gregggoldseeker
New member
Hi, I am new to metal detecting and have bought a fisher f5. could some one please help me with some begginer setting or give me some links to f5 vid's ?
Thanks.
Thanks.
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f5 help please
- Thread starter gregggoldseeker
- Start date
Hey,
I too am new at detecting and had purchased an F-5. I have been running in disc mode 50 gain +1 threshold. I am trying to run in am mode so I can reach deeper, but if the ground in full of junk, I have a hard time calming it down, just keeps beeping at things and target ID jumping around so I pinpoint and nothing is there?. It will take lots of practice.
I too am new at detecting and had purchased an F-5. I have been running in disc mode 50 gain +1 threshold. I am trying to run in am mode so I can reach deeper, but if the ground in full of junk, I have a hard time calming it down, just keeps beeping at things and target ID jumping around so I pinpoint and nothing is there?. It will take lots of practice.
try setting the gain at 60 and the threshold at 0 or less. I would setup the detector to notch out everything below zinc pennies to start with to get the feel of the detector without digging a bunch of junk. Go to a place you know has a lot of coins like a park or school and practice digging the coins. Just make sure you take special care to dig without tearing up the ground too much and try to cover your holes back up so it would be hard to tell you dug in that place......It will just take practice....
Fisher markets this detector as an simple and easy to use.
I'm not saying it's rocket science, and I am relatively new to dirt fishing. But the F5 definitely has a longer learning curve than with my Garrett or Tesoros.
There's a veteran hunter named Mike Hillis who knows way more than me and has made a lot of informative posts on the F5, I'd suggest going back through the archives to find his posts and you'll also see good posts on it from Cal Cobra and others.
The F5 is very sensitive and unless the gain and threshold settings are set really low it will chatter when you hold it still. But unless your soil is highly mineralized you don't have to keep the settings low because when you sweep the coil the chatter goes away. If you get a lot of noise when you sweep, that means you're in a trashy area and the detector is reacting to the metal in the ground. If the ground is really trashy and it's driving you crazy you can either turn the gain and threshold settings down and/or turn the discrimination higher.
Mike Hillis has stated that the F5 reaches its maximum potential at threshold/gain settings of either +5/50 or 0/90. I'm not sure why I take that as gospel, probably because from reading his posts Mike seems to really know his stuff.
Also I wouldn't suggest running in all metal mode when you are new to detecting. All metal will go deeper, but it is a much more intense way to hunt and can be very exhausting until you get used to it. There's enough to learn with this machine in the beginning.
One way to get more depth with this machine (or any detector) is by air testing with it.
I'm not talking about air testing to see how many inches you can get. The gurus of this forum all say that's not a good indicator of depth in real ground conditions and I believe them. I also believe there's a lot of misinformation and exaggerating when it comes to reports on the depths of various machines. And most of the gurus will tell you that the depth potential of a detector is not as important as several other factors, the most important being the user's knowledge and expertise with their machine.
What I'm talking about is air testing to see how the good targets hit when they no longer hit solidly.
I put the detector in three tone mode which is my preferred mode to hunt in. Then I laid the detector across the table and had someone wave a silver dime in front of it.
Then I listened and watched to see what the detector did past 6 inches when it no longer got a solid high tone signal repeatedly from both directions but still got a signal. I could get a chirp at over a foot, but any signal I might realistically dig stopped at about 9 inches. Not surprisingly, the furthur I got past 6" the more the ID numbers jumped around. Depth in the ground is no doubt different, but I still figure there's about a 3 inch span between the end of a solid two way high tone signal and the maximum diggable signal and I've gotten a feel for how my detector reacts through that 3" span. You can do the same test with a silver quarter, IH penny, gold ring or whatever other good targets you'd like to find.
Another good way to learn what your detector is telling you is to put a good target on clean ground and put various junk (pulltabs, nails, cans) at various distances next to it and listen and watch what the detector does when you swing over it from different directions.
I found a mercury dime at 8" with my F5 which is the deepest coin I've ever found smaller than a quarter. But the signal was iffy with just a whisper of a high tone if I hit it just right and ID numbers jumping all over mostly not in the coin range. Before I dug I was thinking this is going to be junk. Had it been later in the hunt instead of earlier I would have probably been lazy and not dug it.
