Vaquro and ground balance?

[Chunter]

I have a new Vaquero and would like to know what ground balance settings you use and what is the advantage and disadvantage of each. Does this machine machine work best with slightly negative, neutral, or positive settings? Thanks

 

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[doggoneitdignit]

Depends on your soil conditions, for me I live dark grey glaysolic type soil, I am neutral. Airid more dry conditions with heavy red soil could be different to the darker grey's to the mineralization you are dealing with in your area, and wetness as well. Also acidity I think plays a role. Where I am neutral slightly negative.

Follow this and you should have no problems

 

[doggoneitdignit]

Scannerguy speaks on 3:16 on GB slightly negative may help you again depending... watch the whole video, if you already havn't. Dime at 11" blows me away every time I see this.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

In Massachusetts, I ground balance neutral (Tejon and Outlaw), then rotate about 1/4 to 1/3 negative the difference is night and day for depth and signal response.

 

[doggoneitdignit]

Sorry I meant negative for me in my area, my bad I was out the other day. Last summer very dry like soil conditions I found myself in the positive in some areas, again depends where your located, all soil will change over areas that you hunt will not be the same, I tryed out in my back yard yesterday a day before a large storm came through not sure as the ground may have been still unstable from all the lightning, anyways the ground was wet and as far as I can see from the other day I was getting very deep signals the way Scannerguy had his GB settings 1/4 turn from the negative. I was well GB then but some deep signals were coming in as well but breaking up I would dig a 7" plug but still unable to pick up the signal until after my sensitivity was set at 10. I had my 5.75 Concentric coil I was doing way better from increasing the sensitivity as I was original at 6 getting no hit, changed this to close to 10 without chatter as well not bad then I up the threashold a bit was hitting more solid coin signals now, but again some fallsing on deeper objects, dug some were junk then decided I was no longer going to dig except for the solid signals every time it came up a coin.

I will try again we got hit with snow now.. had a nice time with my Vulcan PP set sensitivity at 5 and was hitting deep for objects except for those 10-12" signals on my detector was having hard times getting too, I could stick that Vulcan down the hole and still unable to find it, so just buried the soil back up and moved on, unusual but again the ground was wet and I was getting very small thin pieces of scrap metal that is likely broken up in my ground that it was sensing with great sensitivity.

Had fun and hitting alot more signals obviously from the moisture we had just up to me which ones I am going to dig.

Just swung slow and listen more as I can tell the coins from the junk type breaking up signals I knew were not coins dug them anyway, my discriminate was below .05 but tested by raising my discriminate to max still getting good solid signals still so knew they were coins getting average at 5" for older pennies and coins.

Good day, and more to come.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Hello doggoneitdignit,

The Tesoro machines I own are a lot of fun and have paid for themselves in gold and silver jewelry finds. The best part IMHO is set the discriminator where gold lives very slightly below 5 cents and dig every repeatable tone. No reading numbers or thinking about tones...etc, just dig above the discriminator setting and enjoy. Do I dig a lot of mid-range junk...yes sir, but my Gold jewelry count is always higher with the Tesoro.

Regards,

Doc

 

[doggoneitdignit]

YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!, I realized the other day after calling it a day that some of those signals when I was turning up the discriminate to near max I would be missing gold, prior for me going out that day the night before I did an air test on my white gold band wedding ring comes in at .05 just above that breaks up and just at below tab disappears, to me those broken depper signals could be missed opportunities, I know exactly what you are saying better to just leave it under .05 and dig them anyways, I rather dig then pass up on more jewelry. I did catch myself doing this the other day, and one just has to keep telling themselves to dig more then passing them up I will be doing the parks some good by clearing away the junk then just leaving potentials in the ground to someone else

Thanks Doc for mentioning this as this years outings are going to bring me more gold by more digging that's all and it will pay off I know it!!

HH

 

[digger27]

Back in the day I used to hunt with that disc knob just below 5¢, that's what I read would be fine to get most gold.
Then I read a post from someone that said the best gold target he ever dug came in at foil...lower foil.
I started to lower that knob on my next hunt...glad I did.
Out of 35 gold objects I have dug in the last 6 years or so 8 came in below my old just under nickel disc point, some way lower to just a hair above the area where condiment packages come in.
I would have missed them all.
Not a huge deal because most of them were smaller yellow gold but finding those 8 always makes me wonder what I missed by not moving that disc knob down to foil earlier.

All of them were not small either by the way...this one was actually pretty large and even fit my fat finger but it is white gold and that alloy can definitely come in low.
This was one of those that was almost as low as that condiment package/round freshness seal area.
Notice the ice, also.

I hunt with that disc near iron now, have for years.
Can't take the chance on missing more gold like this.

