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Ground Balance

agentman1

New member
I think I already know the answer to my question before I ask, however, I am curious to know for sure. Where I live in Ohio, the ground phase on my X-Terra 705 is showing numbers between 15 and 21 the majority of the time. According to Digger, when the ground is hot a DD coil would perform better. Because I do not have the funds at this time to invest in a DD coil, can I off set the ground balance at 28 or above to improve coil performance, or is this too much of an off set? I haven't tried manually changing the ground balance; therefore, I am not sure the X-Terra will allow such a wide variation of swing in the numbers. I have the standard 9" concentric coil at this time.
 
You can try it, but I'll bet that you won't like it. That's really too much to offset realistically, because the machine will become unstable unless you sacrifice too much sensitivity. Not only that, but the tonal response will suck too.
If you want to try offsetting it, I'd suggest you try 3pts first to see what sort of differences you encounter. You may find that even that much is unacceptable, but if not try bumping it up one or two at a time rechecking between changes.

I would recommend that you locate a real world target first, then make changes and re-check the target each time listening for the differences.
 
Thank you Old longhair and Mark for the input. Your response verified what I was fully expecting. It basically comes down to allowing the X-Terra to perform as it was designed and not over extending its capability.
 
Remember with gb offset,
less is more more is less.
 
agentman1 said:
I think I already know the answer to my question before I ask, however, I am curious to know for sure. Where I live in Ohio, the ground phase on my X-Terra 705 is showing numbers between 15 and 21 the majority of the time. According to Digger, when the ground is hot a DD coil would perform better. Because I do not have the funds at this time to invest in a DD coil, can I off set the ground balance at 28 or above to improve coil performance, or is this too much of an off set? I haven't tried manually changing the ground balance; therefore, I am not sure the X-Terra will allow such a wide variation of swing in the numbers. I have the standard 9" concentric coil at this time.

Where are you in Ohio? I have a 705 with the MF DD coil and most of the areas I hunt are in the same range as you described. Actually, I just let the machine Auto GB and have not had any target tone/TID problems to speak of. I have not experienced any issues with the stock MF concentric coil either. I really enjoy the trash/target separation of the DD coil though. I don't run the sensitivity very high. I have dug dimes at approx. 6" with a sensitivity setting of 17. If I do come across a faint desireable signal, I move the coil off to one side and turn up the sensitivity and rescan that target. Then the 705 can really lock on and give a solid/louder tone. This method has netted me dimes at 9-10". Just remember to concentrate on the tones first and foremost. Do you use headphones with their own volume control? If so, crank the volume all the way up on the 705 then adjust the HPs to your liking.
 
I live in Marion Ohio and so far I really love the X-Terra 705. I really can't say that I have had an issue other than trying to get a repeatable tone on some whispers. However, and as you have indicated, I believe a DD coil would give me better separation on faint tones. I was surprised to read that you are digging dimes approximately 6" with sensitivity at 17, I will lower my sen. and try that. I have a set of 64 ohm Sennheiser headphones that are fantastic for metal detecting.

How many tones are you using and are you running in AM or one of the discrimination patterns? Thanks again for the advise and if you don't mind, let me know what part of Ohio you metal detect. Thanks Greg.
 
agentman1 said:
I live in Marion Ohio and so far I really love the X-Terra 705. I really can't say that I have had an issue other than trying to get a repeatable tone on some whispers. However, and as you have indicated, I believe a DD coil would give me better separation on faint tones. I was surprised to read that you are digging dimes approximately 6" with sensitivity at 17, I will lower my sen. and try that. I have a set of 64 ohm Sennheiser headphones that are fantastic for metal detecting.

How many tones are you using and are you running in AM or one of the discrimination patterns? Thanks again for the advise and if you don't mind, let me know what part of Ohio you metal detect. Thanks Greg.

I hunt in southwest Ohio. I live between Dayton and Cincinnati. I hunt in pattern 4 and AM. I have had good success with 4 tones but I am going to try 99 tones this weekend. When I had an X-terra 70, I had 3 coils for it (9" LF, stock, and 5x10 DD HF) and did really well with the stock coil.
 
I am really pleased to learn that the stock coil will perform well given the lower numbers I have been seeing. I was worried I would be missing good targets with the stock coil. I do know that I will slow my swing rate down, and lower the sensitivity. I am leaving work early today to detect an old Boy Scouts camp and I am going to run in AM with either 3 or 4 tones, not sure yet.
 
