Loop Drift

Loop drift will happen whether the loop is held up in the air or is on the ground. This is, when it drifts from one direction to another and continues to do this until it cannot be used. There are cases in which the threshold hum is fine, but then it will little by little start getting louder and louder. In some cases this can be resolved by squeezing and letting go of the reset or pinpoint button to put it back to threshold’s original level of hum. However, on the downside it is possible the hum might become reduced in level and keep on doing this until it has completely disappeared. It can be placed back to the original hum in the same way it was previously done by pressing the reset button. It is normal for loops to drift to some extent, some do it more than others, however in most cases the smaller ones have a tendency of drifting more than the bigger ones. When the loop is permitted to drift more, the signal from a target can get covered since it become overpowered. If the drift is downwards to where there is not any threshold, it will not be possible to detect the targets that are deep in the ground or those that are very small. Only in cases where the detector is used with the hum at the edge of threshold is it the most sensitive. It is simple to detect an upward drift when the loud hum becomes evident. It is difficult to see a downward drift since the detector is quiet and seems to be working smoothly, however this is not the case. When there isn’t any hum or absolute silence it means the hoop has lost the ground balance because of more mineralization or that the loop has drifted down. If it is because of the first case, the prospector will need to ground balance the detector again. If it is due to the second reason, the reset button should be activated in order to get back the threshold hum.

The feature of S.A.T. or autotune can be found on almost all metal detectors that are made specifically for gold prospecting and is a good feature to have on any multipurpose detector. As a matter a fact, the actual models have been set with S.A.T. by the factory as is the case with most brands. When the autotune or S.A.T. is utilized it automatically corrects type of drift, and the type of mineral changes that are in the ground. It will still be necessary to keep on ground balancing but the threshold loss, which losses targets in a silent void, can be avoided with autotune. Nonetheless using it changes the unit from all metal and non motion to motion. Gold can be found nonetheless by both discriminator and automatic ground cancel detectors.