 

[doggoneitdignit]

Thanks guys really appreciate your input on the discriminate here, will take that advise here digger as well near foil, I have no problem digging more then leaving it just sit in the ground, rather have a pile high of jewelry sitting on my table, and sure my Mrs. would appreciate that as well, can hear her now in the back of my head so I will keep diginit and bring home the potential prizes, maybe something in it for me in the end as well, we all win.

 

[doggoneitdignit]

Guess last thing I forgot to mention if my descriminate is set lower and digging more and I am a situation where at times I would be likely digging deeper plugs would I benefit with a handy lil shovel to dig those deeper plugs. Has anyone noticed cleaner together soils pertaining to the plug better with a shovel rather then a hand digger like the Lesche lets say. Not sure if that is a silly question but for some reason make more sense and less messy? I understand the whole shovel thing vs where your hunting say in a farmers field, old homestead, possibly farm house vs say a local park then maybe then a hand tool.

 

[digger27]

A friend I hunt with only uses a 31" Lesche...makes neat holes and pretty small if you need too.
A guy I hunted with once had a very bad back and this was all he used...he couldn't couldn't really bend over so he couldn't do this hobby without it.
I have one too but I only use it sparingly in the woods and a few other places and for close work in holes...digging around rocks and roots you can't cut through, I prefer the hand tool.
My friend with the 31" can't understand how we hand tool guys can stand it but I told him you use it long enough we can become fast, efficient and still go deep.
Most times either will do but some people still think that small shovel is used to make big holes so some never bring them into parks...a perception thing.


Also getting back to that gold stuff and regarding maybe digging tons of trash because you are using lower disc...I don't and haven't for years.
I got tired of digging tons of junk a long time ago so I started looking for ways to cut out and avoid digging the bulk of the trash I come across out there but somehow stay successful and I did...and still continued to find tons of clad, older great coins and gold.
I dug huge amounts of garbage getting good at these methods and as my knowledge and skills got better my confidence grew with them and my trash volume lowered over time...and I mean by a lot like at least 80% of what I used to dig.
I call these high percentage methods and they are not perfect but in my case my enjoyment in this hobby increased and my quality and quantity of great targets actually soared.
I probably miss things doing it this way, so say the numbers vs. digging it all or close to it, but my success rate is surprisingly high so continue to do it this way to this day...and many others use similar methods especially using Tesoros.
These methods entail understanding your detector well and target behavior as best as you can...especially important to me since I hunt in extremely infested trash and iron filled sites 95% of my time.

Using my Fishers it is all about the tones plus watching the screen for specific target behavior...my digging rules I go by I call them.
On my Vaq and Compadre it is all about hunting on low disc to get the loudest, clearest and deepest signals then thumbing that disc knob on all targets to figure out every target the best I can before I dig them, something I have always done since day one and kind of a game I have always played with myself.
At first I did it the way the manuals say to thumb up to the disc out point.
Eventually I found thumbing past that point to silence then coming back down while swinging over targets and listening closely to how targets "come in" is way more accurate in every way you can think of.
It becomes extremely fast and efficient with enough practice, too.
Why Tesoro doesn't put this method in their manuals is beyond me but there are tons out there that agree and only do it this way.
I do it using both of my Tesoros, have for years, and for me it works.
Anyway you want to do it is fine, dig it all, set the disc and dig everything that beeps above it, thumb up to the disc out point or this way of thumbing past and then down...it is a hobby, do it any way you want to enjoy it the most.
This is my way and it seems to work...again for me.

Here is a thread from a hunter that tried it and I describe it in more detail there and there is a blurry movie in there I took long ago showing me finding one of those lower foil gold rings...the disc on my Compadre ended up right on the L in foil.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/t...r-27-s-method-thumbing-disc-knob-up-down.html




This was right next to a trashy picnic pavilion, there were tons of caps, tabs foil and can slaw of all sizes.
I avoided digging about 80-90% of the noisier trash I came across next to that pavilion, went after just the signals that came in quiet and instantly solid and still found gold using this method.
Luckily, every piece of gold I have found so far with any of my detectors have all been at 5-6" or less in depth and every one acted solid...all within my digging rules.
Not saying gold could never come in noisy, jumpy and/or iffy, especially the deeper ones, but so far for me they never have so my rules are in place and I won't change them till I see a need in the field in real life.
So far in about 6 years+ hunting with my Tesoros I have not seen that need.

Just another way to think about doing this hobby and the most enjoyable and productive way I have come across so far.

 

[doggoneitdignit]

Thanks for the valuable insight into this long over due hobby of mine, many years since something triggered to bring me back into it and going forward and learning from great people who love to share what they have over the years with others, won't go unnoticed as well including what others have shared from this TN including what I will get out of it on the fields.

Thanks again will look into variations and listening to hard signals dig still all great signals as you mentioned and see what transpires for me, I have a good back and will be satisfied enough with my Lesche and Hori digger for now I think and may look into a shovel later when I feel the need.

Again thanks for spending your time, I have learned alot.

Cheers.