QED Alternative setup method?

[hippyhunter]

I've been playing around with the qed settings with the sadie coil and have come up with a bit of a different option for setting up than is suggested by QED officials.

What i will do is turn on (factory reset settings), set on mode 1, then turn gain up to max. Then i go to thsb and instead of looking for null as per normal, i wind it right down until i can hear a solid loud (annoying, may need to turn volume down a bit) threshold.
(I found it to be around thsb 20 on pl3 firmware and about 12 with pl4 firmware).
Then from there gradually raise thsb one ore two notches until you hear the emi start to occasionally disturb the threshold. Once you have raised it as much as you feel comfortable with as far (as the threshold being stable), ground balance, turn the volume down a little if its too loud for your liking (i also lower the pitch as its more tolerable for me) and thats it.

I have noticed so far the closer to null you can get from the very solid threshold setting in thsb, the more depth you get. Counting the distance i can hear a target by a definate threshold break i think i am in front as opposed to trying for just under null.?!
I have only recently started setting up this way and still want to test it a bit more in the field.
Would be interesting for me to hear from other qed owners if they wouldn't mind giving it a go.

I definately found emi to be less annoying with this setup.. im not sure if the settings are making me lose out in some way though.

*note i am using a small amp during this method.

 

[Reg Wilson]

I left it for some time before commenting, as I was curious to see the response from QED owners. The silence was deafening.

I would suggest you bury a coin at a foot. I have used a twenty cent piece.

Setting THS b below null will give a good response on tiny gold, but will kill depth on larger deeper targets. I never set below null. By setting above null you may sacrifice tiny targets, but will still pick up small bits, as well as the better deeper ones. Deeper tone is a good option also for those deep signals.

By using a buried coin you can experiment with the settings to give you the best options.

Let us know your results.

 

[hippyhunter]

Heyo reg. Yeah, have read that from you on previous threads. I can also use same method but jack the thsb up instead of down, as mentioned above. thsb somewhere above 70 (cant remember that one precicely). So could also go high thsb for larger targets. Mind you i will need to test a larger target with that method to see if its as effective as when i set up low thsb. I will give a coin a go at 1 foot over the weekend with high thsb and post what happened.. cheers
Am still not 100% sure on setting up this way but it sure makes the detector run more stable (solid uninterupted threshold hum)

 

[XLOOX]

Hippyhunter do you use headhones/earphones or the Nokia/Logitech speaker?

I find that earphones allow me to hear a continuous threshold hum on detector settings where the speaker is totally silent.

I dont like silence so I set it up that way.

I normally only run B at null -2 with Sadie or +2 with 18Elite. I will have a go at your settings next time I am out, but that may be a while

 

[hippyhunter]

Hi xloox. Yes this is just using the supplied logitech speaker. I have noticed that the threshold is more easily heard using wired earbuds/headphones. I prefer the speaker where possible thoigh for comfort which is why i am messing with the extra loud threshold from thsb setting. Plus, am finding better stability (practically rock solid threshold, with sensitivity still good). Yeah give it a go next time you get a chance to see what you think.
Hopefully i get the chance to try it way above null this weekend to test a buried target at 1 foot as reg suggested

 

[hippyhunter]

I normally only run B at null -2 with Sadie or +2 with 18Elite. I will have a go at your settings next time I am out, but that may be a while

Yes thats how i normally run the sadie coil also. I found it a bit noisy that way on my machine unless gain was lowish, which is why am having a shot at this possible other way

 

[Reg Wilson]

Like so many of the QED features, the Logitech speaker is cheap and nasty. Howard's obsession with 'cheap' has resulted in a detector that looks like a kid's school project. A far better speaker is the JBL Wind speaker. A whole different audio.
Forget about the 'official' recommended below null setting if you want to find anything better than 'flypoop'.

 

[Rockhunter62]

"Like so many of the QED features, the Logitech speaker is cheap and nasty."

And I thought that was a cup holder for their latte.

Cheers

Doug

 

[ronniecruisin]

I had one of the original first run machines and I found the best setting was 3-4 above null for the best target response. Little bit noisier but I soon learned how to listen through the noise. Got used to that running minelabs too. Targets still stand out. The QED I currently have seems the same. Run above null for best depth. Ronnie.

 

[hippyhunter]

Thanks ronnie. I will try your settings on a buried target too. Will check suoer high thsb vs. your setting vs. Just below null vs. Super low thsb..Looking like it wont be till next weekend now unfortunately, but am excited to see the results.

