The " SECRET " To Successful Treasure Hunting.

[IronClad]

.....PROPER GROUND BALANCING YOUR METAL DETECTOR !

....PERIOD !!! ... its that simple.


If you do not properly ground balance, NO DETECTOR will operate at maximum efficiency, and you WILL miss things.


NO other feature on ANY metal detector is more important. Thats why its on almost all detectors.

Its in every detector manual/instructions. Usually the first step after assembling and turning on your detector. Thats why manufacturer's put so much emphasis on designing this feature and explaining this process. Its that important.

Even a $1000.00 detector that won't properly or effectively ground balance is WORTHLESS !

I know this subject has been talked about before. To me and other veteran hunters, its common knowledge, but to the new hunters its a valuable Tip worth mentioning.

I honestly believe there are hundreds of detector users out there that are missing treasures because of neglecting or not properly ground balancing their detectors. Many think its their detector or there are no coins/jewelry here. Wrong. I have helped others when they were having problems locating things. Some had very good units, and the first thing I did was Re-Ground Balance the units, then went from there.

How many times have you searched an area only to go back later and find more stuff ??,,, and wonder how you missed those things.

Ground Balance folks. Take the extra few seconds and get it right. It will pay off in the end.

[Dugday]

FREE I thought you were just really good!......................LOL

[IronClad]

Chuck is absolutely right about the Automatic GB feature on todays units.


A little ammendment to my above post.

If using a detector that automatically ground balances,,,, be very sure your not over or near any metallic object in the ground where you do your setup. It will drastically effect your results if you are.

I know this is very basic info that everyone should know, but sometimes when in a hurry, this basic action is easily overlooked or not done properly.

I will admit one thing, I really like the auto GB and the manual. They both have their benefits in different hunting applications.

[John's Detectors]

Hey everybody! oh yes I agree that GB'ing is the most important adjustment you can make. The Minelab Xterra 50 and 70 also have adjustable GB. GB controls remind me of a squelch control on 2 way radios. The GB sort of helps you level all out all of the background responses and quiets the machine so that when you get a nice response you will hear it over the junk. That's why you need a spot as free of metal as possible to get a good balance to work with. I also love the Tesoro's and the GB on them works very well. They are exceptionally good machines in my opinion and if you don't mind knob driven analog machines they are great! But a master detectorist can take just about any machine and make good finds with it. I sure wish I could make a find like the fellow near Morristown,Az. Gold coins are very nice to find, do ya reckon? Ok God Bless all and very happy hunting to you all.

John Tomlinson,CET P=VI
John's Detectors
Blackwell,Tx.
Best Little Detector Shop in Texas!

[COMMANDR]

Ground Balancing your MD is maybe the most important adjustment you can do besides turning the power on.

***For all you X Terra users. I found this on the Minelabowners forum.***

Ground Balance

I consider Ground Balance to be another form of discrimination. Before you can find the targets you are looking for, you have to reject the mineralization of the ground they are buried in. But you have to be careful to not set the GB too high as it will provide the same results as if you set your discrimination too high. You will reject the targets you are after! Proper GB allows you to maximize your sensitivity setting, improves target ID accuracy and allows the X-70 to operate more stable. The X-70 offers two types of Ground Balance and several ways to set each of them. In a nutshell, Normal GB is used for inland hunting and Beach GB is used when hunting in the wet sand of salt water areas. A small Beach umbrella icon will appear in the top right corner of the LCD when the Beach mode has been selected.
The quickest way to ground balance the X-70 is by using the Auto GB feature. Place your X-70in the all metal mode, find an area that is clear of an metallic targets, hold the coil about 4 inches off of the surface, select Ground Balance, Press Mode AUTO to activate the automatic GB program, lower the coil toward the ground and raise it back up to the 4-inch level. Continue to raise and lower the coil as the letters AU appear, and a progress bar indicates the status of the process. Once the setting has been chosen, I usually check that setting to see if I can "fine tune" the Auto Setting. To do this (continue to raise and lower the coil to that level, about 4 inches above the ground. Don’t let it touch the ground. Keep listening for that GB tone. You will see the current GB setting on your LCD. Your objective is to lock in the setting that represents a merging of the lower tone and higher tone. If the tone is predominantly low, press the + keypad. If it is high, press the - keypad. Again, you probably won’t get the tone to go silent. You should strive for a minimum variation in volume and tone.
To manually adjust the Ground Balance of the X-70, set the detector to the all-metal mode and find an area of ground that is clear of any metal. Before making any adjustment to the ground balance, temporarily adjust the sensitivity down to a level in the single digits. Sensitivity is the detector’s level of response to a target, the ground or outside interference, and we will increase that level after we have properly ground balanced the X-70. After lowering the sensitivity to a "single digit" level, hold the coil steady and about 4-inches above the surface and press the Ground Balance pad. You should now hear a constant hum known as the Ground Balance Tone. Lower and raise the coil repeatedly, without touching the ground. As you do this, you will hear a fluttering tone that is either high in pitch, or low in pitch. If the tone is low, you will need to press the + key until the high tone is heard. If the tone starts out high, you will need to press the - key until the low tone is heard. Your objective is to get the high tone and low tone to "meet in the middle". I seldom find it possible to completely eliminate or nullify either tone. I usually set mine at a point where neither tone is dominant and the two tones blend together. And, as I mentioned earlier, after I have achieved optimum ground balance, I boost the sensitivity up to maximize the detector's potential, without causing false signals, chatter or erroneous TID.

HH

Gary

[JCWhite]

My White's Prizm V does not have any ground balance adjustment on it but I am going to keep on trying to hunt with it even if I can't tap into the secret.

[rip]

What Chuck said ! I guess you could Reaserch a good spot to detect and then wait for someone to come along and bulldose the area for you though.