Last outing of the year results in poor V-3 performance

[Neil in West Jersey]

With the storm of the century rapidly approaching on Friday, I decided to make one last attempt to get one last outing in before the end of the year. I only had an hour due to a busy work schedule, so I hit a high hill on the PA side of the Delaware with the hopes of finding some goodies.

I balanced the unit, and then hit the ground probe to see what the signal loss was. I got a signal loss of about 27%!!! so I increased my filters back up to 10 Hz, High Band. The recommended gain is what concerned me. At first it read 8, but then quickly dropped down to 2. Should it drop like that? Is the 8 the default before the probe gets a good reading? At first I was very concerned about the operation of the V3. I expected the area to be more mineralized than the mild ground near my house, but I was surprised at the high signal loss. To make matters even worse, there are high tension wires only two tenths of a mile away. I am surprised that this would cause so much EMI at this distance, but that may explain why the recommended gain was only 2(?).

I was able to keep it fairly steady with an RX of 5, but I was still getting some falsing no doubt caused by the mineralization and the EMI.

I was only able to get about 5 inches down with a quarter, and that VDI was choppy and drifting up toward the 90's.

The only finds of the day was an old plated fork, and a 1925 Wheatie found at under an inch. The irony is that on the way home I stopped at Dunkin Donuts for a cup of Joe, and guess what was in my change? Another 1925!!! What are the odds of that?

At least the Wheatie tells me that the site has potential. I may need to hit it with my (non-V rated) 4x6 coil in the future.

Any recommendation or words of wisdom?

 

[Rob (IL)]

Neil, I think the answer would have been to either switch coils when you were at the site or tried the same coil at a different site. I had a coil go bad and that's how it acted. Let me know how it turns out.

 

[Neil in West Jersey]

Neil, I think the answer would have been to either switch coils when you were at the site or tried the same coil at a different site. I had a coil go bad and that's how it acted. Let me know how it turns out.

I am not blaming the V3 for the poor performance, but I was hoping the D2 would perform a bit better in this type of environment.

To be honest, I have not yet had the opportunity to take the V3 to my best sites. They are a bit of a drive in the opposite direction than I usually travel, but have no EMI and very low mineralization. I would think these types of sites would be better suited to concentric coils, but it would still be a good test for the D2.

 

[Larry (IL)]

This is just a thought and I haven't tried this on the V3, but on the DFX, I switched on the correlate mode. If EMI was bad, correlate quieted it down. If nothing else, it might confirm if EMI was the problem. That is one setting I have not played with much. Also I might suggest medium or high single frequency in an EMI zone.

 

[jbow]

I can rarely run the RX as high as 5, I usually have to run 3 or 4.

Good luck.

Julien

 

[woodchiphustler]

Use a 9.5 concentric and watch the change in all your recomended settings. New Jersey should not have high ground minerals. The DD is killing you.

 

[BHNugget]

Niel, have you tried the RX at 15 in 3 freq best data with the coil in the air lately? My D2 didnt overload in this condition until I found my coil acting funny as you describe. It didnt matter where I was,in the air I always got a recommended 7-8 RX and once on the ground dropped to 2. I found the RX suggestion steadily dropping as time went on. Towards the end of summer,I finally tried the overload test in the air and sure enough it would overload as low as 13 in the air (3 freq best data).

 

[Neil in West Jersey]

Niel, have you tried the RX at 15 in 3 freq best data with the coil in the air lately? My D2 didnt overload in this condition until I found my coil acting funny as you describe. It didnt matter where I was,in the air I always got a recommended 7-8 RX and once on the ground dropped to 2. I found the RX suggestion steadily dropping as time went on. Towards the end of summer,I finally tried the overload test in the air and sure enough it would overload as low as 13 in the air (3 freq best data).

I air tested it and I got it all the way up to 15, even with the TX boost in 3 Freq and Best Data. As I said, the high power lines were only 2/10th of a mile away and the soil was very mineralized.

Use a 9.5 concentric and watch the change in all your recomended settings. New Jersey should not have high ground minerals. The DD is killing you.

I was in PA at the time. Some of the low "mountains" surrounding the Philadelphia area have high concentrations of minerals. Some of NJ's former farm fields have high concentrations as well. I think the 9.5 inch coil may be a better choice. I am going to swap it out with my (non V rated) 9.5 from my DFX and see what kind of results I get.