New to me F5

[WV62]

Well guys after a year or so of nothing but beep and dig machines, I finally ordered up a used F5 machine with the 10" and 11"DD coil. I am thinking this will make a good clad stabber machine.

Maybe down the road I will put one of beep and dig machines up for sale, seems I will only need one now that I have a F5 coming.

You know buying these detectors is a sickness.

Ron in WV

PS: Looking forward to hanging out with you F series guys again.

 

[MarkCZ]

Yea, I'm kind of excited to pair the F5 to my Omega in our ground and our type of hunting.


Mark

 

[markg]

Don't forget the F5 is a super gold finder. Fantastic gain and threshold adjustments at your fingertips. Take your time and learn the sounds, and you'll find some good stuff. Tip: you don't have to have super high gain settings to get the deeper targets. Get the machine stable, then hunt.

 

[Mark in NC]

Adjustable, but still as friendly as a "beep and dig" unit. I'm a huge fan of the easily adjusted controls and the ability to adjust on the fly at any site you hit.

 

[WV62]

My brother MarkCZ sent me pdf copy of the manual last night, so for my bed time story I went through that. It is kind of hard to put things together when you don't have the detector in hand, but it will all come together when the detector gets here. I was hoping it would make here yesterday (Saturday) but no show. It was only coming about 150 miles so Monday should be the day.

It is coming with 2 coils the 10" concentric and the 11" DD, for learning should I start with one over the other, or just take off? I am kind of thinking that which ever I start with I should stay with through the leaning stage.

Ron in WV

 

[pasttom]

I'd say play with it a bit to decide. The dd will see more per sweep, the concentric maybe a little deeper, narrower sweet spot, but maybe closer to what your used to. It may be the dd will pull fresh hits from ground you've gone over better than the concentric, maybe the other way around. I can't guess how it will hit in your dirt. Not sure I am even right guessing how your 1270 and Tejon have been doing. Seem to me you've posted about many other machines so you probably already have pretty good insights here. Oh well, free advice... Merry Christmas!

 

[MarkCZ]

I'd say play with it a bit to decide. The dd will see more per sweep, the concentric maybe a little deeper, narrower sweet spot, but maybe closer to what your used to. It may be the dd will pull fresh hits from ground you've gone over better than the concentric, maybe the other way around. I can't guess how it will hit in your dirt. Not sure I am even right guessing how your 1270 and Tejon have been doing. Seem to me you've posted about many other machines so you probably already have pretty good insights here. Oh well, free advice... Merry Christmas!

LoL!
He's had, (recently)
AT-Pro,
F75,
CZ-3D
1266,
1270,
Tejon,

He started out I think in the late 70" with a half dozen or so "Jetco's"
Then,
Top of the line Whites,
Then the Next top of the line Whites,
Then Teknetics,
9000/B
Mark-I
Then Fisher,
1265,
CZ-5,

I'm sure I missed five or six along the way LoL!

Here where we live and using my Omega the 11" DD is deeper and it ID's better, but I do suspect it to have more trouble with bottle caps.

Mark

 

[mudpuppy]

Great! So you are going to focus on cladstabbing and jewelry hunting this coming year? Not be a bad strategy, then if you happen to find some tear out or private yard, you can always get the old silver too..
Mud

 

[WV62]

Well my new to me F5 came yesterday, it was a little more used than I expected. I spent a couple of hours just cleaning parts before I put it together. It came with batteries but one was dead and the other didn't have any voltage.

I fired it up and everything seems to work. I put a couple of coins in front of it and some trash items and it did okay with that.

As somebody stated above it seems to be pretty easy to operate.

Ron in WV

 

[MarkCZ]

I've not read the manual yet on the F5 but I'm thinking that the threshold work more like the Coinstrike then what is normally thought of when you think "Threshold" so pay attention to that aspect of the unit.

Mark

 

[MarkCZ]

Okay, I did a quick read of the "Threshold" setting in the F5 manual and it sounds even more like the same function as threshold on my Coinstrikes.

Gain is the sensitivity to the target in the ground, or the size of the target.
Threshold setting is adjusting the audio circuits trigger or gate. The more minus you go the less jumpy the audio amp is to sound off (I call it alarm), the closer you set it to its mid range 1 (the Coinstrike actually has 0) the more tickly the audio pre-amp is to sound off. So in that case both the gain and the threshold work together to set either "Mild" or "Hot" setting. I just read the part about using it in discrimination mode, I saw where it had a little different function in other operating modes.

