Ground Balance question?

[George W]

Hello,,

We just took out the MXT for the first time and I have a ground balancing question.. Set mode switch to Coin Jewelry, Set discrimator to is first pre set, Adjusted thresh hold to a slight hum then when I pump the coil 1 to 3" up and down to balance I don't hear it balance I don't get he up down wow wow sound. It's almost like when I turn it on it goes to a preset.. I am not over metal i checked.. I have 3 years experince with my DFX.. Now when I go to the relic program I do hear a wow wow sound and it does track out the ground out as I think it should.. What am I missing here? Thanks! George

 

[Horsesoldier]

First of all make sure you have it in the trac mode and not lock (which is a common mistake). Most detectors ground balance in the all metal mode. When you are in Coin/Jewelry with the disc set at the preset you have discriminated out the "wow-wow" sound. I always ground balance in Relic mode. Also, I don't pay too much attention to ground balancing because tracking will usually take care of it. Instead of ground balancing I just lay the coil on the ground and allow it to track for a few seconds (let the tracking do the work). When you ground balance all you are really doing is setting a reference point for the tracking. Hope this helps.

 

[Rob (IL)]

I don't get the wow wow on mine all I get is an increase or decrease in my threshold as the detector reacts with the ground. Many times I don't go through the bobbing process at all, as Horse soldier said.

If I want to shoot for maximum sensitivity I bob the coil with the trac set to ground and listen for an increase or decrease in reactive noise. If there is a reaction I lower the sensitivity, if there is no reaction I raise the sensitivity until there is and then just lower it a bit. This will give you the maximum sensitivity point giving you the greatest signal without ground noise or reactivity which can muddy up the signal.

If I want to optimize signal response to deep targets I run the disc around 2 or 9 o'clock. This should still give rejection to nails and other ferrous metals. Rob

 

[robert roy]

Interesting that I have always had the same problems when ground balancing my MXT as well. It never seemed
to make any difference when detecting so I have never worried about it. I have tried GBing in relic mode too but like you I don't get the WOW WOW sound
as discribed in the Video/DVD.ANd I alaways have mine in "ground" and NOT trac as specified in the manual and DVD.
RR

 

[George W]

Thanks for the replies guy's! I did try and ground balance it it relic mode an I did in fact here the Wow wow then it got quite so I know it was balancing out the ground well in that mode.. I called two service centers and got to different answers from the service techs.. Service guy #1 said set to ground track set mode in my case Coin jewelry mode set gain to preset set discrimator to preset and pump the coil up and down. This guy said that in coin and jewelry mode I would not hear the woo woo sound because it's not in the all metal mode.. But he said I in fact did need to ground balance it in that mode.. Service Guy #2 said in the coin and jewelry mode there was no need to balance the detector that it runs at a factory preset in that detecting mode, but I did need to balance it in all other modes.. I just don't think I would get much depth out of the unit if it was ground tracking from a factory preset like a Whites Prisms line. This is whay we didn't get a Prism in the first place..
We had a bad day weather was here in NH, heavy overcast bugs were bad and tick's all over the place so we didn't really get a chance to work with it much.. One thing I made sure of was not to be over any metal when balancing the unit.. I did this by ground balancing then check where I balanced with the trigger pulled and if there was any metal even close I would find a clean spot and rebalance the unit.. We got the unit with the $24 Gray Whites head phones and I'll tell ya I was worried with the cheap phones but with them tuned up all the way when you hit a silver coin it will get the wax out of you ears for sure, they do have a short wire with a L jack on them! Do you guy's think I'm on the right track so to speak as far as ground balancing the unit goes?
Next step is to get a dual 1/4" jack from Radio Shack so I can run two Set's of headphones while teaching the wife.. I have the $49 maroon Royal Whites head set for my DFX and I like them well enough.. George

 

[BarberBill]

I typically lift and drop the coil several times after turning on. Generally after a pass or two my threshold quiets down considerably and I've assumed the detector has balanced to the ground. (Coin and Jewelry mode) Sensitivity set - trac set on ground. Sometimes I forget and go right to detecting and it seems to balance within the first swing or two. I'm getting good depth and results so must be pretty much right.
HH
BB

 

[Tin Nugget]

The MXT ground balance so fast you can get away without pumping the coil. It will balance on the first sweep. However, it has been my experience that if you first set it over a target or hit a target on a quick first sweep, it will not be balanced properly or completely. If I am in an area with allot of targets I check the ground balance. 1-2 short pump to the ground to balance then hold the coil waist high, pull and hold the pinpoint trigger and lower it to the ground, you should only get a slight increase in threshold. I have had to re-balance, not often but enough times to know that it is worth checking.

 

[George W]

Thank you for your reply! Great advice I'll give it a try next time we get out with it.. I should have known this little tip from Digging Deeper with the DFX Book! Thanks! Tin Nugget

 

[George W]

Guess my wife was right when she said it seems to be working fine and that she's not going to worry about ground balancing it.. She has never detected before... I kept taking the unit away from her and said over and over, there must be something I'm missing, there must be a way to ground balance this thing.. LOL!!! She was right after all!! Live and learn!!Thanks!! George

[quote Horsesoldier]First of all make sure you have it in the trac mode and not lock (which is a common mistake). Most detectors ground balance in the all metal mode. When you are in Coin/Jewelry with the disc set at the preset you have discriminated out the "wow-wow" sound. I always ground balance in Relic mode. Also, I don't pay too much attention to ground balancing because tracking will usually take care of it. Instead of ground balancing I just lay the coil on the ground and allow it to track for a few seconds (let the tracking do the work). When you ground balance all you are really doing is setting a reference point for the tracking. Hope this helps.[/quote]