• Make sure the batteries in both your transmitter and receiver are fresh. If any doubt, put new ones in both. A weak transmitter battery reduces its range, weak batteries in a receiver can make it act brain damaged, as well as reducing the range.
• Always test your transmitter and receiver above ground, for operation and range, before sending the transmitter down the line. Every time.

The transmitter isn't where my receiver said it was; it's several feet off to one side.

The most common source of errors in precise locating is failure to follow all of the locating steps in the operating instructions. It's easy to think when you find a peak signal that your job is done. The LF Series receivers will show you a sonde image on the Sonde screen at many different places, but only one of them is the actual location of the sonde (read why this happens here). Pay particular attention to the Line screen on the LF receiver, where you walk in a circle around the peak signal to locate the crossing nulls and from there a line through the sonde. If you haven't established that line, you can't accurately determine the location of the sonde or its depth. The same thing applies to locating with the analog receivers (Ardy or Ferris) - pay attention to all of the locating steps.

The signal from my transmitter suddenly quit. I was following it fine, then it disappeared.

Aside from checking batteries, determine whether it is possible that the pipe material changed at some point, or you reached a steel tank. 512 Hz equipment will penetrate cast iron, but not steel, ductile iron or other metal.

A sudden loss of signal may also mean you have encountered a null, which is a normal part of locating. If the signal drop-off is at a particular spot, and the signal returns when you move a little ways away, then it is a null.

My system doesn't seem to be working, but I don't know how to tell if the problem is the transmitter or the receiver.

One obvious thing to try is a different transmitter (of the same type) with your receiver, or a different receiver with the transmitter, but this is often not an available option if you don't own a lot of equipment. Replace the batteries in both before you go further.

A receiver can be tested in a rudimentary way by turning it up and holding it near sources of electronic radiation - like a computer, a cell phone, a dimmer switch. You should hear some noise. If it remains silent, the receiver is probably malfunctioning.

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