f5 beginner settings

[Brian NH]

F5 came in today. Now I need a pro pointer and a sand scoop. We will be heading up north to check on our camp this weekend, which is not far from Wells beach Maine. That's were my wife wants to try it out first hunt.
I know its not much of a beach machine, we will be staying on dry sand. Since I am knew to this what settings would you guys recommend. Also inland park setting to start with would be wonderful.

Does anyone recommend a dust/rain cover for f5. I like to keep all my electronic as new as possible for as long as I can. I'm kinda anal about protecting devices.
I've seen the ones they offer, It looks very stiff. Does anyone recomend them or is there a better alternative.

Brian

 

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[fuzzytexan]

Howdy Brian,

I also run a F5. Start out in all metal mode, then hold phase lock and pump the coil 6-8 in from the ground until your ground balance numbers sync up the let go of phase lock. I run the gain about mid way but I am in mineralized soil but crank it up as you see fit. Also the threshold works good around -3 but it may fluctuate based on your sandy conditions. As long as it doesn't sound really chatty you should be ready to go.

Please let me know if you have other questions.

I picked up a rain cover from eBay. Mine is all green. I choose this one because of the complete coverage.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Sandman]

A plastic baggie will do in a pinch for a cover but don't let condensation build up or it will be unstable.

 

[foiled_again]

Regarding gain/threshold settings, a lot depends on the EMI situation. I usually start with threshold at zero and adjust the gain to minimize EMI. Lowering threshold, often to about -3, is often more effective. If no EMI, maybe you can raise both. If you think you're hunting (small) gold, raise threshold. If you think you're hunting (deep) silver coins, lower threshold into minus territory and raise gain accordingly.

EMI is always a pain. On the F5 the following can help, in order of increasing effectiveness;

Frequency shift (doesn't eliminate anything but f3 does slow the beats down--f2 speeds them up)

Lowering gain

Lowering threshold (seems more effective than lowering gain)

Sacrificing notches (I.e. pulltab, foil, zinc)...shabby technique but you do what you can.

 

[Phantasman]

Leave the gain at half way for jewelry, coins, relics. The gain is only increased if you want to hunt tiny objects like small gold nuggets or tiny earrings. Gain increases sensitivity to conductivity and tries to detect minimal amounts of it, making it more suseptable to mineralization. With a lower gain setting you can increase the threshold which increases sensitivity to targets size parameters (deeper coins). High gain. low threshold is for tiny shallow objects. Less gain, high threshold is better for deeper larger objects (coins).

You can manually GB the F5 to 0 (high salt), so it IS a good beach machine. Ground Grab can only automatically GB to 40. So it's pretty much useless at the wet sand of the beach. If the GG feature could GB to 0, you wouldn't need manual GB. So it's there for that reason. It's why the BH Platinum is not a good beach machine and the Tek Gamma is. Same machine, but the BH has no manual GB.

The F5 is one of the best detectors made for versatility. The gain/threshold allows it to be a gold nugget detector even at 7.8 khz.

Go to this site and scroll to the bottom to download Mike Hillis "F5 Tips and Tricks". It's invaluable.
Fisher Metal Detectors

 

[Brian NH]

Regarding gain/threshold settings, a lot depends on the EMI situation. I usually start with threshold at zero and adjust the gain to minimize EMI. Lowering threshold, often to about -3, is often more effective. If no EMI, maybe you can raise both. If you think you're hunting (small) gold, raise threshold. If you think you're hunting (deep) silver coins, lower threshold into minus territory and raise gain accordingly.

EMI is always a pain. On the F5 the following can help, in order of increasing effectiveness;

Frequency shift (doesn't eliminate anything but f3 does slow the beats down--f2 speeds them up)

Lowering gain

Lowering threshold (seems more effective than lowering gain)

Sacrificing notches (I.e. pulltab, foil, zinc)...shabby technique but you do what you can.

Leave the gain at half way for jewelry, coins, relics. The gain is only increased if you want to hunt tiny objects like small gold nuggets or tiny earrings. Gain increases sensitivity to conductivity and tries to detect minimal amounts of it, making it more suseptable to mineralization. With a lower gain setting you can increase the threshold which increases sensitivity to targets size parameters (deeper coins). High gain. low threshold is for tiny shallow objects. Less gain, high threshold is better for deeper larger objects (coins).

You can manually GB the F5 to 0 (high salt), so it IS a good beach machine. Ground Grab can only automatically GB to 40. So it's pretty much useless at the wet sand of the beach. If the GG feature could GB to 0, you wouldn't need manual GB. So it's there for that reason. It's why the BH Platinum is not a good beach machine and the Tek Gamma is. Same machine, but the BH has no manual GB.

The F5 is one of the best detectors made for versatility. The gain/threshold allows it to be a gold nugget detector even at 7.8 khz.

Go to this site and scroll to the bottom to download Mike Hillis "F5 Tips and Tricks". It's invaluable.
Fisher Metal Detectors

Cool You guys are the best. I have much to learn. It's difficult trying to learn a new hobby when you don't know anyone local with same interest.
I did give a go today for about an hour. I found 1 clad quarter 2 zinc penny's
Brian

 

[streetshark1966]

Leave the gain at half way for jewelry, coins, relics. The gain is only increased if you want to hunt tiny objects like small gold nuggets or tiny earrings. Gain increases sensitivity to conductivity and tries to detect minimal amounts of it, making it more suseptable to mineralization. With a lower gain setting you can increase the threshold which increases sensitivity to targets size parameters (deeper coins). High gain. low threshold is for tiny shallow objects. Less gain, high threshold is better for deeper larger objects (coins).

