New Member, New F5 Readings question

[timb12957]

I have been detecting for a little over a year with a F2. Since I want to go to the beach soon, and because I found a F5 used but in pristine condition at an awesome price, I bought it.
I tried an air test with the following settings.

phase 8-15
ground bal. 10
gain 40
threshold -2
tones d2
freq 1
discrimination on minimum

new batteries reading full meter

With the coil in the air, wearing not jewelry and passing objects about 4 inches over the coil, I get readings as follows:

rusty nail = no response
buffalo nickel #29 5c indicator lit
pull tab new #30 5c indicator lit
penny new #60 zinc indicator lit
penny wheat #70 dime indicator lit
dime new #70 dime indicator lit
dime silver #73 dime indicator lit
quarter new #80 quarter indicator lit
quarter silver #85 quarter indicator lit
gold ring #38 tab indicator lit

If I switch to All Metal the nail reads erratic from #29-63

Those readings just are not what I expected. Can anyone with a F5 tell me if they get similar results?
Why would the nail not read, or read incorrectly?

 

[Elton]

Wish I could help with the readings.Sorry can not . Never used the F5..I'm sure one of our resident experts will soon reply..
We have many talented and helpful people here.

 

[Hightone]

First, you don't use GB in the air. There isn't metal in air and your setting the GB at the bottom. Leave it at 82-83 the setting it first comes up at when turning it on. Your blanking the nail by making the detector think the ground is full of iron and it disc's it out with the GB.

Second, if you are getting chatter above a 40 gain, your getting emi. Move the detector. You should be able to get at least 65-70 on gain. I can get 80 in my back yard.

Thirdly, is the iron notched and disc'ed out? The F5 comes up with everything reset to default. But I have seen my disc knob in a position that barely disc'ed out iron but the disc line didn't show up on the screen. Make sure by turning the disc knob down all the way.

I have an air test I just did with the F2 and F5 a few threads back. Iff your not getting these readings, you could have a coil problem. My F5 is more than 6 years old, with the push in style plugs. So age isn't a problem. It is a great detector, in the right hands, and takes a little time.

Fouth............welcome to the forums. We will help you all we can.

 

[Bucksport]

I would say that nothing is wrong with your machine. You said that you had minimum disc set for the first test. That would have knocked out small iron, so no response from the nail. In all metal it will sound off on everything. A rusty nail can give multiple numbers/responses on most machines. The angle, degree of rust, and size of the nail makes it give erratic readings. That is normal.
I'm sure someone else would have a more in depth way of explaining it to you. I hope my simple explanation helps.

 

[timb12957]

Hightone, you "hit the nail on the head"! I had read in the F5 users manual that the ground balance number should be set close to the phase number. So I thought that had to be done even for an air test. But it makes sense that air has no need of that. (duh!) Leaving the ground balance alone after power up, the nail reads as expected!

If only all issues were this simple to solve!

Thanks guys for your input!

 

[Hightone]

....you don't always have to make the left and right numbers match. Once you GB, the numbers on the right will jump around as you swing. If you see the Fe meter staying in 3 or 4 bars, you should pump the coil (in AM) to see if your moving into a higher mineralized area. (usually not common). You could, actually pump and hold the Phaselock button in disc to GB on the fly (no metal under where you perform this) if you want. In most cases, GB once and your OK.

Mike Hillis is a very experienced F5 user. I learned a lot from his info. You can download a wealth of info on Mike's F5 tips at the bottom of this page: Fisher Info