Here's one for ya, Sharpshooter

You like goin' deep into the intricacies of metal detectors and their settings for maximum wow.

The Nokta FORS Relic has a Sensitivity setting and an iMask setting.
Per the manual:
SENSITIVITY is the detection depth setting that controls the gain of the device. It is used to eliminate the electromagnetic interference signals received from the surrounding environment as well as ground noise.
iMASK is used to eliminate false signals caused by ground noise (or hot rocks...)

My assumption here: false signals cause by ground noise IS ground noise. Yes or no?

Ok, you're out running the Relic with the stock coil and you're getting bombarded with lots of noise from the ground. You're running in DI2 and concerned that any faint signals from deep or very small targets might not be heard over the cacophony of the noisy background.
Do you just try to work thru the noise, or do you try to dial it down? Lower Sensitivity or higher iMask? How much of each? Which is less detrimental to depth of detection?

For the purpose of this discussion, let's not consider use of a smaller coil to reduce ground noise.

TIA

Wayne

Pleasant Garden, NC
AT Max, Nokta Impact, MX Sport, Nokta FORS Relic, GPX 4800, Infinium, Racer, Deus, F75SE, Nautilus DMC II (order of acquisition, last to first)

Does an archeologist argue with a plow? A bureaucrat with a bulldozer?

Wayne,
IMO, it's like hunting gold nuggets with a GPX (PI unit). You do to the settings whatever you need to do to quiet the machine down in bad ground so that you can hear targets. That would mean reducing sensitivity (gain) and increasing iMask, mess with ground balance +or - (whatever is necessary). Hot rocks make a very distinctive sound on a VLF. Sometimes, it's best to manipulate the settings to make the hot rocks sound distinctive then you can ignore them. The biggest mistake is to run the sensitivity too high. It is amazing how low you can run the sensitivity and still hit targets at good depth.

Dean

A person could run a tradeoffs with settings to run quieter,,,but some depth could be sacrificed,,,meaning a person could find a worthy target either way.

Meaning running noisy or quiet.

Unfortunately no definite absolutes with detecting.

Deus, Minelabs,,and others--- the same.

Myself,,I let my concentration levels at the time be a driver usually,,,meaning after a while if I get burned out concentration wise,,I may run a quieter running setup.

And I usually hunt my sites many times over the course...

As far as which between Imask and id mask that have the larger effect on depth-- still too early for me to give an honest opinion.

When it cools off,,and I can do maybe more comparisons while over some targets,,,I will be able to do.

Right now,,I'm using small coil with both Imask and id filter at 0.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/2016 02:50PM by tnsharpshooter.

based on the lack of specifics in your response, compared to results of previous tests you have shared, you have not ANALYZED the effect of higher iMask vs lower Sensitivity?
I kinda thought you would have been curious about that. I know I am. Anybody?

Wayne

Pleasant Garden, NC
AT Max, Nokta Impact, MX Sport, Nokta FORS Relic, GPX 4800, Infinium, Racer, Deus, F75SE, Nautilus DMC II (order of acquisition, last to first)

Does an archeologist argue with a plow? A bureaucrat with a bulldozer?

ncwayne Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> based on the lack of specifics in your response,
> compared to results of previous tests you have
> shared, you have not ANALYZED the effect of higher
> iMask vs lower Sensitivity?
> I kinda thought you would have been curious about
> that. I know I am. Anybody?
>
> Wayne

No in depth analyzation yet.
One thing I do notice about the Relic detector,,,,freshly buried test-- could give skewed false results,,,meaning comparing needs to be done on targets in the wild,,adjusting settings.

I don't have enough different targets in my test grades to use the detector and get what I think are worthy results.

I sure don't want to give false data here,,concerning this detector.

And I have only had this detector for 12 days.

TNSS, didn't realize the Relic is still new to you. Yes, you need more time to get into deeper testing.

And yes, IDMask (discrimination) is a 3rd variable, in addition to iMask and Sensitivity. One which must be kept constant (preferably at zero) when comparing effects on noise-vs-depth of lowering Sensitivity and raising iMask.

Wayne

Pleasant Garden, NC
AT Max, Nokta Impact, MX Sport, Nokta FORS Relic, GPX 4800, Infinium, Racer, Deus, F75SE, Nautilus DMC II (order of acquisition, last to first)

Does an archeologist argue with a plow? A bureaucrat with a bulldozer?