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Multi Iq In Hot Red Clay Vs Single Frequency, Pi Or Zvt


1515Art

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I posted this in the vanquish thread but it’s buried fairly deep so I’m asking here too, about the vanquish, it’s multi iq technology rooted in VLF technology or is it something different all together? I was under the impression this is a multi frequency VLF detector that basically samples multiple VLF  frequencies simultaneously to better I D targets and while the way it makes this possible is unique the signal would have the same limitation in heavily mineralized soil same as any VLF detector?

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Simple answer: MultiQ is VLF, but uses multiple frequencies and advanced signal processing to determine ground and target information. Think of it like looking at something from different angles instead of just one.

A deeper discussion of this requires some mathematics and is above my IQ level.

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Tboykin, thanks for the clarification I was in a conversation where I’m being told the vanquish was not a VLF detector, we were talking about the ability to handle highly mineralized soil and I’d commented since it’s basically VLF it would have similar limitation as any VLF detector.

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As tboykin said, still a VLF in the grand scheme of things. It does manage mineralized soil better than a single freq VLF unit. It will get better depth usually than a single freq machine in such cases. It's not perfect but a "perfect" metal detector has yet to be made. The Vanquish is a real deal in a lot of ways and should not be thought less of just because it is using VLF albeit multiple VLF's referenced at once.

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1 hour ago, RobNC said:

As tboykin said, still a VLF in the grand scheme of things. It does manage mineralized soil better than a single freq VLF unit. It will get better depth usually than a single freq machine in such cases. It's not perfect but a "perfect" metal detector has yet to be made. The Vanquish is a real deal in a lot of ways and should not be thought less of just because it is using VLF albeit multiple VLF's referenced at once.

Rob, thank you trying to help out someone new from Georgia looking to detect in heavy red earth, he was wondering if the vanquish would work for him in his soil?

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The machines are actually induction balance even if they run just one frequency, choice of freqencies or multiple frequencies. VLF just stands for very low frequency which is the ranges they run at.

In the range they run at lower frequencies respond better to high conductors and high frequencies respond better to low conductors. A single frequency machine may struggle in some conditions to pick up on some targets. A selectable frequency machine requires the user to chose which frequency will do better and a multi frequency will hit all at once and filter accordingly. That doesn't go without saying that targets will suddenly not be there because you happend to have the wrong frequency but rather the ability to compare the signals across a range of frequencies can give more reliable numbers and respond to different target types more evenly.

This will probably start some sort of Minelab vs the world war again haha

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  • The title was changed to Is Multi Iq Good In Heavily Mineralized Red Clay

Red clay is GPX/ATX territory. A used TDI would also be a good look if the price was right (day $800 or so).

Every time I went to DIV it was 80%+ GPX. In Culpepper and other areas with that thick red clay it will pull bullets pretty deep.

It would be nice to have Steve’s extremely reasonable, affordable, lightweight GB PI. But I am not convinced any manufacturers are going to hit that mark with a quality product anytime soon. It’s a niche within a niche in a shrinking hobby, and making plastic coin shooters or high dollar nugget machines make for better profits I reckon.

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1 hour ago, kac said:

The machines are actually induction balance even if they run just one frequency, choice of freqencies or multiple frequencies. VLF just stands for very low frequency which is the ranges they run at.

In the range they run at lower frequencies respond better to high conductors and high frequencies respond better to low conductors. A single frequency machine may struggle in some conditions to pick up on some targets. A selectable frequency machine requires the user to chose which frequency will do better and a multi frequency will hit all at once and filter accordingly. That doesn't go without saying that targets will suddenly not be there because you happend to have the wrong frequency but rather the ability to compare the signals across a range of frequencies can give more reliable numbers and respond to different target types more evenly.

This will probably start some sort of Minelab vs the world war again haha

Not starting a war for me but kac, you really need to move your knowledge up one level from your excellent grasp of selectable single frequency technology. Maybe this will help. It's not hype. It actually works this way, believe it or not........The following information really is from Minelab and is included in the Minelab Equinox Essential Information section of the Equinox forum on this site under Multi IQ, What Is It. This information applies to the Equinox in its "Multi" setting and the Vanquish.

Multi-IQ is derived from: Simultaneous Multi-Frequency In-phase and Quadrature Synchronous Demodulation.

We can go to a statement from Dr Philip Wahrlich, our principal technology physicist, about a key difference of Multi-IQ compared to the demodulation taking place in conventional single frequency VLF detectors:

“Within the Multi-IQ engine, the receiver is both phase-locked and amplitude-normalized to the transmitted magnetic field – rather than the electrical voltage driving the transmitted field. This field can be altered by the mineralization in the soil (in both phase and amplitude), so if the receiver was only phased-locked to the driving voltage, this would result in inaccurate target IDs and a higher audible noise level. Locking the receiver to the actual transmitted field, across all frequencies simultaneously (by measuring the current through the coil) solves these issues, creating a very sensitive AND stable detector” Precisely measuring these extremely small current variations is quite remarkable if you consider the levels involved. It’s actually parts per billion, or nanoamp signals, we are talking about here!

With Multi-IQ, we can derive much greater target ID accuracy and increased detecting performance, especially in ‘difficult’ ground. In ‘mild’ ground, single frequency may perform adequately, BUT depth and stable ID’s will be limited by ground noise; whereas the Multi-IQ simultaneous multi-frequency will achieve maximum depth with a very stable target signal. In ‘strong’ ground, single frequency will not be able to effectively separate the target signal, giving decreased results; whereas Multi-IQ will still detect at depth, losing a minimal amount of target accuracy.

“For each frequency the detector transmits and receives there are two signals which can be extracted which we refer to as I and Q. The Q signal is most sensitive to targets, while the I signal is most sensitive to iron content. Traditional single-frequency metal detectors use the Q signal to detect targets, and then use the ratio of the I and Q signals to assess the characteristics of the target and assign a target ID. The problem with this approach is that the I signal is sensitive to the iron content of the soil. The target ID is always perturbed by the response from the soil, and as the signal from the target gets weaker, this perturbation becomes substantial. With some simplification here for brevity, if a detector transmits and receives on more than one frequency, it can ignore the soil sensitive I signals, and instead look at the multiple Q signals it receives in order to determine a target ID. That way, even for weak targets or highly mineralized soils, the target ID is far less perturbed by the response from the soil. This leads to very precise target IDs, both in mineralized soils and for targets at depth.”

 

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  • The title was changed to Multi Iq In Hot Red Clay Vs Single Frequency, Pi Or Zvt

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