How to reduce the number of tones. This may help if all the tones are a problem.
Posted by: Cody <Send a PM> (IP Logged)
Posts: 688
Date: September 16, 01:13PM
Rauol,
It is easy to set the Explorer so there are fewer tones to contend with. These are the basics of getting the sounds under control to your likings. Consideration #1 is the lowest tone emitted by the explorer to ID metal is the most ferrous iron. This lowest tone is the same tone as the threshold. I adjust the threshold tone to the lowest tone pitch setting and as we know there is an adjustment for this. Consideration #2 is the highest tone, in theory, is silver and is set by the Limits adjustment. I say in theory as some larger pieces of metal will give a high tone as will some minerals. Variability provides clarity of sounds so we clearly distinguish the differences in tones.
Step#1- Set the threshold tone, Limits and Variability to the lowest settings.
Step#2- Sweep the coil over a sample of the most magnetic iron, a nickel, and a silver coin. You will notice that all have the same low tone. We have turned the Explorer into a single tone detector but the cursor and digital display will still indicate the correct ID of the metal.
Step#3- Increase the Limits setting to the point where the nickel gives a different tone than the iron object. We now have a two tone TID detector and again the cursor and digital display will correctly ID the iron and the nickel.
Step#4-Increase the Limits setting to the point where the silver coin has a higher pitch tone than the nickel. We now have three tones and the user will notice that the extremely high pitch is no longer heard.
Step#5-Play around with Variability to get the tones to preference.
This is now to the point that is of particular interest to me with the SE. In pinpoint we are told that the Ferrous and Conductive readings update. The best ID of a metal target is when the target is centered in the electromagnetic field of the coil.
With this in mind, my first interest when sweeping the coil is to eliminate iron and then examine other targets. If I am going to dig all nickel targets looking for low conductive rings then it is a given that I am also going to examine all targets with a higher conductivity. I really only need two tones for this but I do like to hear a higher tone for more conductive metals and the thrill of thinking I have found an old silver coin. If a higher tone than iron is heard then the updating of the Ferrous and Conductive readings is going to be powerful, for me, in searching in heavy trash. I like to pick through the trash metals in parks as these areas are very productive using the above setting with an 8" coil.
This was how I was using the Explorer11 with the 8" coil and nothing I have used could touch it for discrimination. With the added feature of constant updating of the Ferrous and Conductive readings in conjunction with VCO pinpointing I expect to really enjoy the new machine. This may well be the best feature that is changed between the EX2 and SE. I am thinking of VCO and updating of the Ferrous and Conductive readings in pinpoint when I say this. This is one reason why I always use pinpoint on any target with a tone higher than iron.
More depth is not going to happen with the present technology unless the user goes to a larger coil. I think in terms of being more effective which is picking faint tones that are for desirable objects from the composite signals in the receiver.
There is a limit to how much power is practical to be applied to the transmitter coil. A problem is too much power will cause the soil iron mineral to retain magnetism so we have serious matrix noise problems. A design feature of the Explorer is the pulses of energy from the transmitter coil do not drive the iron minerals into retained magnetism. This is one of the limiting factors, for all detectors, on detection depth of targets in the soil. A lot of testing has been accomplished and about a 10V applied pulse to the transmitter coil is about it for a VLF or a sub-class of pulse induction such as the Explorer.
It is my belief that the modest changes between the EX2 and SE can be very beneficial as just described.
Cody