QED Use/Settings - Review of Each Detecting Trip

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Hello All

My First major outing with the QED. I intend to write a review here after ever major outing with the QED, until I understand the detector. This also posted in AEGPF
This is my first PI detector. Price, Capabilities and Aussie made were the driving factors to buying this machine.

I went to Warwick GPA for two days. Two purposes for the trip one to recon as much of the all GPAs as possible and two to test my new QED.
Recon was to look for potential Dry wash locations. That a different story
I found all the trash left in the GPA. Bullets, horse shoes, rusting tin, slug gun pellets. Nothing very deep though, all at only a few centimeters. This concerned me so I buried a five cent piece at 20cm on its edge to make it as small a target as possible. Picked this up no problems at all. Full repeatable target. So I am hoping I just didnt walk over any deep targets

I took an XP ORX and my QED

QED got a good 18hrs of use over the two days and used my ORX on some of the same ground: I found it interesting on how the VLF reacted compared to the QED. ( Not Direct comparison test)

My QED setup is as follows:
QED PLII with Detech Shaft
11" Detech Ultra sensing
Quest WIFI to a set of (Apple ipod earplugs ) I am going to buy a good set
Warwick I found has a great difference in minerals across the area. So I had to make sure I basically reset the QED every time I changed location

Quest WIFI - Worked very well. Battery lasts for 24hrs, just as well as I forgot to turn it off most of the time. Had receiver in my top pocket so my earplugs never got in my way. Forgot I still had them in a couple of times Overall very happy with this audio setup

Detech shaft - Excellent

11" Detech Ultra sensing coil - Being my first coil other than HF on ORX - I a had to get use to it sounding hollow while passing it over the ground. Being hollow cuts down on weight I suppose which is good.

I had to Factory Reset at every new spot I detected, as trying to adjust from the previous location was to hard. So in the end I just factory reset when I turned in on at a new location and went through the setup process. Working through the settings starting at 2, then 1,3,4,5

I talk about each setting in the order I used in my setup process

THS-B - Setup range was 49 to 59 so around 54 was mid point. I used it at mid the entire time so I would received an even tone for Small and Large targets

MGB - Setting ranged from 170 to 210. I very quickly got use to checking MGB on the Fly. I did find myself trying to balance in the wrong direction quite a a lot, this just meant spending time cycling back the other way to get correct MGB ( Silence in the Ear Plugs). MGB is achieved on the down motion of the coil, but I was receiving a tone on the up motion as well. Once I got use to this I adjusted the MGB until neither tone could be heard. Once MGB was achieved the detector was silent.

THS-A - This setting initially confused me a bit, as to me it I felt it wasn't really doing anything, after watch the training video over and over and reading some more I understood its relationship to THS-B. This how I used it - (This may be totally wrong so I will need some feedback here). Once I achieved ground balance I would adjust THS-A up until I could just here a tone being produced I would then turn it down until the tone was only just audible. I took this as being the sweet spot for THS-A. Around 50 all over the GPA

Gain - Adjusting Gain up above 2 produced an unstable response from the QED so 2 was the max setting for most of the trip. Adjusting Gain up also effected the tone produced by THS-A. I put the Gain up and went back to THS-A to try and adjust the tone out. This had no effect. So reset THS-A and lowered Gain to make detector stable

Mode - This setting is coil and ground specific to achieve a balance. I found that 3-4 was good for all areas I detected. Anything higher or lower made the detector unstable

After going through this setup( Only took a minute or two). QED was basically silent except for the very low tone that I could only just here from THS-A. While swinging I kept the coil in contact with the ground.
I did not receive any coil to ground contact noise
At times I had to check that the detector was still on by passing it near my boot to get a target response ( steel in boots) The silence surprised me, but was excellent as I didn't have to have continual noise in my ears detecting

In patches this happened. I would get single tones from the detector both high or low, swing back past the spot of the tone, nothing
If I started to get these tones, I sometimes stopped moving the detector and listen, random tones still produced (EMI ground mineral) ? I also came across patches that produced multiple random tones. For example a patch 1m square where the detector was silent all around it, but just produced random tones all over the 1m Square. Nothing repeatable in one spot. I dug this out of curiosity, after removing a couple of cm all tone was gone and no target could be found or single disappeared. So eventually I just ignored this type of signal response putting it down to soil type\minerals. I also had tones that produced like a wobbly type noise that was over one spot that sometimes came and went. When dug target disappeared or I found I just spread the target noise over a wider area.

When target was found the tone was easy to recognize and repeatable over the one spot

Please feel free to give me feedback on my setup. I done know if I am reducing the small target detection or loosing depth

This was my first experience with the QED. Overall I am very happy and excited with my purchase. All I need to do is walk over some yellow and find it.
I think my next move is to setup a test patch somewhere. Lead sinkers from sub gram and up
 
Put this article on australian electronic gold prospecting forum tried to open Forum says my account is suspended What has happened ?
 
Same problem so forum must be down for some reason.
Anyway a very good review and look forward to more.
 
Good report Dave. Sounds like you have adapted quite well. Familiarity with your machine builds confidence, and that confidence is a major factor in finding gold.
 
G'All

Had a chance today to test the setup given to me by Goldman. Went to a local creek known for its old mines for a swing. Car parts old very rusty tools. Panned a couple bits of yellow I could just see.

