Changes in perception of a target?

[Ray Hogan]

Maybe there is no easy answer to this, but here goes. What changes the Explorer's perception of a particular target? For example, if you "black-out" the display and then only "learn" a silver dime using an appropriate sized cursor and then go out to hunt having only this small "window" of target acceptance...it follows that you will not get every silver dime you pass over. Now the target's conductivity and ferrous aspects are probably not changing (right?), so is depth, orientation, soil mineralization, and whatever else somehow changing the detector's perception of the target's conductivity or ferrous content? And if that is the case, what good is the display? And maybe that is why some only go by the audio...? And wouldn't audio also be affected by these and other variables? This detector's starting to give me a headache...haha...might as well be working at the office and getting paid for my headache. Thanks for any insight ahead of time...Ray in Waco, TX.

 

[Cody]

This is something you will not find anywhere but after going through the patents and reading other material and them splicing it together. The Explore has a lookup table of over a thousand time constants. A TC is based on the electrical properties of the metal and how eddy currents flow, increase and decrease. When a target is detected the receiver generated three TCs, a short, medium, and long one. These are processed and based on the algorithm, Minelab's, a target is classified.

Each TC is going to have a ferrous/conductive reading such as 8/22 associated with it. Think of trying to deal with the digital combinations of 1024 digital ferrous/conductive and all the various combination of combinations that we can come up with. It would be difficult if in number form but easy to do with a visual black or white screens. In some detectors they use block edit or notches which in essence is the same thing.

Here is the other hitch, it is not actually conductivity but conductance and size. If we learn a specific dime in free air then detect, the soil can skew the readings. A dime that reads 2/29 in air may be skewed to 3/27 in the soil so we will miss that target. That is the reason for large, small, and medium cursor for the learn function and why we can then edit. There is just no way to be sure if we just learn a dime we will detect all dimes and only dimes.

Tones are good but are generated from a tone generator based on a time constant. What makes a tone so good is it is instant current information while the cursor is delayed in some cases. Also, it is kind of hard to see digital numbers that are stuttering but with tones we hear those iffy sounds.

Did I answer you questions?

 

[Ray Hogan]

I always do, and always will, appreciate your insight and the time and patience you have for responding to various posts. Now, what is the value, if any, for a display on a detector? If a detector's target perception can and will be "skewed" at times for various reasons, and the display cannot consistantly indicate the "same" for targets having the same conductance and ferrous...then why use a detector that displays target information at all? Might as well go with a X-5, Tejon, Nautilus-type, etc. for serious detecting...I've always wondered about this. Thanks again, Ray.

 

[Steve(MS)]

Hi, well I'm not Cody but perhaps I can help a little. Concerning what is the use of tones and screens if they are not always consistent, it is if you take the logic to the extreme that it would make sense. For instance, in my the area I detect, if coins are shallow then they will mostly have a text-book lock in the screen but there are variations especially for dimes and pennies that are not like the air tests but I know where they will land on the screen and know what they are when I detect them. Also about the tones, they are generally more accurate than screen readings on all but the ones on the fringe of what the detector is able to pick up. I think of the Explorer as mainly a audio detector, that is the audio is the most important. The main factor for how the tones and meter responds is the ground. It will make a diff. in how accurate the meter, audio is on objects and skew the reading somewhat. The key is to learn the "skew" for your ground and that will come with time. Generally speaking I don't have any trouble with skewed readings down to about 7" but there are definitely places that I have detected where that is not true where the readings skewed in just a few inches so what I do when detecting a new site is dig various signals and make mental notes how it is skewed and expect the same results from similar signals. Hope this helps and HH.
Steve(MS)

 

[Cody]

You know that is a good question and Steve has good answers. I don't spend much time looking at a display when hunting. I listen to sounds and when I hear the right sound then Pinpoint, measure the size of the target, take a look at the digital display, and dig or not. I think this is about as much ritual as anything. A tone for good and one for bad seems to me to be about all we need when hunting but I do enjoy all the bells and whistles.

What I do like about a display is that an LCD can display several events that occur at different points in time. However, the primary need for a display is to indicate the settings and other features of a digital device. We don't have a knob to look at with a number for iron mask as an example or where the knob is for discrimination or a notch. However, I really don't need a display to hunt by tones.

The folks I talk to at the manufacture tell me that an LCD with digital readings is what is extremely popular. It seems people like to have TID and digital numbers on an LCD.

 

[Ray Hogan]

I really appreciate the response...take care...Ray.

 

[MJP (IL)]

...the digital screen changed to allow the user to see the last 5 or so digital responses on the screen, with the last response at the top.

I would like to see a list of responses in the order they were provided. This would assist me in re-affirming the string of audio responses I just heard, especially in high-trash areas.

For example:

02 29
05 27
21 29
27 29
07 27

This would be very helpful in relating the audio to the digital interpretation for the target(s) I just swept over.

Mike