noisy ground after rain?

hi all went detecting to the beaufort area last weekend found 5 bits for 1.9 gms friday to saterday lunch time when it started to rain.got up sunday morning weather fine ground pretty quite. about 10 o"clock it got a bit hummid the ground got very noisy went down to 4 on the gain on my 4500 but finished up giving it away. is this normal or just me ? have been detecting for about 2 years but struggle a bit with the technology.your comments would be appreciated .cheers .

nuggetseeker,

this is guesswork not knowing your coil size or your settings;
but a larger coil will be more susceptible to emi changes and things like wind, heat etc.
Your settings, as I'm sure you know can also have an effect.
You didn't say too much about messing with the Manual Tune, which along with Gain and Stabilizer,
can be a big help in settling the detector down.

I am sure there are other suggestions that will be offered up.

thanks flakmagnet coil size was 12 by 7 nf stabilizer set at 2 man tune 76 .i didnt think to go to a larger coil or change man tune.i will give it a go thanks again

nuggetseeker
just to be clear I was saying that a larger coil would be more susceptible to emi - would be more of a problem
than your 12x7.
Try using the manual tuning first. I think a lot of people mainly go between
something like the 80 to 120 range for most adjustments.

Stabilizer setting seems a bit low@2. Im curious at how you settled on that value.
Running a small coil like the 12 x 7 would indicate that you're chasing small gold. A setting of 2 might mask faint signals.
According to the manual after selecting the search mode and audio settings, adjust the gain till the threshold just starts to waffle then use the stabilizer to smooth it out.

hello detectoraid
a chap i detected with told me i should try to keep stab a couple below my gain.i was just trying to quieten it down and that was just where i got to before giving up .

To add a touch to detectoraid's comments,

You should put Stabilizer at the Factory preset before you adjust the Gain.
Then, after you have set the Gain, adjust the Stabilizer to smooth out the Gain.

And, as he said, by using a low Stabilizer number there is the chance of
losing some sensitivity.

Gday Nuggetseeker,
There is a set of diggings that I have been detecting lately that,if the ground is dry,the ground noise isnt too bad.
But when it gets a good soaking,My 4000 with a big Mono is a real handfull.
Its also great first thing in the morning,before all the hotrocks wake up

G'day Gus, you will find that ground that gets noisy after rain, almost always has a build up of salt or "halides" in the soil
and becomes conductive when damp.

Inhere wrote:G'day Gus, you will find that ground that gets noisy after rain, almost always has a build up of salt or "halides" in the soil
and becomes conductive when damp.

On the GPX 4000 there was a "salt" setting, the GPX 4500 has it in the menu under the "special" timings as Salt Coarse, and the GPX 5000 has it under the "special" menu as Salt Gold. It is my understanding that the Salt Gold setting on the 5000 is not as aggressive as the previous Salt Coarse offering on the 4500 and therefore should be more sensitive to the smaller nuggets under these conditions. Some earlier machines also have a salt setting.

If the ground is noisy when wet then as Inhere stated, the ground is likely to be conductive from salt leeching. The lower slopes from hills and some gullies show this up. If you are detecting in "Enhance" timings and the detector moans and groans over the ground then it is probably time to switch to the "salt" mode. Some of these areas can be worked in Normal timing and fixed balance if you are slow and methodical though, while some may need a AI or salt coil. My experience shows me the 5000 handles these spots in our area better than previous machines.

If I encounter this type of ground (we get it regularly) when just general detecting for a patch, I switch to Salt Gold on the 5000 and detect in that timing. If I get a signal I suspect is mineralisation, I switch to Enhance and if it is gone, I switch back to salt and walk on. Chaining is different scenario though.

thanks for all your comments guys have jotted a few things down. cant wait to go out again and try a some of that advice.

Hi nuggetseeker.
If you were detecting in the burnt off area as I suspect, then yes, you would be experiencing a lot of ground noise. This area is full of mineralisation and is very hard to work. Don't dispair, it is probably not your technique. (even the 5000 struggles)
Most locals disregard the general rules when it comes to gain/stabiliser settings and drop settings to reduce ground noise. It's a bit of tit for tat. Reduce some sensitivity and depth to be able to hear the faint noises. Also, they mainly use the standard 11" coil or smaller and swing really slow.
It is a very, very frustrating area to detect.
Cheers spinna

gday everyone
went out for a swing a couple of days ago to try some of those tips.
turns out the 12"by 7" has had a hissy fit, when i turned on the detector it went nuts. put it one a mates machine to make sure it wasnt my detector, same thing so looks like ill have to get a new one. not all bad news though. put my 12" round nf on and went for a detect. about half an hour later i got a signal at the base of a tree, a couple of scrapes and out came a whopping bit of .2 of a grm. 10 minites latter i got a 3.2 grammer.had some lunch and out again. after going for a wander around i found my self back where i found the nuggets . only about 2 mtrs from where i found the 3 grammer i got a very soft inverted sound,it was 5 o clock, gave a good scrape,it got better,after 6" iwas in virgin ground and the sigal was getting louder , the ground was very hard had to stop for a drink
at 12" down. at about 14 " and 8 of that in very hard virgin ground the target was out. a couple of scoops i could see it in the scoop, i thought thats not lead gave it a rub on the duds and sure enough it was 22.3 grms of the right coulor. it was in between some deep diggings where you would expect to find what the old timers threw out. put a whole new perspective and attitude to your approuch.cheers

good stuff nuggetseeker
what a great day
cheers dave

Congratulations on your find nuggetseeker That`s a good one and a pretty good pick up with the 12 inch round NF.I have done well with this coil also,and what settings did you settle on this time round with your 4500? You also said your 12x7 NF lost the plot

Have you found any big differences / pluses between these 2 coils,just out of interest...Thanks in advance.

Cheers Eureka Dreams

hello eureaka dreams
i think my coil got some moisture in it through the conection on the top of it. its not supposed to happen, but it also happened to another bloke i know. same coil he had it sussed out and he was told that some moister had got in.
as far as differences between the two coils go i havent had the 12" round for that long. but i would dought that i would have picked up the 22gmr with the 12by7