Equinox Can Find Some Small Saltwater Gold

[Chase Goldman]

1 hour ago, dewcon4414 said:

Me and Cliff have been discussing GB so  I talked to Tom about this ....... seems he was talking about adjusting the SENSITIVITY NOT  the GB up those 5 digits. 

 Well that changes everything and that could make sense if power is reduced in beach mode.  Big difference from manually upping the GB setting per your original statement and what Cliff said he did.  If you had said that in the first place, I would have stopped my reply at "...thanks for the background info."  Lol.

1 hour ago, dewcon4414 said:

All your comments seem right about raising the GB especially about loosing weak targets raising the GB.   But, didnt the manual say you get a symbol on the screen when the machine goes into Beach Mode transmission power reduction?  Ive never seen that happen on my screen yet.  

True.  I have never seen it either.  One thing I haven't tried is seeing if I can force it on by using Beach mode in highly mineralized soil.  But not knowing how the  power reduction algorithm works in the first place, I have no idea how forcing an "unnaturally" high GB would affect the algorithm.

1 hour ago, dewcon4414 said:

Manual.... vs Auto.... vs tracking on a beach.    To me... you really have to know what the machine is doing in order to manually GUESS at the GB.   In Auto the machine selects the best GB..... and if im correct LOCKS it and doesnt check the GB again...... which means you will have some parts of the beach.... like fluffy sand with nothing there that will be quiet.... and hard pan where it will be chatty.   NOW in tracking .......it adjusts constantly down fall here is depth/sensitivity over the fixed.... am i right?   Auto GB doesnt mean it auto adjusts like in tracking..... it just means the machine will select the correct GB and it stays there once selected.

Yep.  Your description above is consistent with my understanding of how the various GB modes work.  Cliff said he auto GB'd, then manually upped the Auto generated GB number by 5 and then set tracking GB on, which makes the first two steps unnecessary because tracking will overwrite the manually set GB back to whatever the number was in Auto provided he does all this in the same spot on the beach.  That is why I questioned it in the first place.  But that is all moot if sensitivity is the parameter that should have been adjusted.

Regarding what should be done (Manual/Auto vs. Tracking GB) and where at the Beach (saltwater).  I think that is hard to say.  But what I have observed is this: First, regardless of mode, as long as there is enough mineralization for the machine to grab on to, then tracking seems to work great.  Therefore, in beach mode, if a manual/auto GB ends up with a low number near the 0 default, I would just let it be and not go into tracking GB mode.  Even though you can't really discern mineralization solely from looking at the ground phase number, I think chances are good that if you GB out with a low phase number and the sand looks typical, the sand has low mineralization and then you should NOT run tracking because the tracking algorithm could be unreliable without enough mineralization changes to periodically force a tracking induced ground grab.  On the other hand, if you see a significant change in GB reading at different points on the beach including the wet sand, then GB tracking might be the ticket.  And indeed the instruction manual in the ground balancing discussion acknowledges tracking may be preferred in wet sand and water due the impact of to ground conductivity due to varying salinity concentrations.

Thanks, Dew.

[mn90403]

What? Really? Try it? Expert says he does it?

Nevermind ...  haha

Thanks Chase.

[Chase Goldman]

1 hour ago, mn90403 said:

What? Really? Try it? Expert says he does it?

Nevermind ...  haha

Thanks Chase.

Now I'm confused.  What?

[mn90403]

Oh, the instructions of sensitivity or GB adjustment.  You corrected it.

[cdv]

Chase, Dew..... thanks for adding to the discussion! IF nothing else, it may help out those that are "unfamiliar" with the process of Ground Balancing a machine. Never had to do it when I first started out....never had a machine that could. Then when I did buy the CTX, Minelab said I didn't have to "since I was a beach hunter" so it never got turned on. Now, with the Equinox, I see it can  make a difference yet I didn't totally understand the manual even after reading it a few times...... may be my misunderstanding of the "Auto" Ground balancing.  Now however I do have a good understanding of it AND understand that the process I followed was nullified by turning on "Tracking". 

Great little machine and lots that can be done with it and yet so much to learn and really understand. Maybe it will even get smaller gold with the proper adjustments.....   :-)

Again, thanks for the input and discussion!

Cliff

[dewcon4414]

On the other hand, if you see a significant change in GB reading at different points on the beach including the wet sand, then GB tracking might be the ticket. 

