Which X-TERRA coil is best for me?

[Digger]

I've recently written an article for Minelab's TreasureTalk blog entitled "Which X-TERRA coil is best for me?" Part one of the article can now be found at their website:


http://www.minelab.com/treasure-talk/which-x-terra-coil-is-best-for-me-part-1

HH Randy

 

[MEV]

Digger the ground phase after i ground balanced is almost all the time 8,,9, 10 . 11, 12 , or 13

Does that mean that my ground is magnetic mineralization at a big level???

Im using double DD 18.75 coil

 

[Digger]

Short answer would be "most likely". But in actuality, what we commonly referred to as the Ground Balance numbers on the X-TERRA are not the actual levels of mineralization. Instead, these numbers represent the phase angle of the ground. Phase angle is a time measurement between eddy currents generated at the transmit windings of the coil and the resulting secondary electromagnetic effect on the windings of the receive portion of the coil. When we set the ground balance, we are doing so to compensate for the time measurement beween the transmitted current and the corresponding receive current. The phase angle of the ground does not represent how "strong" the mineralization is. But it does tell us if the soil is more magnetic or less magnetic by providing us with numbers corresponding to the ground phase. For example, a small phase angle would be representative of highly magnetic soil, providing us with a low "ground phase" number. A larger phase angle would be representative of the less magnetic soil, providing us with a higher "ground phase" number. With ground phase numbers in the single digits,.I believe it is fair to say your soil has high levels of magnetic mineralization. Especially considering that your readings were obtained with a DD coil. (which are designed to help neutralize the effects of mineralization)

Barnacle Bill (who I consider to be one of the most knowledgeble folks regarding metal detector technology) made a post concerning how to check the level of mineralization in your soil. There have been a few follow-up posts from forum members implementing this procedure. And you could find them doing a search of this forum. But here is a link to the initial post by BB, on how to measure the ground mineralization in your area.

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?55,574329,574329#msg-574329

HH Randy