Question tuning a DF?

Noreaster · Aug 26, 2015

My first week really using the DF and I'm curious if I'm doing it wrong.
In waist deep to chest deep water, the DF threshold increases when waves go by, increases when i swing away from the beach and fades to inaudible when i swing towards the beach. This is all at the presets. Moreover at this setting, i can only hear the very loud targets.
I have tried adding delay to calm the noise down. Getting the delay to about 9 - 10 o'clock seems to work, but at this setting, am i not removing gold ?
If i set the delay to just clicked on, i can also get it to stop falsing by turning down the gain to almost turning the unit off.
I spent an hour in the water last night without a target at all. This is on a somewhat busy beach and hunting the area where i see people in the water.

Thanks in advance.

Cfmct · Aug 26, 2015

The coil is reacting to the minerals in the water its normal for the volume to increase.. the DF is not a quiet smooth threshold PI. The pulse delay at higher settings will weaken signals to small thin gold so I leave mine at just clicked out of the 6 pm.. When you say your threshold tone goes quiet it doesn't mean you will miss a target... the DF is not a turn on and go detector... you will need to take your time learning it... as to not being able to hear any deep targets that is a problem.. you could have a coil issue... do you have any friends who have used the DF near you?

I'm not a big fan of air testing but what have you tried that?

Steve · Aug 26, 2015

I have the same problem at a couple of my beaches. Oddly enough the problem goes away once the water temperature drops to a certain level. I have tried every tuning combination to no avail . I've even tried wrapping the coil in a bag to prevent the current from actually coming into contact with the coil.
Wetsand isn't a problem or water under 2ft deep

Noreaster · Aug 26, 2015

Cfmct said:
The coil is reacting to the minerals in the water its normal for the volume to increase.. the DF is not a quiet smooth threshold PI. The pulse delay at higher settings will weaken signals to small thin gold so I leave mine at just clicked out of the 6 pm.. When you say your threshold tone goes quiet it doesn't mean you will miss a target... the DF is not a turn on and go detector... you will need to take your time learning it... as to not being able to hear any deep targets that is a problem.. you could have a coil issue... do you have any friends who have used the DF near you?

I'm not a big fan of air testing but what have you tried that?

Defiantly not turn and go. I think I have about 10 hour so on it and it's still a little mystifying.
Unfortunately, I don't have any friends with one. However I'm not thinking coil issue because it only happens in the water.
I have done some air testing, that's what made me realize the delay changes gold sensitivity. Does white gold and yellow gold react the same? ( I only had white to test).

Does turning the gain down so low kill depth?

Noreaster · Aug 26, 2015

Steve said:
I have the same problem at a couple of my beaches. Oddly enough the problem goes away once the water temperature drops to a certain level. I have tried every tuning combination to no avail . I've even tried wrapping the coil in a bag to prevent the current from actually coming into contact with the coil.

Wetsand isn't a problem or water under 2ft deep

Very interesting

There is a lot of black sand here. 1 scoop in and it's all black. I can usually see where I was digging by the big black spot.

--- updated ---

Went out again and took note. About the same symptoms.

Steve · Aug 26, 2015

Noreaster said:
Very interesting

There is a lot of black sand here. 1 scoop in and it's all black. I can usually see where I was digging by the big black spot.

--- updated ---

Went out again and took note. About the same symptoms.

depending on your climate I'm sure the problem will disappear in a month or two. I used mine all winter in the water. Tried 1 time in the summer waist deep and it was just useless . It got to the point of gain just clicked out of off... delay almost full, and still every surge of water set it off. I even tried stepping on the coil to keep it flat with the sand. No luck. And yes the detector isn't faulty i have 2 of them

Cfmct · Aug 27, 2015

Noreaster said:
Defiantly not turn and go. I think I have about 10 hour so on it and it's still a little mystifying.
Unfortunately, I don't have any friends with one. However I'm not thinking coil issue because it only happens in the water.
I have done some air testing, that's what made me realize the delay changes gold sensitivity. Does white gold and yellow gold react the same? ( I only had white to test).

Does turning the gain down so low kill depth?