And for what its worth,
The style of the control housing was designed around a push in plug for the coil connector, after having an F2 with the screw ring type connector, I would prefer the push plug on the F5. If they were going to change the connector type I would have thought the control housing should have also been made to except the screw ring connectors.

Mark

 

[WV62]

My F5 must be an oldie, it has the push in connector and kind of glad, screw in would be a pain to get hold of.

I may never look at the manual again, my wife wanted me to take her to work Sunday and she said it may take her an hour or so, so take something to read. The manual, I was there 7 hours, anybody need to know what is on page 14.

Today I put on the 11" coil just to make sure it worked and while I had it there I run the settings up pretty high just to see what goes. This was all inside the house, no actual hunting yet. I started picking up a lot of noise at 3/4 disc and +2 on the threshold. The F5 does have a 0 threshold which on my first hunt I plan to start there and make some adjustments along as I go.

I like the fact that I can adjust the tones in AM and carries that setting into PP mode.

Gounod balancing seemed a little odd, you don't use it to GB with. Wonder why the put that on there?

Ron in WV

 

[Digger 45]

Not sure what you mean that you don't use it to ground balance, you can push the button and pump it or manually turn the knob. Be sure to set your your discrimination low usually around 18, i just found a white gold 14k ring that came up at 22 where most gold will be around 28-30 so dig the low numbers too. Get to know this detector and it will really surprise you.

Good luck

 

[MarkCZ]

My F5 must be an oldie, it has the push in connector and kind of glad, screw in would be a pain to get hold of.

I may never look at the manual again, my wife wanted me to take her to work Sunday and she said it may take her an hour or so, so take something to read. The manual, I was there 7 hours, anybody need to know what is on page 14.

Today I put on the 11" coil just to make sure it worked and while I had it there I run the settings up pretty high just to see what goes. This was all inside the house, no actual hunting yet. I started picking up a lot of noise at 3/4 disc and +2 on the threshold. The F5 does have a 0 threshold which on my first hunt I plan to start there and make some adjustments along as I go.

I like the fact that I can adjust the tones in AM and carries that setting into PP mode.

Ground balancing seemed a little odd, you don't use it to GB with. Wonder why the put that on there?

Ron in WV

Keep in mind that a Zero threshold is HOT! and the audio can get really jumpy.
I would start off at maybe a minus -3 or -4 (the Coinstrike goes to minus -99) part of the noise you were getting went you went above 0 is in part to you getting out of the silent search range.
When the manufactures set units up like this it often times really confuses people, they think of "threshold" as the audible running tone of a detector, but that's a bit different when your talking about a silent search model.
Gain & Sensitivity & Threshold kind of gets mix together.

On the F5 the gain has to do with the sensitivity of the detection signal. (or how many times the signal is amplified)
The threshold has to do with the audio pre-amp's gate, or trigger to sound off. Near 0 and the pre-amp has a Very, VERY light trigger and anything at all coming in from the detection circuit and it goes off (like electrical interference). While on the other hand, a high minus number -9 and the pre-amp has a much less sensitive trigger and is more resistant to little things setting it off.

Now, the only thing you might find by starting out with a threshold setting of "0" is the machine may false and be more noisy.

Now for the ground balance.
It has an automatic ground balance, but as your searching you can check the ground phase, that is actually tracking the ground conditions, if that number spreads out to far from the auto set number you can just touch the ground balance control to find adjust to match the phase number. But, keep in mind that the ground phase number will react to metal in the ground, so you don't really pay to much attention to little ups and downs but more average lows or highs. The omega works very much like this.

Did you mean to say 3/4 Gain, or is 3/4 Disc correct? 3/4 gain and 0 threshold is pretty hot.

Mark

 

[pasttom]

I just checked back and see that my trying to answer a basic question from a seasoned hunter is somehow hilarious. I usually do pretty well understanding humor but I just see the joke. I am glad you boys really don't advice, but I am puzzled why you still ask. Again, Merry Christmas!

