Mike Hillis
Well-known member
Always a pleasure to do business with you and I really appreciate the pricing 
HH
Mike
HH
Mike
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Thank You, Mr Bill, for the great deal on the F5.
- Thread starter Mike Hillis
- Start date
I got the above good question in by email and I thought I put the answer here for the public.
On the F5 Gain and Threshold together contol the power of the F5 in Disc Mode. In the perfect ground and no electrical inteference we would like to run Gain and Threshold high for max. depth.
But since power lines or bad ground limits the use of high gain or threshold let me explain how it can be used to get good depth under the worst conditions.
Since Gain contols the size of the magnetic field of the coil the more you turn it up over bad soil the more the minerals are seen and fire back into the magnetic field of the detector. Like using high beem at fog. You see less because the light is reflected by the fog.
Threshold boosts the received signal by the coil. So if you have an overloaded signal because of to much gain, high threshold makes it worse.
Now how do you know how to set gain and threshold ?
Just watch the FE3O4 gauge. If it is high go with lower gain and higher threshold. I was able to get good depth in really bad soil by setting the gain to the lowest setting and threshold to max.
Also the FE3O4 gauge can be used when to switch to the All Metal Mode which is the deepest mode even in bad soil. You lose tone ID but you still have VDI numbers.
Once a DD coil becomes available I bet we can run gain higher in bad soil, because a DD coil is less effected by the minerals.
I think because of the undependent gain and threshold control we have not seen the full potential of the F5. It is already one of the best single frequency detectors and a DD coil or small coil could unlock it's full potential.
The phase number on the right on the display can be used to ID deep coins. Just pump the coil over the signal and watch the ground phase number. If it is high it is a higher conductive target.
Andy,NM
On the F5 Gain and Threshold together contol the power of the F5 in Disc Mode. In the perfect ground and no electrical inteference we would like to run Gain and Threshold high for max. depth.
But since power lines or bad ground limits the use of high gain or threshold let me explain how it can be used to get good depth under the worst conditions.
Since Gain contols the size of the magnetic field of the coil the more you turn it up over bad soil the more the minerals are seen and fire back into the magnetic field of the detector. Like using high beem at fog. You see less because the light is reflected by the fog.
Threshold boosts the received signal by the coil. So if you have an overloaded signal because of to much gain, high threshold makes it worse.
Now how do you know how to set gain and threshold ?
Just watch the FE3O4 gauge. If it is high go with lower gain and higher threshold. I was able to get good depth in really bad soil by setting the gain to the lowest setting and threshold to max.
Also the FE3O4 gauge can be used when to switch to the All Metal Mode which is the deepest mode even in bad soil. You lose tone ID but you still have VDI numbers.
Once a DD coil becomes available I bet we can run gain higher in bad soil, because a DD coil is less effected by the minerals.
I think because of the undependent gain and threshold control we have not seen the full potential of the F5. It is already one of the best single frequency detectors and a DD coil or small coil could unlock it's full potential.
The phase number on the right on the display can be used to ID deep coins. Just pump the coil over the signal and watch the ground phase number. If it is high it is a higher conductive target.
Andy,NM
John 'n' W.Va
Active member
In average ground, I know I crank up the sensitivity to the max. Maybe I should focus more on a lower sensitivity and a higher threshold.
The manual states that the sensitivity controls the signal gain. Also the manual states that the threshold in disc mode makes weak signals stronger and if you lower threshold it make it less effected by interference or small targets. It is safe to say that the gain ( sensitivity) and threshold are independent in disc mode.
This gives the user more control over the F70 or F5 than on the F75 or T2. My unconfirmed guess is that on the F75 and T2 the more you lower the sensitivity the gain gets reduced and the threshold goes up. I can be wrong on that but in in my soil the T2 or F75 don't lose depth if I turn sensitivity down the signal just sounds weaker. It is like an automated balance of gain and threshold. So sensitivity on the F75 or T2 is more a stability control than power control.
Andy,NM
This gives the user more control over the F70 or F5 than on the F75 or T2. My unconfirmed guess is that on the F75 and T2 the more you lower the sensitivity the gain gets reduced and the threshold goes up. I can be wrong on that but in in my soil the T2 or F75 don't lose depth if I turn sensitivity down the signal just sounds weaker. It is like an automated balance of gain and threshold. So sensitivity on the F75 or T2 is more a stability control than power control.
Andy,NM
John 'n' W.Va
Active member
I have read the manual many times. As you explained more on how they relate to each other and what their function is, it finally sunk into my thick head.
In good circumstances I ran my sen. maxed first then adjusted the threshold. Still I knew and there were times I up the threshold to get the small targets. When I am away from interference I want to experiment more on upping the threshold with a lower sen. I have some cellar holes to MD that are trashy in the middle of nowhere. Would that be a good set up?
I want to try prospecting someday. Would the higher threshold and lower sen. be better for prospecting?
In good circumstances I ran my sen. maxed first then adjusted the threshold. Still I knew and there were times I up the threshold to get the small targets. When I am away from interference I want to experiment more on upping the threshold with a lower sen. I have some cellar holes to MD that are trashy in the middle of nowhere. Would that be a good set up?
I want to try prospecting someday. Would the higher threshold and lower sen. be better for prospecting?
Mike Hillis
Well-known member
That translates into "It has poor separation and slow recovery speed" 
Just one hour with the F5 showed me otherwise. Its not a F75 but its no slow Xterra either.
Facts is that every detector does better with a smaller coil in trash. But there are some machines that have to have a small coil to work well. I count the Minelab Xterra's and Whites Prizm's to be in this category.
I like detectors that work well with larger coils, for example: Tesoro's Golden MicroMax, Fisher's CoinStrike, and Minelab's Sovereigns just to name a couple. Its my hope the F5 will join this category. Give me a 8x14" eliptical coil and let me find out
HH
Mike
Just one hour with the F5 showed me otherwise. Its not a F75 but its no slow Xterra either.
Facts is that every detector does better with a smaller coil in trash. But there are some machines that have to have a small coil to work well. I count the Minelab Xterra's and Whites Prizm's to be in this category.
I like detectors that work well with larger coils, for example: Tesoro's Golden MicroMax, Fisher's CoinStrike, and Minelab's Sovereigns just to name a couple. Its my hope the F5 will join this category. Give me a 8x14" eliptical coil and let me find out
HH
Mike