Can the Compadre MD in dry sand?

[drd777]

I thought I had my first MD kit decided: Compadre,Pro-Pointer, 31 Sampson. I would like to MD nearby parks but since I only live 8 miles from a beach I would also like to MD in dry sand. However, some have said you need a sensitivity knob to MD the beach; the Compadre doesn't have a sensitivity knob. Help.

 

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[Terry Soloman]

You will do great in the DRY sand!!!! Go Swing!

 

[olfacere]

As long as there isn't a lot of salt water under the coil to cause interference, the Compadre will do just fine. Stay off the wet stuff and you should have no problem.

P.S. The MicroMax Silver, which is basically a Compadre plus a sensitivity knob, is still a single-frequency VLF machine and so will have troubles around salt water. Being able to turn the op-amp down to 1:1 (eliminating interal noise and distortion as much as possible) is very helpful, but there's still going to be crazy chatter. The key is the fact that the chatter is annoying, but not cleanly repeatable like a target signal. So, even with a sensitivity knob, you would still have some troubles in the wet, salty sand.