GROUND BALANCE

Hi guys im new to detecting have an SD2200v2 and haven't found any gold yet lol plenty of rusty crap being found. Just wanted an explanation of what ground balancing is, mine has tracking so its doing it automaticly. and i have read how to do it in fixed mode but i don yet understand why it needs to be done. I know what it sounds like when its not balanced in fixed mode. a better understanding of what im doing would be great. Also my machine came with a rooster booster and external speaker, do i turn the threshold up to max then adjust the volumn on the booster untill im comfortable with it ??

Hi gktint , welcome to the forum , all detecters need to be ground balanced ( if you have the manual for that detecter is should explain how to do this ) . What ground balancing does is neutralise in effect the particular type of ground you are detecting otherwise the detecter could not distinguish between the mineralised ground and metallic targets . Most detecting would be done in fixed mode , also ground balance often especially if ground type changes .. cheers Mick

G'day gktint and welcome to the forum

Like goldenhero says you need to ground balance to get rid of the ground noise so you can hear the target signal and it's not being lost in amongst all the other noise.

If detecting in tracking you will find that it can also get out of balance, when for example you lift the coil up over logs rocks and the like, you just need to pump the coil up and down in a clearish area and detect at about the same height to keep the ground balance.

Sweeping the coil back and forth over a target in tracking will also shift the ground balance, and if it is a piece of gold and a not too strong signal you will track it out which means you have ground balance the target out not just the ground.

If you find a target you are sure is a metal target then make sure you have good ground balance and flick the switch to fixed and proceed to swing over it and do all your checking this way and you won't balance out the target.

It's an easy experiment just with your detector in tracking swing near your pick and then keep it a the same height and detect around a little area, you will notice that it not ground balanced until you actually pump the coil up and down which will re ground balance the machine.

Now try the same experiment in fixed, making sure your got good ground balance first and with the switch in fixed swing near the pick and then detect around the same little area and you will notice that the machine is still well ground balanced.

Hope some of this helps and god luck out there with your new hobby.

cheers dave

Thanks Guys Iv been using the tracking mode, but it sounds like the fixed mode might be better.