 

[WV62]

Yes I meant gain at about 3/4. I will need to get a lot more sure of myself before I really do much with pushing the machine hot or doing a lot of testing.

I think I have a big problem with my understanding of GB.
Now for what digger 45 and MarkCZ was saying about ground balance. I guess I am totally lost here. I went back to the manual and checked the GB section and it really says nothing about using the knob, it is saying use the phase lock pad and pump the coil over clean ground. Also I can't find anything on automatic GB. Now I am not saying anybody is wrong, but I sure need some help with this item.

I did notice that the GB knob turns and can be pushed in and it clicks, but I am not finding anything in the manual about this.

Now I think help is needed.

Thanks guys,

Ron in WV

 

[MarkCZ]

I just checked back and see that my trying to answer a basic question from a seasoned hunter is somehow hilarious. I usually do pretty well understanding humor but I just see the joke. I am glad you boys really don't advice, but I am puzzled why you still ask. Again, Merry Christmas!

Well, he, or me didn't mean anything wrong!
He is new to the F5! he questions were legit, so please don't take it wrong.

I never owned an F5 either, but following him along I clanked through the manual and noticed some things that ring some bells for me!
The threshold is a Coinstrike story all over for me, I've put up many post on the subject on the classic forum, so, he had this topic going so I just posted what I knew here.

Then the same thing happened with the question about the ground balancing, its very much like my Omega, so, I just followed up on that here as well.
But, I've just type as we went along.

My experience covers what it covers, but I know he would appreciate any help from some season F5 users! just because some information we know crosses over from model to model doesn't mean that me or my brother couldn't use some tips on the F5.
We got interested in the F5 about the same time, maybe for different reasons, so I'm grabbing information as fast as I can and I'm fitting in what I can about what I know. my interest in the F5 is it may be possible that it could work better for me than my Omega for what I hunt and where I hunt.

No, were not new at this! I got started around 1981, my older brother a little bit before me, you know how little brother our, always chasing after big brother LoL! he got me started, and I think our Dad got him started. My brother is FAR more the serious hunter than I am, he can go out hunting with a beep and dig and dig a thousand pull tabs in a day and just keep going, I'm good for maybe 50.

So, there was no joke intended.

He, and me start out we all our new to us detectors the same way, a learning curve.
Got any F5 tips or tricks please POST them, were both interested?

Mark

 

[MarkCZ]

OPPS! " pasttom" I think your talking about my post where I listed all his detectors, in that I was poking a little fun at my brother and I in no way meant it to reflect back to your post in any negative way!
I was a bit serious in that post about all the detectors he's owned, but the fun was more towards my brother and not making fun at your response, your post was ON TOPIC and I'm sure was well received by my brother.

The both of us appreciate your input.

I'm really sorry for any misunderstanding!


Mark

 

[IBdiggin]

Hey Guys, if you go to the Fisher web site and look around there for articles of the various models, you will see "Tips and Tricks of the F5 by Mike Hillis. also known as the bible. If you haven't read this you will get plenty of general knowledge about the F5 and how to use it for various types of finds. Mike is definitely the Guru when it comes to the F5 -------------HH

 

[WV62]

Hey Guys, if you go to the Fisher web site and look around there for articles of the various models, you will see "Tips and Tricks of the F5 by Mike Hillis. also known as the bible. If you haven't read this you will get plenty of general knowledge about the F5 and how to use it for various types of finds. Mike is definitely the Guru when it comes to the F5 -------------HH

Thanks IBdiggin: That sounds like something I need to read I will go there later today and see if I can find that bible. Maybe it will let me download it or print out a hard copy.

You may have read a few post back that I am really confused with the ground balancing stated in the manual. Late last night I went back and read through all the GB section and still didn't see much mention of using the GB knob during ground balancing. It kind of hinted at using it just to make small corrections while hunting. As for pushing the GB knob, I either missed it or its not in there and I have no clue as to what it is doing when I push the knob in other than a little click.
While I was reading I came across a mode of operation that I can not find on the detector, the manual calls it Autotune Mode. I am kind of thinking they are talking about All Metal Mode, if so I wish they would use terms that we can understand. All that did for me was send me on a wild goose chase looking for something I don't think is there.

To all posters:
Thanks for all the help, I am reading all post and with your help I will master this machine just like all the others I have had over the years.

Ron in WV