I'm not saying it's rocket science, and I am relatively new to dirt fishing. But the F5 definitely has a longer learning curve than with my Garrett or Tesoros.
There's a veteran hunter named Mike Hillis who knows way more than me and has made a lot of informative posts on the F5, I'd suggest going back through the archives to find his posts and you'll also see good posts on it from Cal Cobra and others.
The F5 is very sensitive and unless the gain and threshold settings are set really low it will chatter when you hold it still. But unless your soil is highly mineralized you don't have to keep the settings low because when you sweep the coil the chatter goes away. If you get a lot of noise when you sweep, that means you're in a trashy area and the detector is reacting to the metal in the ground. If the ground is really trashy and it's driving you crazy you can either turn the gain and threshold settings down and/or turn the discrimination higher.
Mike Hillis has stated that the F5 reaches its maximum potential at threshold/gain settings of either +5/50 or 0/90. I'm not sure why I take that as gospel, probably because from reading his posts Mike seems to really know his stuff.
Also I wouldn't suggest running in all metal mode when you are new to detecting. All metal will go deeper, but it is a much more intense way to hunt and can be very exhausting until you get used to it. There's enough to learn with this machine in the beginning.
One way to get more depth with this machine (or any detector) is by air testing with it.
I'm not talking about air testing to see how many inches you can get. The gurus of this forum all say that's not a good indicator of depth in real ground conditions and I believe them. I also believe there's a lot of misinformation and exaggerating when it comes to reports on the depths of various machines. And most of the gurus will tell you that the depth potential of a detector is not as important as several other factors, the most important being the user's knowledge and expertise with their machine.
What I'm talking about is air testing to see how the good targets hit when they no longer hit solidly.
I put the detector in three tone mode which is my preferred mode to hunt in. Then I laid the detector across the table and had someone wave a silver dime in front of it.
Then I listened and watched to see what the detector did past 6 inches when it no longer got a solid high tone signal repeatedly from both directions but still got a signal. I could get a chirp at over a foot, but any signal I might realistically dig stopped at about 9 inches. Not surprisingly, the furthur I got past 6" the more the ID numbers jumped around. Depth in the ground is no doubt different, but I still figure there's about a 3 inch span between the end of a solid two way high tone signal and the maximum diggable signal and I've gotten a feel for how my detector reacts through that 3" span. You can do the same test with a silver quarter, IH penny, gold ring or whatever other good targets you'd like to find.
Another good way to learn what your detector is telling you is to put a good target on clean ground and put various junk (pulltabs, nails, cans) at various distances next to it and listen and watch what the detector does when you swing over it from different directions.
I found a mercury dime at 8" with my F5 which is the deepest coin I've ever found smaller than a quarter. But the signal was iffy with just a whisper of a high tone if I hit it just right and ID numbers jumping all over mostly not in the coin range. Before I dug I was thinking this is going to be junk. Had it been later in the hunt instead of earlier I would have probably been lazy and not dug it.
Thanks for the Help. I was out yesterday searching ground next to an old township hall. At one point my detector was jumping all around with display and tones, even when held up in the air. I was thinking something was wrong but I guess I had my gain and threshold way too high for the ground condictions.
HH
KOS
HH
KOS
Low-Boy/LCPM
Active member
I can crank up my F5 all the way and like you in Calif that is hard maybe the guy can't ground bal or has a bad coil?
Kos - When you swing the coil does the noise stop except when you're over targets?
When I hold the detector still, or up in the air for that matter, with the thresh/gain settings higher it will chatter, when I swing the coil even at a very slow speed it doesn't.
It know it sounds odd, but the movement of my detector stabilizes it.
When I hold the detector still, or up in the air for that matter, with the thresh/gain settings higher it will chatter, when I swing the coil even at a very slow speed it doesn't.
It know it sounds odd, but the movement of my detector stabilizes it.
Hey Marcomo
The noise would stop and ID numbers may settle, but when I was around the old building it was just going nuts. I have had this F5 out 5 times now. I have kept the settings about the same at both locations. My soccer filed is very easy to detect coins and the unit ran stable hitting HARD on the coins and scattered tabs. When I tried to balance using phase button at the old building, I was having a hard time finding clear ground (no signals) using pinpoint?. I was asking myself, could there be this much stuff in the ground. I had turned down my gain and threshold a bit and it calmed down a lot. Is it possible that the ground is so much different in these two places, or is there just too much junk around the building compared to the soccer field?. Being new to metal detecting and this gain/threshold settings, I think It would just take time learning.