QED Setup - I followed the setup suggested by Goldman on AEGPF
Factory Reset
Set mode to 4
Set THS- B to NULL - I could not get anything Lower than 50 for NULL

Setting Gain to 6 - This setting just made the the Detector make continual noise - No matter what I did to other settings the noise remained - Again Gain at 2 for a stable machine, Could not get Gain to be stable at 4 as suggested as minimum level.

MGB was very difficult. The Default of 150 was quiet and stable. I just turned to MGB up to 200 and was still stable. Turned it down to 100 and still stable and Quiet. SO I left it at default. - I don't know the effect of to high or low of MGB

THS-A I turned it up to 65/70 detector was screaming so turned it down Hit 40 so started whole process again on a higher MODE. Setting a higher MODE just made the Detector unstable so turned it down to 3 and THS-A was raised to 60 and reduced to 58 to which was to point of a just audible tone

Tried suggested setup multiple times. Ended up back at my original Setup sequence to achieve a quiet stable machine.. Still had the issue of random detector noise High and low tones. None repeatable. Deepest target today was 100mm rusty metal piece.

I cannot do any testing at my home just to much EMI. I have made some test targets .2g, .4g, 1g and 2g. I will have to go somewhere and run some tests. I will try to Video my setup with the external speaker.

I am not keen on putting it on YouTube is there another way a video can be viewed for review and feedback via the forum
 
Yes Just bought it. phrunt has made a video on his setup I will test tomorrow

Cheers
 
G'Day All

I have made a rough and ready video which is on Youtube.

After I do my initial setup as talked about above I off camera apply all the advice I have received on this AEGPF and Detector Prospector

So the end setup was reached by

1. Factory Reset
2. MGB - Changed from default to 220 as a start point - Not balance yet though.
3. Mode - Set to 3
4. THS-B - Set to Null
5.THS-A - Set to highest I can get until I hear a soft tone
6. Gain - Set to 6
7. Adjust THS-B and THS-A to stop noise created by Gain at 6
8. Lower THS-B couple clicks below Null for enhance small target response.

I think this setup still requires some tuning. Time in the field swinging is required. I need to carry a test piece of lead to confirm my setup at each location.

Video

https://youtu.be/dL2Z8-29G_k

Spielberg I am not
 
I think in the first bit your THS-A is too high. I usually ran a gain of 4 or 5 but THS-A was usually no higher than 40-50. In saying that my PL2 was prior to the current update so there may be some differences?
Maybe try setting the gain at 5 first then setting your THS-A to suit? If it's still no good drop the gain to 4 & retry?
 
My THS-A is usually high. 70-80 and that was prior to the latest update.

With mode and gain, i set my mode where the gain is around 4-6. If gain is down near say 2, i go up a notch in mode to get the gain higher. If my gain is around say 8, ill bring the mode down one to get the gain back toward the centre.

Now, i havent done any tests to confirm my thinking is on the money.
 
G'Day All

Today I went and found an old mine. No Luck today

Todays Settings

MGB: 214
THS-B 48
THS-A 001
Gain 6
Mode 3

THS-A at 001 was the point where the detector was at its most stable with gain on 6. QED still was most stable at Gain of 2

Cheers
Still a lot of intermittent noise, basically all the time
 
Dave63, I don't understand why you would be running your QED at TH-A at 001. This just makes no sense at all to me, plus you say you have intermittent noise all the time.
Something is not right. Have you tried a different coil?

Your QED should have the latest DSM ground balance system where the factory default is set at 150. This is wrong and confusing, as the average GB in Central Victoria is well above that at 220 or even more.
Start off by getting a decent GB with your Bias just audible; then set your THS-A at about 60. This will increase your threshold, so go back to Bias and readjust so that you have a barely audible threshold.
With the Detech 11" spiral wound coil, which is the coil you appear to be using, the gain should be okay at between 4 to 7. The mode should be okay where you have it set at 3, and with these settings your machine should 'purr'. If this is not the case then you have problems. I would try another coil.
 
G'Day Reg

What are you calling Bias. (THS-B) or GB noise. I only have one coil. I was in the process of purchasing an x-coil 12"x6". I can go a buy a Sadie. Your thoughts

Cheers
 
Dave63, Bias is THS-B. The factory setting is 50, and as most people use small coils for small targets I would advise taking your setting down from there until you get a barely audible threshold. Continue with your other settings, but you will need to return to TH-B and readjust should you increase your TH-A as this will bring up your threshold. How high you adjust your TH-A will depend on how loud your response is in relation to the audio system you are using.
 
G'Day All

Had a phone session with Goldman. Having my control box checked out
Cheers
 
This thread seems to have become very complicated for a machine that is actually very easy to use. Set your mode. Ground balance. Tweak Bias either way to suit. In my case apart from upping gain if possible never had to play with anything else at all. :cool:
 
ronniecruisin said:
This thread seems to have become very complicated for a machine that is actually very easy to use. Set your mode. Ground balance. Tweak Bias either way to suit. In my case apart from upping gain if possible never had to play with anything else at all. :cool:

The machine IS very easy to use but for those that wish to fine tune further and/or understand it further this is not making it more complicated.
 
G'Day All

Quick update to my Setup problems. After an on the phone lesson with Goldman. I sent my box back for testing.

Bench test found my SMR was not filtering EMI at factory Default of 107 so been changed to 109.

Bonus for the trip was the latest Firmware updated which has made changes to GB. Box in on the way back to me now.

This is one of the great advantages of the QED EXCELLENT customer service, with fast turnaround on diagnostics. LOVE your work !

Any of the other major detectors and I would not have seen my detector for weeks !
 

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