 

[hippyhunter]

Like so many of the QED features, the Logitech speaker is cheap and nasty. Howard's obsession with 'cheap' has resulted in a detector that looks like a kid's school project. A far better speaker is the JBL Wind speaker. A whole different audio.
Forget about the 'official' recommended below null setting if you want to find anything better than 'flypoop'.

As it happens i have a similar size much better quality speaker on hand so will definately check the difference out when i do the coin burial test

 

[ronniecruisin]

I also find pumping up thsa also can dramatically make the QED very sensitive to small targets. Buried a 5 cent piece on edge about 8" depth. Was able to detect it easily. By raising thsa progressively I could pick it up quite a few inches above the ground. Once again a bit of noise needs to be dealt with but the 5 cent piece stands out thru the noise. No problem. Coil is a 12" ellip nuggetfinder advantage. Agree about the supplied speaker though. Not great. Needs a better one.

 

[hippyhunter]

Cool. Will give the thsa adjustment a fiddling with as well. Never really touched thsa yet to be honest. Will plant a 5c at 8" also to see how i go with that too

 

[ronniecruisin]

Make sure you plant it on edge. I dug my hole then pushed the coin in the bottom of the hole with my finger. That way you know tis on edge when you backfill.

 

[hippyhunter]

Found some time to give it a bit of a go today. It pretty quickly became evident its not really a good idea. Only had time to play around with a 5 cent on edge at 8 inch. With the super low thsb (13)i could only get a signal at about 7 inches. With super high thsb (71) i got signal at 8 inch. They where both mode 1 gain 64 with the sadie.
I did a factory reset and gave just under null (thsb 48) a try (mode 3 gain 1) and got a signal at 9 inch. Got it to go close to 10 inch with thsb at 41 which was pretty stable. I then tried upping the thsa and got several extra inches more depth. It was getting a bit dark by then, but had seen enough to get the main point.
I had a quick try setting above null before leaving, but found it a bit noisy compared to below null. Will give above null a bit more of a look next time i get the chance to pop out for a play.

 

[hippyhunter]

Actually am thinking now maybee my null point has changed since the pl4 update. I didnt check today, was just assuming it was same as always has been before.
I better check that before i try above null next time

 

[BrokeInBendigo]

Raise your ths A pretty high and then null will be the quietest setting. Easier to find it with a high A.

Keep in mind null will change as the machine warms up. Mine usually shifts 3 before it stabilizes. Only really happens when its colder out. Wasnt an issue in warmer months for me.

Anyways, if you care about null, you need to find it anew each time you turn the detector on.

That said I always ran my B on the lower or upper boundary, just before it gets noisy. Found I got the best response on the targets I was looking for when doing that. Fine tune by using a test target and raising A while moving B closer to null. Theres a sweet spot where you get the best performance - since both A and B contribute to depth, but increasing the intensity of either increases noise, there is a point where their individual contributions to depth, when summed, result in the best depth - on targets above or below the GB hole time response. Must use a test target else its a punt. Multiple test targets actually

Edit: if you set up like I described, you dont need to worry about what null is. The important B values are the upper and lower bounds where it starts to get noisy. And those values depend on your A, mode and gain. If you set at null you get middling performance all over, this is the weakness of the QED performance. So really you need to decide to focus on larger or smaller targets and tune for that.

 

[hippyhunter]

Thanks BIB. I will refer back to this thread next time i get out, probably not for a month unfortunately at the moment (mind you, 12hr shifts on sundays is pretty much gold also, haha).
I've never even tried adjusting thsa before as have no idea about it really and didnt really want to muck about too much with settings, with the limited hours i get to go detecting. Feel like i will be able to get a bit of extra depth next time out compared to previously

 

[BrokeInBendigo]

Mate that's a lot of work! Have you got a faraday cage at home so you can do some testing from the recliner with a tasty beverage in the other hand?

Yeah, it's a bit of effort to set it up but once you understand what the settings do it's pretty straightforward. Hope it doesn't take you too many outings to grok it.

In one way, the weakness of only being able to get max performance on small or big things is a blessing - you can ignore lead shot pretty good That'll make your day out more enjoyable!

 

[hippyhunter]

Yes i got plenty of OT for the next month as the DC i am working in is shutting.it'll be a good opportunity for me to move closer to the gt.so i can detect weekly at the least. I reckon i will get more familiar with it when i get to detect more frequently. It will be nice getting out more too, as i think i only managed 4 days of detecting in the last 1-2 years.bloody disgraceful!!
I have a .8 gram lead shot and a ccouple of .8 gram nuggets (one smooth one prickly) for testing on setup. I have a smaller nugget too about .4g i think. I dont mind finding a few bits of lead here and there. It usually gives me a boost mentally cos i tell myself everyone else missed it, and maybee other stuff too