Air Test

[mrwilburino]

My house is normally a perfect storm of EMI; useless for air testing under those conditions. Had a rare power outage today, so got a chance to do a quick air test. At 30 manual the CTX was running pretty quiet, just a little bit of falsing due to my modem still working on battery power.

Clad dime with stock coil- pretty accurate signal at 12". Fell off quickly after that. Gone by about 13"

Clad dime with 6" coil- An impressive, very diggable signal at 10".

Who says they don't air test well?

 

[GKMan]

I don't know where that "Minelab is notorious" for air testing badly mindset came from... I remember I had done air tests years ago on the CTX and couldn't believe the difference bumping up that sensitivity made...

 

[metalpopper]

All the nonsensical comments made about the invalidity of air testing, are clear evidence that such people who propagate such myths, are ignorant of what the process is all about.

The name of the game is exactly what it states.

How else can you begin to appreciate the functionality of your detector?

It provides the standard baseline for any of its functional characteristic;

Principally its intrinsic capabilities.

Only then can you begin to acquire a starting point from which to evaluate its ' in ground' performance?

AIR TESTS are a UNIVERSAL medium standard; a datum point from which you can then examine its ability to limit the ground's negative impositions.

So....doing air tests helps you to realise your detector's potential, and then its limitations, as imposed by the external factors of the media being searched.

Its not rocket science, but rather common sense.................Matt.

 

[trojdor]

My house is normally a perfect storm of EMI; useless for air testing under those conditions. Had a rare power outage today, so got a chance to do a quick air test. At 30 manual the CTX was running pretty quiet, just a little bit of falsing due to my modem still working on battery power.

Clad dime with stock coil- pretty accurate signal at 12". Fell off quickly after that. Gone by about 13"

Clad dime with 6" coil- An impressive, very diggable signal at 10".

Who says they don't air test well?

I think you hit the nail on the head with your first statement. A lot of homes have too much EMI/RFI for useful air testing.
Unfortunately, the Minelabs are a 'wide band' device...as opposed to a single frequency VLF...and as such, are far more sensitive to the effects of EMI.
(And thus, some of the bad reports.)

I frequently hunt close to roads, and can often see...and occasionally hear...when a noisy ignition system affects my machine...sometimes rendering it unusable until the vehicle gets out of range.
I would venture to say that most EMI is 'invisible' in that you don't hear it, or see the effects on your unit...other than it's performance loss.

My CZ's are the same way, and my TDI (being a completely broadband device) is the worst of the bunch.

I've had to make a poor mans Faraday Cage to test my machines because of this.

HH,
mike