Hard Pan messing up signal?

[sundropmaster]

Almost two years ago, I stumbled across a problem with a TV fiber. I had no problems locating it on this street except for 200 feet of it and trying different access points, even digging it up and clamping right before you get funny signals. This was almost in the middle of the locate, i couldn't piece them together, (see pic) the signal would go past each other. Tried pipe horn, got same thing, tried the RD8000, got same thing, metrotech 810, same thing. I thought maybe that this was a spot that the bore crew came up. And the ticket was for sewer down the street with the Air Vac System. So the TV company didn't know what to do so they asked if i could babysit the crews.
So while babysitting i keep checking the signals as they start digging 6 to 8 feet, i kept probing and probing and i got lucky and found it and used the clamp on it, It was 8 and a half foot deep. Was able to get good enough signal to follow it to the next crossing. By the way this project they put the tanks in first, come back and do the crossings, and the later comeback and do the mains. Found it and had to keep clamping to find it in the next crossing so on and so on. I put some heavy offsets in the road so when they do their main i will have something to go by.
Weeks later i get that re mark ticket, so i was amazed that when i hooked up i was able to follow it with no problems. No abandoned cables on this street, no cast iron pipes etc, just some power. On this street there was a thick layer of hard pan, about 1 foot thick. For some reason after they did their 5 foot wide, 8 foot deep, and 40 foot long crossing, that i was able to locate it with no problems. I had problems months before also when they was setting tanks in, i wasn't worried because it was not in conflict...So that's what I came up with is that hard pan had something to do with the issues.

I also noticed one day as i was locating i walked over a trench box that was taken apart and as i walked over it, i lost signal, it was 1 inch thick. I thought it should have been able to pick signal up but that steel blocked it out!

[ProfessionalLocator]

The only picture is of a drawing so it does not show conditions.

This road, concrete or asphalt? A concrete road is sometimes laid over a wire mesh which can confuse signals.

I once ran into an extra thick concrete driveway that was reinforced with steel mesh and could not read any signal through it.

[sundropmaster]

The only picture is of a drawing so it does not show conditions.

This road, concrete or asphalt? A concrete road is sometimes laid over a wire mesh which can confuse signals.

I once ran into an extra thick concrete driveway that was reinforced with steel mesh and could not read any signal through it.

The road was just one layer of asphalt, two lane road, with hardly no traffic, a street with 60 lots, half have houses, i only put picture/ drawing to show how the cable signals passed each other. I don't have any pictures for this area! Sandy soil for most of the island. Other parts of the island had same problems with fiber, it was bored in 7 to 15 feet deep and it always gave an off ghost signal 6 feet to both sides of actually where it was at.Yeah i hate the steel mesh crap too, and really hate traffic light wiring at intersections