What are the affects on your metal detector from moon phases...

The magnetic fields of the earth change considerably from place to place as the moon phases and tides change as the month moves along. How much does that change the EMI effect on any particular detector during those changes? How would that be measured? We always discuss how the sun causes EMI, but never the tidal and earth magnetic field disturbances. Just thinking out loud. Now, any thoughts are appreciated. Go ahead and shoot me down on this line of thought. I am always willing to learn, so no thought is dumb if the answer comes to light ( Some wise man once said...You don't know what you don't know until you kno what you don't know)....Stuart

It would be cool to have a detector measure that...I for one find that hunting in the morning is harder then in the afternoon and then there is another down time till when the sun sets. I have had this happen to me too many times to just write it off.

LowBoy

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Good thinking..

I believe there is a thread on here about that..

I know we talked about EMI cleansing after electrical storms...I believe it may be in that thread...

Im sure it has effects...even 30 years ago I remember hunters talking about moon phases and when to hunt.....

Keith

" How much does that change the EMI effect on any particular detector during those changes? How would that be measured?"

The moon exerts a gravitatioinal pull on the earth but not an electro-magnetic field of any effect.

It would be like asking what effect your detector's magnetic field has on the windflow in a hurricane on the other side of the earth ... it doesn't.

Not sure I agree with you on that point Johnny. The earth is made up of iron and mineralized rock and as the moon cycles it exerts profound effects on the earth. Tidal and gravitational. This should cause quite a bit of movement in the earths magnetic fields on a daily basis. I would think there would be a direct correlation between gravitational effects, magnetic field of the earth shape and strength, and EMI.

Have no way to prove but certainly feel hot, cold, rainy, humid days to mention a few your detector may work differently so your post is certainly valid. How to measure these differences is beyond me but are there.

Since I have nothing better to do at the moment I figured I’d scare this thread out of the basement. This past September marks 12 years in the metal detecting hobby and as we all do, I have made some observations along the way. I am certain I’ve commented on this subject elsewhere at some point, but because I keep seeing this phenomenon it’s worth mentioning again.
We don’t always get to pick and choose when we hunt, often it’s a space between other things, which is almost always the case for me. That stupid job keeps getting in the way of things but it does keep me housed and fed, so there’s that. While I’m out I always try to be observant of my machine, how it acts, what I’m finding, what I’m not finding…these observations undoubtedly have made me better at what I do. It’s the things that I CANNOT DIRECTLY OBSERVE that are usually frustrating and confounding, such as a machines performance being great one day and the very next day at the same site, same settings, same coil, same time….just complete nonsense. WHAT is going on??
A friend of mine and I were hunting a few years back(I’ve told this story before so if you’ve seen it, forgive me) and we were both using CTX’s with 17” coils. We started at 8:30-9:00 in the morning and we were CRUSHING the deep old coins in an old ball field. By the time 11:00 came around we were both holding 4-5 silver coins and many wheats. We commented to each other that it was almost too easy! At 11:15 I looked over at him across the field and saw him looking at me. He shouts, “What the hell just happened??” I shouted back, “I don’t know, you getting anything??” He wasn’t, I wasn’t, and this went on til noon when we walked back to the cars in complete shock. He says to me, “The signals just SHUT OFF!” I agreed, because they had. It was as though someone flipped a switch and shut off the coins. It was THE craziest example of this weird phenomenon I’ve ever seen…ever.
Moon phase? Too sharp of a cutoff. Solar flare? Dunno. Mr. Jones turning on his AC unit? Probably something along those lines…local and potent. I have noted that as soon as the sun goes down, the signals get better. I’ve seen this too often to discount it, as mentioned above. Lots of automobiles around WILL affect a machine, especially a Multi freq machine with a big coil. As I almost exclusively hunt what would be considered “urban areas” with many of these factors in play, it can be frustrating, to say the least. Do moon phases factor in? Maybe. Solar action? I would think so at least to some extent. Can we control any of it? Not directly. But if we’re able to control when we hunt and we can avoid these pitfalls to some degree it certainly could be an advantage. Until I get to retire and test all these theories I guess I’ll just go hunting when I can!

Kevin --

I enjoyed your story! It definitely seems to happen in "streaks" at times...

Steve

IDX....... I know exactly where you are coming from.
Yes...... solar flares can play a factor; yet, it's fairly minor.

In all of my years of analysis........ the absolute #1 contributing factor is: Silent Masking......via Silent EMI. (((And: Masking......with audible [obvious] EMI))).

Yes......... you hit the nail-on-the-head when you said: Mr. Jones turned "ON" his A/C.
I have performed countless tests/testing.....specifically with "Silent" Masking. . . . . . . . even to the point of scientific analysis of 'controlling the variables' in a test-environment.,.,.,.,.,., and have witnessed 2 (or more) perfectly silent Noise Cancel channels..... cause a detector to have fairly dramatic (silent) performance differences/reduction(s)......just by changing a Noise Cancel channel.

You (somewhat subconsciously) hit on exactly this......... when you said that you have better performance at night....... BECAUSE....... less cars on the road........ (usually) less electrical load(s) with businesses/industries 'shutting down' for the night and going home..............A/C units NOT needing to be run as often at night..............etc.............

The Teknetics T2 and Fisher F75 were the LARGEST EDUCATORS in 'opening-my-eyes' to the crippling effect of EMI.
The slightest change in atmospheric conditions (in the form of EMI)......... and the T2/F75 would instantly (audibly) generate/express the change. The T2 ...... and especially the F75 (earlier models without DSP) are hyper-gain units that presented nearly every EMI atmospheric condition. This sounds terrible.........BUT..........it 'educated' you....AND....allowed you to 'tune' accordingly. If you KNOW the problem......... you might be able to do something about it!!! IF EMI could be mitigated......... performance was then: superb.

At Minelab...... we have put colossal/monumental engineering effort ........ via multiple (cumulative) mini milestones ...... into mitigating EMI; with the end-resultant: Manticore. (((Especially with Long Press of Noise Cancel))).
Is it perfect? ----- Absolutely not!
Is it 'value-added'? ----- EXTREMELY!!! And to a order-of-magnitude that is unsuspecting.