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As you probably read in my last post I am really interested in a Vaquero but never held one.. Maybe it will help to read the instruction book but I watched a you tube video and now i am a little confused because i am unsure exactly what I am supposed to hear when the detector is properly ground balanced. what do I listen for?..... or HOW will I know when its properly balanced???
I think your just listing for the threshold sound not to change on the down push toward the ground. Then you are in tune with the ground. But someone may correct me.
Don't let the manual ground balance scare you on the Vaquero. Once you do it a couple of times, you will be ground balanced and ready to hunt in less than a minute. It's so easy a caveman could do it.....
A seasoned detectorist told me this about ground balance...
He said think of it as having a radio turned on... Think of ground balance as a "Sound control "
When you lower the coil if the sound goes up..turn it down.
When you lower the coil if the sound goes down...... turn it up.
He said. Bob the coil several times over the ground as you work the "SOUND" (GB KNOB) knob. You keep doing this till the sound stays the same... No increase, and no decrease in sound. Your Gb'd and ready to go............
His instruction took the mystery out of Ground Balancing for me. Hope it works for you too.
Thanks for the post Calif Quake, and all the great replies with tips. I too should be getting a Vaquero in a few weeks and wondered the same thing. Ya gotta love this site!
-MM-
One very important point not mentioned......always check the ground in All Metal mode until you find an area (approx. 3-4 ft. in diameter should be sufficient I would think.) where you get no response signals from metal or Hot Rocks, etc. in the ground, or ambient electrical interference. Then Ground Balance........... BTW, the Vaq. manual should give you all the Ground Balancing steps.
[size=medium]"i am a little confused because i am unsure exactly what I am supposed to hear when the detector is properly ground balanced. what do I listen for?"[/size]
Also, a little memory trick I learned soon after I started hunting with my Vaq because I was confused on the technique.
Left-right...positive-negative...louder-softer...confused.
Then I thought of this....Loud-Left.
That's it. Once I realized this and remembered it every time I ground balanced, everything clicked.
I had a copy of the ground balancing instructions with me on my first hunt, I was a little confused that first time.
Now, it is second nature.... when I lower the coil, if it gets loud, I turn the GB knob to the left.
Loud left...simple.
When the volume stays the same bobbing that coil, especially on the down bob, I know I am balanced and ready to go.
If it's like regular GB..You just want the sound to be near the same. no rise, no lowering, as you bob the coil. If it requires a little positive GB then it will go a little louder as you lower the coil..
All I hear in his super tuning is he's taking the sensitivity higher, so the machine becomes erratic. He then appears to smooth it out with threshold adjustment and backing the sens off a little.
Elton's post about thinking of it as a radio control is the same thing I ran into some years ago. It's worked well for me and ground balancing hasn't been a mystery or problem since.
BB
that super tuning is accomplished by working in the discriminate mode and turning the threshold knob to the HIGHEST setting. I run my Vaquero like this and adjust the sensitivity to do away with chatter. Seems to work fine, just don't press the pinpoint button until the threshold is turned down.
