Any F5 users offer some advise please.....

[dofbeer]

First time this year I ventured out into the cold for a half hour detecting on outskirts of a football pitch. Had been there once with the SE and only found a 1967 3 pence piece.

Anyhow this is not so much a problem but more a 'I don't know what's going on' type of thing. GB the machine all is good, the land showed low FE and for once I could crank up the gain to 99 without it throwing a dicky fit but settled for a modest 85 and discriminated out nothing but iron...

The first hit was a lovely flutey 75 and immediately thinking silver I dug only to un-earth some type of badly corroded metal

The second odd thing and it has a habit of doing this on a regular is finding lots of 90+ targets albeit very quieted then loosing them, the meter will still show a variation but no sound, if I persist it will now and then spring back up with audio.. very odd

On the plus I came away with

 

[Digger 45]

I would say that you are running it way too hot. Mine runs best at about 65 to 70 and don't see any advantage of going higher. I have tested it at higher levels and have found no advantage and some times it reacts as to what you are going through right now. Try it and see it this stops the false targets.

 

[dofbeer]

Will do!

Thanks Digger..

 

[Mike Hillis]

Can you pinpoint those vanishing 90+ targets? Those will either be very deep iron or fringe depth targets. Objects at the very end of your detecting depth abilities. The audio will go out because of weak signal strenght or it has wrapped back around into the iron range.

When you get those type, lower your disc to minimum and see if you get any iron grunts. If you can pinpoint it, and it pinpoints small, dig a couple and see what they are.

As far as gain settings, if you have low FE bars and trash content allows it, by all means...crank it up.

HH
Mike

 

[dofbeer]

Hi Mike. To be honest I've not tried to pinpoint those quiet targets because they are such a pain in the rear to find again, they popup and disappear in the blink of an eye. What I found today is those 90+ targets are very closely followed by another stronger 50-60, initially I thought it was a recovery issue but these machines are supposed to be lighting at that so put it down to a different target close by or some falsing going on?

On my next hour out I'll try to pinpoint one of those 90's and see what it's picking up. Being a football pitch I wouldn't be surprised if it's a damn ring-pull or drinks can - the bain of my detecting life!!

Thanks

 

[TerraDigger]

Dof.....if you haven't done so already, use the search function on FMall to review Mike Hillis' posts. He is regarded as the F5 guru here.

 

[dofbeer]

Dof.....if you haven't done so already, use the search function on FMall to review Mike Hillis' posts. He is regarded as the F5 guru here.

Oh really, so that's the guy I've been told to look for!

Was aware of someone handy with the F5 knocking about but was told it was Bill Ladd and could only ever find Youtube posts (no forum activity) at-least on the few main detecting sites.

Thanks for the heads up TD, will have a scan about now!

 

[redneckjimmy1980]

i run mine to the max in most areas i been hunting,but alot of the times if u do get alot of false signals u will have to cut the gain down some i leave thres maxed if possible and no chatter. it does ring in alot of cans and bigger iron as high tones seems to love beer cans and pull tabs.

 

[dofbeer]

seems to love beer cans and pull tabs.

I hear ya, it almost brings me to tears! Out of an average 10 finds 8 are crap

 

[Furious T]

Following Mike's post, with those 90 readings then dropping back to 50s or 60s. I would suspect iron, but it could be a good target next to iron, or partly covered by iron...you might have to go into all metal to get a fix on the target, and depending on where you are hunting, you may have to dig too deep to reach the target (depending on its size), but it is worth investigating those, just to confirm what it is...then you know. HH

 

[TerraDigger]

Dof, in those 90's readings, are you getting a 99 reading? Even just one time in multiple sweeps. On my Omega, any 99 reading is almost a 100% guaranteed piece of iron. Especially a 99 reading along with widely fluctuating numbers. Coins generally give a solid reading with a only few numbers fluctuation as one sweeps & rotates a full 360 degree circle around the target. Iron is usually what goes from the 80-90's and then drops to the 40-50-60's as Furious pointed out.. If it drops to the teen's, even only one time during multiple sweeps, it's iron for sure IMHO.
My Omega loves aluminum too. Can slaw (chopped up aluminum) is my bain. I find that if I don't overdo the sensitivity, I get more accurate target ID's. I can run 90 sens in my heavily mineralized soil without EMI chatter, but running at 70-75 gives me more accurate ID's. Loss of depth is neglible.

 

[dofbeer]

Hey guys thanks for the info!

The highest reading in the 90's I usually get is 96, it's rare it goes beyond and when audio does sound it's very high pitched albeit pretty quiet. I really have to QUIT using this F5 like my old Minelab SE, when that sounded a high pitch gave high readings to was more often than not silver or bronze.

I'm confused why iron would read so high, is that something to do with the internal circuitry or is it a limitation of the standard coil?

I will be out for an hour today so will try everything suggested and see what happens.

Cheers all..

 

[TerraDigger]

It might be what is known as the 'iron wrap around effect'. Rather lengthy explanation/phenomena. You can research it on the Net.

 

[dofbeer]

It might be what is known as the 'iron wrap around effect'. Rather lengthy explanation/phenomena. You can research it on the Net.

Small world, found your explanation of 'Iron wrap around affect' on Dan kow ski..

Thanks