(Tom and others): Revisiting Ground Balance / Ferrous Readings / VDI numbers with various coils.

[Monte]

Ground Balance was a topic on the 16th, and other times, and Tom offered up a reply today, but that thread is a bit buried so I brought Tom's reply up top.

Except for only a few minutes with the 5" DD coil, I wanted to leave it and the 11' on their lower rods until I wore out the first battery with the Omega 8000 and stock 10" concentric coil. Well, that came yesterday (Saturday) when the battery I started with finally started producing a just slightly weaker audio response and then got the the flashing single bar. I used the stock 10" coil until I was down to the 2-bar dropping to 1-bar a few days ago. I had hit some sidewalk repair and pulled an Indian Head cent. On the 20th or 21st I wanted to work the small portion that wasn't filled in with 3+" of rock and swapped for the 5" coil. Shortly after I started hunting I dropped from 2-to-1 bar on the Battery Scale. The battery has been in my 'kit' (that I keep with me in the the rig all the time) for about 8-9 months. The expiration date was 2013 and it was an Eveready Energizer. My 'best guess' on the total life (using Killer B 'Wasp' headphones, was about 24

 

[Jackpine Savage]

remember that you get accurate Fe[sub]3[/sub]O[sub]4[/sub] readings are only when bobbing the coil over clean ground. Any readings that show up while sweeping the coil can be caused by targets underground not the soil condition itself.

Blacktoes original post mentioned high ground phase readings in Florida (80 if I remember) the main point of my post was to just let people know that you can get high GP readings in good ground and how to use the Fe meter to determine the amount of mineralization.

When Jeff Foster came out with the MXT book he stated that a high reading indicates only that the predominate mineralization is iron based, it does not tell you how much iron mineralization is present. Used properly, the Fe meter on the Omega does that for us. So, whether in Florida's neutral ground or on my quartz sand Lake Michigan beaches the GP reading only tells us that iron mineralization is present.

Just wanted to make my point very clear so as not to confuse people.

HH Tom

 

[Monte]

which also says the best reading might come when pumping the coil. You're correct with regard the the Ground Balance and Ground Phase read-out as well as the Fe[sub]3[/sub]O[sub]4[/sub] reading. However, you can get the ferrous read-out when sweeping the search coil over rather consistent ground. Peculiar rocks and iron trash will cause the reading, yes, but I have worked an area I know well and moved from 'good' ground to 'bad' ground and noted the ferrous read-out alert the change. Naturally, the Ground Phase was different and the Ground Balance bars showed a strong need to increase the GB as needed.

I noticed that '80' something comment about Florida (inland) and found it interesting. I was only there once, for a week, and traveled around the state and one thing I noted (other than it is rather flat) is that I wished I had their ground where I hunt! I never encountered a place where I felt it was very mineralized or challenging compared to most of the places I prefer to hunt in Oregon, Nevada and Utah.

I didn't misunderstand your post and hope I didn't confuse anyone with my comments. I especially wanted to make sure others realize that different coil sizes and types an result in slightly different readings of Ground Balanced Ground Phase and VDI numbers,

Monte