The noise would stop and ID numbers may settle, but when I was around the old building it was just going nuts. I have had this F5 out 5 times now. I have kept the settings about the same at both locations. My soccer filed is very easy to detect coins and the unit ran stable hitting HARD on the coins and scattered tabs. When I tried to balance using phase button at the old building, I was having a hard time finding clear ground (no signals) using pinpoint?. I was asking myself, could there be this much stuff in the ground. I had turned down my gain and threshold a bit and it calmed down a lot. Is it possible that the ground is so much different in these two places, or is there just too much junk around the building compared to the soccer field?. Being new to metal detecting and this gain/threshold settings, I think It would just take time learning.
Low-Boy/LCPM
Active member
Found this on another post.
This is a copy of a post he made on another forum. Just thought some would find it informitive as it has to do with Bounty Hunter also.
Omega
Posted By: dave johnson
Date: Friday, 13 February 2009, at 1:10 p.m.
Since the Teknetics Omega is in the process of being released to production, there will be a lot of curiosity about it. Most of the questions will relate to features and performance in the field. There's no need for me to go into those matters, since other people will quickly fill in the details. What follows here is a bit of information which is probably better coming direct from engineering department.
Once the Omega gets into people's hands, it'll become obvious that there is some sort of relationship between the Tek Omega, and several earlier Fisher and Bounty Hunter products. Here's what that relationship is.
The Omega circuitry and software are a major revision of the Fisher F5, which although it was a bit slow to "catch on", is now getting good reviews. The basic software concepts of the F5 in turn, were derived from the F70, but not the code itself because the machines use completely different microprocessors. I was responsible for many of the software concepts in all these products, but John Gardiner wrote the code for the F70 and Jorge Anton Saad wrote the code for the F5 and the Omega. The F70 circuit platform is related to the F75 and Tek T2, which despite their differences all run at 13 kHz. The F5 and the new Tek Titanium series of which the Omega is a member, are a different family of circuits, all running at 7.8 kHz. The Bounty Hunter Platinum and Gold were an earlier version of this basic circuit platform.
The mechanical design of the Omega is a revision of the Bounty Hunter Platinum.
The Omega and F5 have their own unique user interfaces and different features, but both are simple and easy to use. The two machines are fairly similar in performance and in operating characteristics.
Since we came out with the Tek T2 several years ago, we've learned a lot about how to do tricky stuff in software but to keep the tricks hidden from the user so as to create less puzzlement on the part of the user. Old-timers will like the predictable analog feel of the Omega, even though what's actually happening inside the machine is very different stuff from what went on in the older analog metal detector designs.
The basic performance and "feel" of the Omega is rather similar to that of the Delta and Gamma, about which there has been information posted on forums for several weeks. The differences are in mechanical construction and features.
HEADPHONE JACKS AND SEARCHCOIL CONNECTORS
The earlier Delta and Gamma were released with a non-locking DIN connector the same as the F5, and with an 1/8 inch headphone jack. With the release of the Omega, we are improving the Delta and Gamma design by changing it to have the T2-type searchcoil connector and both 1/4" and 1/8" headphone jacks which were developed for the Omega.
SEARCHCOILS
At the moment there are two searchcoils available for the Omega: the 10 inch elliptical concentric (standard), and the 8 inch round concentric (standard on the Delta and Gamma). A 5 inch DD coil and an 11 inch DD coil are under development with release expected early spring this year. When these additional coils are released, they will also be offered in a DIN connector version to work with the F5 and the earlier Deltas and Gammas.
PERFORMANCE
The Omega air tests on coins past 10 inches (25 cm)-- not as hot as the more expensive Tek T2 and F75/F70 type machines, but close. Because of the difference in operating frequency, those 13 kHz machines will have a distinct edge on lower conductivity targets.
When it comes to target separation, the Omega is in the same league as the Tek T2 and the Fisher F75/F70 and F5. These are machines which have already earned a reputation for superb target separation.
