Recalibrate for same ground area

[JerryL944]

Hi Guys

I hope this isn't a DUMB question


Ok lets say your searching a given area / don't matter weather beach sand ( which I would think ) should be the simplest , to clay / Sandy soil / soft earth -dirt .
How offten should you / do you re set / calibtate your machine to the ground conditions ???

Jerry Leskovec jleskovec@sbcglobal.net

 

[tvr]

I generally check about 15 minutes after first setting it because I have noticed in several of my detectors a little drift from first turn on that seems to stabilize after about 15 minutes. Tejon drifts a little then stabilizes, Cibola not much change at all.

Then, on a new area where I don't know the lay of the land, I check when I move to an area that the shade or color of the dirt looks a little different. Could be just a few minutes or could be an hour or more. If the grass is dense and I can't tell dirt color, I'll check frequently.

If I am familiar with the area I'm hunting and know the ground is very consistent across it, after the 15 minute check, I just go and pretty much leave things alone until I'm done.

Many times the color change is just a moisture content change and not a mineral content change, but sometimes it is a change from loam to clay mix or sand mix and could use an adjustment.

On the beach, if the streaking or color or texture of the sand has visually changed, re-balance. I had been re-balancing going from wet to dry, but have recently found that the detector is quieter, falses less and seems deeper in the wet salt areas if I balance it in nearby dry and leave it at that setting when going to the wet area. May need to slightly decrease sensitivity and slightly increase discrimination over the wet vs dry on a salt beach.
Cheers,
tvr

 

[Brokensignal]

If you have a manual ground balance control most of the times once for the area you are hunting in if it stays at that mineralized ground level.This can change quick depending of area of country or other factors such as hunting in ground that changes rapidly such as marshy areas were the ground can change mineral levels in ten feet,then it may be a good idea to check and recalibrate.

 

[AUDuke]

A person should re ground balance whenever it is necessary, if its out, readjust, if it not, don't bother. There is no set time, dirt color any other factor to determine If it needs readusting. Just check it. If you have a manual GB just go to AM mode with a threshold and pump the coil to check. If you don't have manual GB don't worry about it.

 

[JerryL944]

Thanks to all who made a comment abt my question .

It's abt just what I do / thought . The detector is a Tesoro Eldorado (newer Version ) ( 9 Volt ) I usually just pump it up and down abt 8 - 10 inches if I get an off reading I check several spots in about a 10 sq. area .

Jerry

 

[ToddB64]

Hi JerryL944 !

When hunting over soil in All Metal mode with a machine having an external Threshold control, any noticeable reduction in Threshold audio level is a good prompt to ground balance the machine again.

My advice is to obtain a copy of Robert H. Sickler's book titled Detectorist, A How-To Guide to Better Metal Detecting. Pages 6-3 and 6-4 will address your concerns more thoroughly. This book can be ordered here: http://www.rhsdesign.com/detectorist/index.htm.

Another piece of advice would be to read every post by Monte (Monte V. Berry) that deals with the technical aspects of metal detecting. Try the SEARCH button at the top of this page to get a list of his posts. Not certain, but I think you can also enter key words to pull up post(s) by specific subject.

HH Jerry

Todd