Ground balanceing the Cortez

[THunter101]

Hi can someone please give me detailed instruction on how to
Ground Balance the CORTEZ as the manual does not go into
detailed specs of where the toggle switches and knobs should be
positioned when you start out to ground balance the machine.

I tried too follow the field example:

HELP Dave

 

[dan b]

Well, that's an easy one to answer, because the manual GB only effects the all-metal mode. So the only toggle that matters is the selector between disc and all-metal. Flip it to all-metal, and adjust the threshold to get a low steady hum. Now drop the coil straight toward the ground stopping an inch or 2 above. If the threshold went silent you need to turn the adjuster slightly positive. If the threshold got louder, turn it a bit negative. Keep doing this until the threshold sound doesn't change. That's when it's balanced. Most people, once it's balanced, turn it ever so slightly positive. Once you flip back to disc, none of that matters anyway.

Dan

 

[Scully]

The GB on the Cortes only works in the all metal mode. IF you never switch to all metal mode to check targets, you can forgo the GB process, but if you do occassionally switch to All Metal to size a target to get some extra depth, you will want to have it ground balanced. With practice, the process only takes seconds, so its real easy to get into the habit of performing it evertime you detect.

 

[THunter101]

Hi according to Mr Snow who is a Dealer of Tesoro Metal Detectors he states
that if you do not Ground Balance the unit you will not be running at Optimum
performance is there any truth too this

 

[marcomo]

That's true in all metal only. In discrimination mode it's a factory preset GB and you can't change it.

 

[Sven]

Per Monte's post. There is a trimmer pot inside the unit that Tesoro presets the DISC. GB to slightly positive. Monte has adjusted his when he went to a smaller coil. If you lurk inside, you better know what you are doing or you'll be sending it back to Tesoro.

 

[dan b]

I read somewhere that if you tweak the pot in the Cortes or Deleon you will screw up the display. Not that it won't work, but it will not be as accurate. I would tread carefully.

Dan

 

[Michigan Badger]

Tesoro made their most expensive land machine ground balance only in all-metal mode?

It must be just me because this seems to make perfect sense to everyone else.

Anyway, don't sweat it. Your Cortes will do just fine as it is. I've used the Tejon, DeLeon, almost all the Sabre/Silvers, etc.,

The factory preset is fine and the importance of adjustable ground balance is greatly exaggerated today.

I have a contact in the UK who sells detectors and uses them to find ancient coins. He's taken a Cibola out and every coin the Tejon saw the Cibola saw. The same happened when he used the Explorer II and others.

All quality VLF machines today are very close in depth.

Your Cortes is a great machine. Go find an old site and dig the loot.

 

[dan b]

I had a problem with that too. That's why I hesitated to get a Cortes. But I did get a Golden

 

[Michigan Badger]

I had a problem with that too. That's why I hesitated to get a Cortes. But I did get a Golden

 

[THunter101]

Hi from what i was told last nite by a guy named John Glassman was to set up
the CORTEZ like this example:
===========================================================
NOTCH MODE:

Discremenate Level to FOIL

Sensitivity Level to 5

Notch toggle switch set to Wide

Threshold to Audible

LIGHT left in center position

MODE set to DISC <Center Position>

Ground Balance just don't work about it unless your
gonna swap back and forth between DISC & All-Metal
modes
===========================================

But what if someone wants to run in Disc mode would
this example work with out having to ground balance

 

[dan b]

If you are working in disc, the GB doesn't matter. If you switch back to all-metal, perhaps to pin-point, then you should ground balance. If you never work in all-metal, than don't worry about it.

Dan

 

[Scully]

The disc mode is a factory pre-set GB. The GB mode only applies to th all metal mode, so if you occassionlly switch to all metal to pin point of size a target, you should GB.

 

[Mike Hillis]

Fairly simple.

First turn your gb knob all the way to the right until you feel it start to drag. Then turn it two complete turns to the left. Now turn the machine on and flip the switch to all metal. Set your threshold to where you hear a stable tone. If you have it too quiet it will pulse and carckle a bit so turn it up so that you have a stable tone. About 1:30 or 2:00 position should do it. Now find a piece of ground with no metal. Once you do, then hold your coil about 6" above the ground and then push it down toward the ground. Did the tone increase or go silent? If the tone increased on the way down, then turn the gb knob a 1/4 turn toward the -. If it went silent then turn the gb knob a 1/4 turn toward the +. Continue doing this until the tone you hear when you push the coil toward the ground matches the tone you hear when you pull the coil back up. Since the Cortes has a funky all metal mode reset speed it will always go silent at the bottom of the push. Ignore that. Just listen to see if the tone increases when you push it down.

The object is to get the threshold tone to sound as nearly the same as possible when you push the coil toward the ground and when you pull it away. Not hard once you get after it.

The all metal mode isn't a bad hunt mode either. It's VCO audio combined with the meter can help you get some pretty deep targets.

Good luck.

Mike

 

[dan b]

Having the display work in all-metal is a great feature.

Dan

 

[Michigan Badger]

I had a problem with that too. That's why I hesitated to get a Cortes. But I did get a Golden

 

[THunter101]

Hea guys im still having trouble to get the cortez to ground balance im gonna give tesoro a call im the morning
and see what they say, I followed Mike instrucion and the dang machine give me back a high tone to i turned it
down & retied it again and its still high so reduced by 1/4 turn again and tried one more time still a high tone

dave

 

[dan b]

Hi Dave,

It is possible that your machine is defective. I couldn't GB mine when I first got it, and it would "null" over targets in all-metal. How does yours work in all-metal? Is it behaving properly?

I spoke with James about the problem, and he had me send it in. It was repaired for free (I was not the original owner, so that was mighty nice of him to do that) and it works great now.

Dan

 

[THunter101]

Hi Mike Hillis im still having trouble getting it to GB

I tried your method of turning the knob 5 times then backing off 2 turns like you described flipped to AM mode
then lowered the coil and the threshold got louder so i turned the knob to the left 1/4 turn and did it again still
became loud again. Tried doing this 8 times and still the threshold to became loud. Im just wondering if im
doing something WRONG?

Or should i give Tesoro a call on my cell phone as im trying to GB the Unit

 

[THunter101]

Hi Dan what my machine is doing is as i lower the coil to the groung the treshold gets louder and as i lift the coil back
upwards i hear no threshold tone. On my X-terra's i get a tone in both directions as the coil is moving, does the Cortez
give a threshold tone in both directions or only when it is being lowered to the ground. I'm totally unshure of what i should
be doing do i turn the ground balance knob clockwise or counter clockwise, if i had too guess i would say CLOCKWISE
because im not reciveing a tone on the upwards motion, the manual listed something about the threshold becoming a high
tone then just going totally blank, too me the manual does not go into details about Ground Balanceing the machine and
i have not found a instructional video on YOUTUBE for the machine, Also the PDF manual is sorta crappy in my opinion.