I don't think so... I have had no issues finding yellow or white gold with my DF

Black sand shouldn't be mush of an issue for the PI... I remember though having a heck of a time with the black sand with my GT.. it hated it

I mainly hunt in the winter months and the sound you hear as you move deeper is normal to the DF it doesn't go away as the temp drops here in Connecticut... the DF is not a quiet smooth threshold machine... mine spits and sputters all the time... I run my DF with the gain at 2 pm sometimes 3 but if you have a lot of black sand turning the gain down shouldn't affect the depth that much... just take the time to learn it as its a deep sucker.

adamBomb · Aug 27, 2015

Noreaster said:
My first week really using the DF and I'm curious if I'm doing it wrong.
In waist deep to chest deep water, the DF threshold increases when waves go by, increases when i swing away from the beach and fades to inaudible when i swing towards the beach. This is all at the presets. Moreover at this setting, i can only hear the very loud targets.
I have tried adding delay to calm the noise down. Getting the delay to about 9 - 10 o'clock seems to work, but at this setting, am i not removing gold ?
If i set the delay to just clicked on, i can also get it to stop falsing by turning down the gain to almost turning the unit off.
I spent an hour in the water last night without a target at all. This is on a somewhat busy beach and hunting the area where i see people in the water.

Thanks in advance.

Just keep playing around with it. I thought mine was having issues and everyone said it was normal. Its just a very noisy machine that takes a lot of time to learn how to use...and once you learn it its supposed to be one of the deepest out there.

imalookin2 · Aug 27, 2015

You can tune a DF but you can't tuna fish.

Sorry I had to!

imalookin2 · Aug 27, 2015

Cfmct said:
I remember though having a heck of a time with the black sand with my GT.. it hated it

That is what the stock coil does. The 10" Tornado is too sensitive for some beaches, that is why I sold mine. Larry had the same results. Funny how coils react different depending on the beach. Sometimes it depends on what direction you are hunting too.

Cfmct · Aug 29, 2015

imalookin2 said:
That is what the stock coil does. The 10" Tornado is too sensitive for some beaches, that is why I sold mine. Larry had the same results. Funny how coils react different depending on the beach. Sometimes it depends on what direction you are hunting too.

really? say it ain't so... only way I will sell a GT is if Whites comes out with a new beach machine... I only had issues at CapeCod with the black sand... it runs super smooth at my spots in CT

Steve · Aug 30, 2015

I took the df into the water last night without any problems.
I have never had any problems with cold water. Warm or hot water is almost always a problem. These are beaches across Asia, not just a small area.

jtb2017 · Aug 30, 2015

Cfmct said:
really? say it ain't so... only way I will sell a GT is if Whites comes out with a new beach machine... I only had issues at CapeCod with the black sand... it runs super smooth at my spots in CT

I was hoping fisher would release a new water machine. Was rumored for a while. Whites needs an update to the bhid. It's like way over due. All they really did a few years back was make the coil bigger.

No gold for me this weekend. It was a whites pi that got it all. Lol. Learn that machine. It looks like I'll be getting one soon. Hhgl-Joe

Cfmct · Aug 30, 2015

joeb1999 said:
I was hoping fisher would release a new water machine. Was rumored for a while. Whites needs an update to the bhid. It's like way over due. All they really did a few years back was make the coil bigger.

No gold for me this weekend. It was a whites pi that got it all. Lol. Learn that machine. It looks like I'll be getting one soon. Hhgl-Joe

Whites should go back to the 9.5 coil... there was no need for the 12 inch coil in my opinion... I found more gold with my PI PRO than I ever found with the DF... if I could find a 9.5 neutral buoyancy coil I would replace the big coil on my DF ... its not about that it floats because I use a straight shaft and its a non-issue for me.. its just a noisy coil where my PI PRO was a lot smoother moving through the water.

Noreaster · Aug 31, 2015

Cfmct said:
really? say it ain't so... only way I will sell a GT is if Whites comes out with a new beach machine... I only had issues at CapeCod with the black sand... it runs super smooth at my spots in CT

What part of the cape, i was on the Nantucket sound side of the Dennis area.

Cfmct · Aug 31, 2015

Noreaster said:
What part of the cape, i was on the Nantucket sound side of the Dennis area.

I was near Mashpee and some place south of Falmouth...

Question tuning a DF?

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