the past push force was monitored by u201c feel u201d i e reaction of the drill rig upon pushing however push force may be directly measured for instance using a pressure or force gauge if push force becomes excessive as a result of encountering an underground obstacle the boring tool or drill string may be damaged as a final example the drill rig operator may monitor any parameters impressed upon locating signal 98 such as for instance boring tool temperature battery status roll pitch and proximity to an underground utility in this latter regard the reader is referred to u s pat no 5 757 190 entitled a system including an arrangement for tracking the positional relationship between a boring tool and one or more buried lines and method which is incorporated herein by reference referring to fig5 another feature may be incorporated in the first and second component arrangements which is not requirement but which nonetheless is highly advantageous with regard to drill rig status monitoring performed by the drill rig operator specifically a rig monitor section 190 may be included for monitoring the aforementioned operational parameters such as drilling mud push force and any other parameters of interest as previously described proper monitoring of these parameters is critical since catastrophic equipment failures or damage to underground utilities can occur when these parameters are out of range in accordance with this feature processor 114 receives the status of the various parameters being monitored by the rig monitor section and may provide for visual and or aural indications of each.