You can manually GB the F5 to 0 (high salt), so it IS a good beach machine. Ground Grab can only automatically GB to 40. So it's pretty much useless at the wet sand of the beach. If the GG feature could GB to 0, you wouldn't need manual GB. So it's there for that reason. It's why the BH Platinum is not a good beach machine and the Tek Gamma is. Same machine, but the BH has no manual GB.

The F5 is one of the best detectors made for versatility. The gain/threshold allows it to be a gold nugget detector even at 7.8 khz.

Go to this site and scroll to the bottom to download Mike Hillis "F5 Tips and Tricks". It's invaluable.
Fisher Metal Detectors

thanks for the info I have had my f5 for a few years and I have gotten more info from you then any other place and thanks again

 

[SouthFLdigger]

With the relative low salt concentrations upstate the F5 should work with a GB of 0.0 in salty sand, try to keep the gain as high as possible. A ground balance of 0.0 means a big penalty in depth and small gold deafness, try for a sensitivity of 90 and higher on the F5. Here in the South FL a ground balance of 0.0 does nothing to stop chatter/ghosting completely on my Gamma , G2, ...only in my Nokta, especially at the wave threshold. New circuit designs from certain detector manufacturers have found a way to deal with the conductive nature of salt when heavily concentrated. None of my FTP detectors deal with high salt concentrations well, but its Maine it should work well.

 

[mikeraydj]

Here is a link to a PDF file. It is called F5 tips and tricks. Some call it the F5 bible. Mike Hillis is considered a guru on the F5. Lots of great stuff in here. Well worth the read. http://www.treasurelinx.com/uploads/Fisher_F5_Tips___Tricks_Apr_2013_rev.pdf

 

[mikeraydj]

Turn threshold up to +5 then turn up gain till it starts to chatter then back it off till it stops. Of course ground balance first.

 

[Jeffsh]

I own the F5 myself, found the stock coil that came with didn't get the depth, I was hoping for. Bought the Nel 8.5 x 11 coil, goes deep on dimes to 9" in California soil. I can turn the gain up a little higher, still get a accurate readings, and still able to get the good mixed in the trash.

 

[Mike Hillis]

The F5 Gain and Threshold are truly separated. So they do different things. Gain is an amplifier with 20 steps. Threshold is a signal gate with 10 steps (-9 to 0)

Regardless of Gain setting, a Threshold setting of 0 is a wide open detector. You control signal amplification with the Gain setting, You control the signal gate (how large a signal needs to be to be reported) with the Threshold. These two controls operated independantly of each other allow a lot of control over site conditions.

The Threshold has another setting range, +1 to +9 that amplifies the audio of the tiny signals let in by the 0 threshold setting. Actually all the signals are affected. The audio is more 'robust' with positive threshold settings. I find this additional audio rubustness of positive Threshold settings rather addicting so I always try to run with a positive Threshold setting. Just my personal preference.

There is another Threshold setting I call ++9. It is easy to find. You turn your Gain to Max. All the way to the dial stop. Then turn your Threshold to +9. The F5 should be chattering like crazy. Then take your threshold control, rotate it counter clockwise a quarter of a turn or so, then turn it clockwise just a tiny bit hard into the dial stop (the place where the dial stops moving) If you did it right, your chattering will stop or if not stopped completely, it will greatly diminish. If it didn't, try again. You can tell when you get into the ++9 setting because the detector will go stable or at least quit chattering. Mine always goes stable.

When you are in the ++9 Threshold setting, you get the benefits of Max Gain, the benefits of the positive Threshold audio settings, and the benefits of a stable detector. But you loose the Threshold gate setting of 0. It behaves more like a -2.

That is your coin setting you want to use unless you have a lot of surface trash and the Max Gain setting makes the coil foot print to large. If you need to reduce your coil foot print due to trash, or what ever, then take it out of ++9 and set up with more conservative Gain settings.

When hunting tiny targets, the tiny target are shallow. You don't want to mask the tiny targets with deeper trash targets so you use lower Gain settings and very high positive threshold settings. The low Gain settings manage your coil footprint, and the amplification of the underlying trash objects. The very high, positive threshold settings open the signal gate wide open to all the tiny signals, and add the audio amplification you want for those.

There is still a frequency limitation to how small a signal you can detect, but you would be amazed at how small you can go in target size with a small coil and high threshold settings. The F5 may not pick up the really fine chain links, but it will pick up and respond to the round links of the clasp and the clasp itself. Even the stock coil operates well for small gold this way.

Last thing before I have to run off. The F5 uses the ground signal to help mitgate EMI noise. Don't ask me how cause I dont know how, but it does. You can set up stable with the coil held still, or if your ground has any mineral content, you can setup with higher Gain and threshold settings with the coil in motion. A motion setup will give you stable operation while the coil is in motion but will chatter when the coil is help still or layed down when retrieving a target.

Hope that helps.
HH
Mike

PS....The F5 is a fast responding detector. It can show multiple targets responses under the coil. Learn to trust both the audio and the display. If you don't overdrive the Gain in the trash it will show you what is under the coil.