him to race up the hill and stowed all my gear in the truck.
By the time I got back down there he had a different look on his face; he was happy. He also asked me to let him know if I was ever going to back out there. I agreed.
I get gigged by some of these pipeline outfits and their bases sometimes. This was the first time I’ve ever gigged a tractor with my base.
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