The stock coil for me is utterly useless in my hot soil, also running 15 to 18 and getting all different numbers, sent my 705 in to be checked and all was good, so purchased the 10x5 DD and everything changed, you will love it. It is expensive for the coil but for me its the only thing will work and work well it hot ground. Don't worry about depth at the lower settings it will still go very deep.
 
Thank you Digger 45 for the input. I wasn't sure which DD coil to purchase (10.5 or 10x5), however, after reading your post I think I will eventually purchase the 10x5.
 
agentman1 said:
I wasn't sure which DD coil to purchase (10.5 or 10x5), however, after reading your post I think I will eventually purchase the 10x5.
If depth is the issue, I would reconsider.
The 5x10" is depth limited by it's width, and separation limited by it's length heel-to-toe. You'll get little if any depth advantage over the 6"DD, and no different separation ability from the 10.5" DD. So if depth is the objective you'd be better off with the 10.5" round DD, and if separation is the important factor then the 6" DD would be advantageous.
Neither the 5x10" HF DD or the 10.5" HF DD are waterproof, so if that's a concern then you have a choice of everything else besides them and the 10.5" MF DD.
 
Thank you Old Longhair for the information provided; the information that can be found on this site is very helpful. Since depth and separation are important to me, then it would make sense to purchase the 10.5 and the 6" DD coils. There are many coil choices available, however, this is not a bad problem to have. It truly is amazing how flexible the 705 can be. Not only in settings, but coil selection as well. I can tell it will take time to really learn this machine. Actually, I had the Minelab Safari and I didn't care of it at all and ended up selling it.
 
Old Longhair said:
agentman1 said:
I wasn't sure which DD coil to purchase (10.5 or 10x5), however, after reading your post I think I will eventually purchase the 10x5.
If depth is the issue, I would reconsider.
The 5x10" is depth limited by it's width, and separation limited by it's length heel-to-toe. You'll get little if any depth advantage over the 6"DD, and no different separation ability from the 10.5" DD. So if depth is the objective you'd be better off with the 10.5" round DD, and if separation is the important factor then the 6" DD would be advantageous.
Neither the 5x10" HF DD or the 10.5" HF DD are waterproof, so if that's a concern then you have a choice of everything else besides them and the 10.5" MF DD.

I hunt volley ball courts and sport fields
The 10 x 5 hf is the perfect coil for me
it's lighter and better balanced than the 10.5 mf or 10.5hf lot easier to swing for hours on end
it goes deeper in bad ground than the 9 inch mf
covers more ground per swing than the 6 inch hf and is almost as sensitive to small gold and is deeper,i can still get a penny at 7 to 8 inches thats deep enough for a sports field
I can get in tighter spots like between rocks and weeds and stubble lt pinpoints easy and has a lot better separation than a 10.5 you clam that its separation limited by it's length heel-to-toe,that would be true if you swing heel-to-toe,but if you swing side you can eze up to a target with the toe or hit it from a different angle.I think it would be more accurate to say its separation limited by its width and its depth limited by its length.
 
pulltaber said:
The 10 x 5 hf is the perfect coil for me
it's lighter and better balanced than the 10.5 mf or 10.5hf lot easier to swing for hours on end

If you turn the 10.5" coils around backwards they do balance better. They are still heavier, but moving the bulk of the weight back behind the shaft reduces fatigue.

pulltaber said:
it goes deeper in bad ground than the 9 inch mf

Any DD will do better in tough ground than a comparable size concentric.

pulltaber said:
you clam that its separation limited by it's length heel-to-toe,that would be true if you swing heel-to-toe,but if you swing side you can eze up to a target with the toe or hit it from a different angle.I think it would be more accurate to say its separation limited by its width and its depth limited by its length.

You misunderstand me. It's length heel-to-toe is 10", where the 10.5" is a miniscule amount longer. But the elliptically shaped detection field is virtually the same length between the two, with the 10.5" being a bit wider, equating to it seeing deeper due to the point of convergence stemming from the 10.5" coil's added width.
So if objects are less than 10" in between it makes little to no difference which one you're using, because they are 10-10.5" heel-to-toe and they both run the risk of still being over a bad target as you're coming to a good one.
 
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