 

Chase were you saying there to routinely check your GB to see if there are significant changes that might be better suited to tracking?   Cliff...... i take such abuse lol.   Hey right or wrong i dont mind a good discussion on something i dont understand..... no such thing as a dumb question.   As far as trying something with a new machine..... thats how i learn best from those smarter than me...... but i learn from my mistakes.  Dont care how many years you have been detecting or time in the water....... new machines have a learning curve for most of us.  Cliff..... this is just a fun machine to play with.

[Chase Goldman]

3 hours ago, dewcon4414 said:

this is just a fun machine to play with.

Couldn't agree with you more, Dew.  The good thing is you can experiment a little with settings but there is not so much you can mess with that you totally bollocks up the machine.  And since complex programming is not required, if you get really lost, there is no real problem with giving any particular program mode a reset to default settings or with executing a complete factory reset of the machine and starting over.

[dewcon4414]

Chase..... what do you think about this?   Im about to experiment with 2 tones.   In the water there really is fewer targets.  I plan on running AM...... lowering iron in both volume and tone to about 4.   The run full volume and tone for everything above 0.    Honestly ... i started thinking how many targets do i really get that i dont already know is trash ...... yet still dig them?   Pull tab, foil, .... even some iffy bottle caps.   It will be interesting to see the what i get doing this....... and how i deal with any chatter.   Will i get some weaker targets is was ignoring?    If need be i can set up my regular pattern .... and use the user profile for the other.

[Chase Goldman]

Good idea in the water.  You don't/can't look at VDI and only care if it's ferrous or nonferrous (if you are going to dig all nonferrous anyway) so 2 tones is the way to go.  You just won't have a clue until you get it out of your scoop or onto the floating sifter.

[Jackpine]

On 4/9/2018 at 7:45 AM, dewcon4414 said:

Chase.... im not sure they werent right about just being in multi freq at the beach with a salt setting.   Ive tried hunting in park and field modes.... multi freq.   IF we have a lot of moisture on the sand they can be difficult to hunt with.  I have been able to set them the same (tones, volumes, iron bias ect) way and it quiets them down a bit.   BUT i find myself going back to beach 1..... even thou field 2 and park 1 seems deeper..... doesnt help if you cant hunt with them easily.   Moisture just really seems to light the beach up in other modes.

All your comments seem right about raising the GB especially about loosing weak targets raising the GB.   But, didnt the manual say you get a symbol on the screen when the machine goes into Beach Mode transmission power reduction?  Ive never seen that happen on my screen yet.  

Me and Cliff have been discussing GB so  I talked to Tom about this ....... seems he was talking about adjusting the SENSITIVITY NOT  the GB up those 5 digits.   Which i had found i could easily adjust it up 3 already and keep it fairly quiet in beach 2.   Now .... i read an article that Gordon Heritage did ..... he recommended using the default 0 ALWAYS.  His reasoning was ..... because by balancing them they got very noisy because it make flakes more visible to the machine.   But on a beach thats kind of what we are looking for more sensitivity to smaller targets...... which means a little more chatter ... am i wrong?  

Manual.... vs Auto.... vs tracking on a beach.    To me... you really have to know what the machine is doing in order to manually GUESS at the GB.   In Auto the machine selects the best GB..... and if im correct LOCKS it and doesnt check the GB again...... which means you will have some parts of the beach.... like fluffy sand with nothing there that will be quiet.... and hard pan where it will be chatty.   NOW in tracking .......it adjusts constantly down fall here is depth/sensitivity over the fixed.... am i right?   Auto GB doesnt mean it auto adjusts like in tracking..... it just means the machine will select the correct GB and it stays there once selected.

A good many on the CTX ....... just grabbed the machine and hit the water without GBing.   I think we believed auto GB ment it was being adjusted ..... which was incorrect.   It just ment we were likely hunting in the default unless we or someone had done an auto GB on the machine.   Which is why sometimes ...... you wondered, are targets shallow today or am i just not getting the depth?

Also......GBing before you get into the water..... where should it be done?    Many say right near the water so it can identify the salt as well as the sand.   But isnt that where a greater concentration of black sand and in our case buried seaweed is?  

Thanks for the info Chase.

I'm not a salt water hunter but wouldn't tracking have an advantage on beaches where blacks sand layers exist?  Especially if the layers vary in depth and intensity?

Tom