by Derek Sloan, Assumption, IL

The rain has brought Central IL field work to a standstill. Several minor issues that guys could live with when the weather was nice have been brought up while the equipment is idle. I have had several tracking and guess row complaints with guys using their shift track every time they turn around while running. This issue can be solved by doing a TCM calibration on the receiver after making sure that all other Autotrac setup is correct. It is important that the track spacing is correct when using the rows instead of feet feature. I have seen several instances of incorrect row numbers as well as incorrect spacing. I have seen incorrect track spacing settings, as well as the previous implement still selected for the current task. A couple of customers have complained about excessive GPS drift while running in the field on SF2 signal. This problem was solved by updating the SF3000 receiver to the latest 1.90S software. The customer was immediately pleased with the performance and I have not heard back from them on this issue. I updated another customer’s software after the rain and I will follow up once we are back in the field, but believe it is very important to keep customers AMS equipment up to date with the latest software to ensure the best performance each season. Check here for the latest software versions.

I have received a few calls about switching planters and displays over to beans. Just simple reminders to change the knocker wheel out for the flat flapper in the lid and change the brush in the pro units. Most calls are on making sure the display is setup correctly when switching over to beans for the first time. Customers are also checking the rates that they have input are correct or that they stayed from last year, as well as to confirm setup for the first time on a new planter.