How a machine performs "in the ground" on a particular target entails many variables, not the least of which is the operator knowing how to use the machine. So I will not say that the Omega will do this or that in the ground better or worse than some other specific machine. Suffice it to say that "in the ground" on coin-sized objects, it's in the same league as the T2 and its successors. The 13 kHz platform machines will tend to have an overall edge on smaller targets.
SO WHAT DO I LIKE ABOUT THE OMEGA?
Straightforward simplicity, excellent performance, sense of direct connection between what's in the ground and what you hear, and the completeness and refinement of the overall machine.
--Dave Johnson
Chief Designer, FTP & Fisher
This is a copy of a post he made on another forum. Just thought some would find it informitive as it has to do with Bounty Hunter also.
Omega
Posted By: dave johnson
Date: Friday, 13 February 2009, at 1:10 p.m.
Since the Teknetics Omega is in the process of being released to production, there will be a lot of curiosity about it. Most of the questions will relate to features and performance in the field. There's no need for me to go into those matters, since other people will quickly fill in the details. What follows here is a bit of information which is probably better coming direct from engineering department.
Once the Omega gets into people's hands, it'll become obvious that there is some sort of relationship between the Tek Omega, and several earlier Fisher and Bounty Hunter products. Here's what that relationship is.
The Omega circuitry and software are a major revision of the Fisher F5, which although it was a bit slow to "catch on", is now getting good reviews. The basic software concepts of the F5 in turn, were derived from the F70, but not the code itself because the machines use completely different microprocessors. I was responsible for many of the software concepts in all these products, but John Gardiner wrote the code for the F70 and Jorge Anton Saad wrote the code for the F5 and the Omega. The F70 circuit platform is related to the F75 and Tek T2, which despite their differences all run at 13 kHz. The F5 and the new Tek Titanium series of which the Omega is a member, are a different family of circuits, all running at 7.8 kHz. The Bounty Hunter Platinum and Gold were an earlier version of this basic circuit platform.
The mechanical design of the Omega is a revision of the Bounty Hunter Platinum.
The Omega and F5 have their own unique user interfaces and different features, but both are simple and easy to use. The two machines are fairly similar in performance and in operating characteristics.
Since we came out with the Tek T2 several years ago, we've learned a lot about how to do tricky stuff in software but to keep the tricks hidden from the user so as to create less puzzlement on the part of the user. Old-timers will like the predictable analog feel of the Omega, even though what's actually happening inside the machine is very different stuff from what went on in the older analog metal detector designs.
The basic performance and "feel" of the Omega is rather similar to that of the Delta and Gamma, about which there has been information posted on forums for several weeks. The differences are in mechanical construction and features.
HEADPHONE JACKS AND SEARCHCOIL CONNECTORS
The earlier Delta and Gamma were released with a non-locking DIN connector the same as the F5, and with an 1/8 inch headphone jack. With the release of the Omega, we are improving the Delta and Gamma design by changing it to have the T2-type searchcoil connector and both 1/4" and 1/8" headphone jacks which were developed for the Omega.
SEARCHCOILS
At the moment there are two searchcoils available for the Omega: the 10 inch elliptical concentric (standard), and the 8 inch round concentric (standard on the Delta and Gamma). A 5 inch DD coil and an 11 inch DD coil are under development with release expected early spring this year. When these additional coils are released, they will also be offered in a DIN connector version to work with the F5 and the earlier Deltas and Gammas.
PERFORMANCE
The Omega air tests on coins past 10 inches (25 cm)-- not as hot as the more expensive Tek T2 and F75/F70 type machines, but close. Because of the difference in operating frequency, those 13 kHz machines will have a distinct edge on lower conductivity targets.
When it comes to target separation, the Omega is in the same league as the Tek T2 and the Fisher F75/F70 and F5. These are machines which have already earned a reputation for superb target separation.
How a machine performs "in the ground" on a particular target entails many variables, not the least of which is the operator knowing how to use the machine. So I will not say that the Omega will do this or that in the ground better or worse than some other specific machine. Suffice it to say that "in the ground" on coin-sized objects, it's in the same league as the T2 and its successors. The 13 kHz platform machines will tend to have an overall edge on smaller targets.
SO WHAT DO I LIKE ABOUT THE OMEGA?
Straightforward simplicity, excellent performance, sense of direct connection between what's in the ground and what you hear, and the completeness and refinement of the overall machine.
--Dave Johnson
Chief Designer, FTP & Fisher