WANTED: VIKING 5D

[AS (EU)]

Actually, there is a White's Coin Getter listed on ebay.com as I have two at home. Still quite cheap

[pelanj]

Help me with my Viking, please.

Hello, I have recently bought a Viking 5. I have already been a few times out with it on a beach, but I think I have a problem with temperature. It happened yesterday and today as well, in the evening I just could not set the threshold, it was too loud even at both settings minimal. It started working again after a while at room temperature. Today I remembered to check the temperature and it was 10 °C. During the day it must have been at least something like 16 °C.

Could it be so heavy temperature dependent? I can get with the coarse tuning only a little above 1/4 and never get close to 1/2. Could it be that the tolerances play against each other and R6 from KT315's schematic should be replaced by a smaller one, say 6k8? All my other detectors were able to work down to -5 °C, I would like to get at least to that with the Viking as well.

It is a nice little machine for travelling around and I tend to like its iron rejection, I could hear quite a lot of iron nulls on the beach. The detection range should be sufficient for beach hunting during the season and I can also hunt wet sand with it. What bugs me is the temperature dependence...

[Qiaozhi]

Hello, I have recently bought a Viking 5. I have already been a few times out with it on a beach, but I think I have a problem with temperature. It happened yesterday and today as well, in the evening I just could not set the threshold, it was too loud even at both settings minimal. It started working again after a while at room temperature. Today I remembered to check the temperature and it was 10 °C. During the day it must have been at least something like 16 °C.

Could it be so heavy temperature dependent? I can get with the coarse tuning only a little above 1/4 and never get close to 1/2. Could it be that the tolerances play against each other and R6 from KT315's schematic should be replaced by a smaller one, say 6k8? All my other detectors were able to work down to -5 °C, I would like to get at least to that with the Viking as well.

It is a nice little machine for travelling around and I tend to like its iron rejection, I could hear quite a lot of iron nulls on the beach. The detection range should be sufficient for beach hunting during the season and I can also hunt wet sand with it. What bugs me is the temperature dependence...

The Viking 5 appears to have very good iron rejection when tested in air, but in the ground it's a horror story. Try taking a small coin and see how far you can detect it in air. Then bury the same coin in the ground and see how far it can be detected. The problem with the Viking 5 is its lack of ground rejection. As soon as you place the search head near the ground the threshold level moves, and sensitivity goes out the window. This will also be the reason why you are losing depth on the beach. I used to have one in my collection, but swiftly sold it on eBay.

[pelanj]

I wanted to try that at the end of the day, but I got the problems with threshold. That would really disappoint me - I thought the ground only moves the threshold (that I retune) and sensitivity stays the same.

[Qiaozhi]

I wanted to try that at the end of the day, but I got the problems with threshold. That would really disappoint me - I thought the ground only moves the threshold (that I retune) and sensitivity stays the same.

Although you can retune the threshold, you must keep the search head exactly the same distance above (and parallel to) the ground. Any ferrous objects will move the signal in one direction (causing a null) whereas non-ferrous will shift the signal in the other direction. In theory this sounds good, but in practice the presence of ferrous targets in the soil tend to override the [usually] smaller non-ferrous signals. The result is very poor performance when used in the field. Bearing in mind that the ground itself moves the signal in the same direction as ferrous targets, you can see this is a recipe that is doomed to failure.

[pelanj]

Just to be sure - if I hold the head parallel to the ground at the same level and no iron is there masking the target (coin) - can I see it for example in 6 inches (as in the air)? I think I have dug one or two pulltabs from that depth - but with the sand I am never sure about the depth. Unfortunately it seems I will not be able to test it today because of the weather.

I am using it for beach only, most of the time the surface is relatively flat with low iron contaminaton where I am.

[Qiaozhi]

Just to be sure - if I hold the head parallel to the ground at the same level and no iron is there masking the target (coin) - can I see it for example in 6 inches (as in the air)? I think I have dug one or two pulltabs from that depth - but with the sand I am never sure about the depth. Unfortunately it seems I will not be able to test it today because of the weather.

I am using it for beach only, most of the time the surface is relatively flat with low iron contaminaton where I am.

Even if you keep the search head parallel to the ground, there will be some loss of depth when compared to an air test.

[pelanj]

The rain forced me out of the beach quite early, but my first signal was a 10 DKK coin some 2"-3" deep. I got another two smaller coins, a key and a fishing bait. I got caught by beachcombing so I did not do the depth tests. All in all, I think this one beats the Velleman CS120, which is a rebranded GC1013 by 1 or 2 inches.

Could I squeeze more out of it by retuning the cap trimmer to less iron rejection? On the beach I do not need too much and might go lower. Is there also any other way or it is just plain useless? Up in this thread there are some quite positive statements about the detector.

[taliesin]

anyone got photo of viking ?

has anyone got a photo of inside the search head of any of the viking detectors ?
thanks in advance

[Qiaozhi]

has anyone got a photo of inside the search head of any of the viking detectors ?
thanks in advance

I do not have a photo of the insides of the Viking 5 search head, but it is relatively simple to deduce what the internal coil windings look like from the wiring to the PCB, and by examining the schematic.
In my tests (when I still owned this detector) I decided that it was a DD coil arrangement.

[taliesin]

i thought that with a TR type i have

I do not have a photo of the insides of the Viking 5 search head, but it is relatively simple to deduce what the internal coil windings look like from the wiring to the PCB, and by examining the schematic.
In my tests (when I still owned this detector) I decided that it was a DD coil arrangement.

dd yes but the one i have has a mini circuit in the head.

[Qiaozhi]

dd yes but the one i have has a mini circuit in the head.

Can you post a photo of the whole detector?
I suspect this is a different (maybe newer) version of the Viking 5D.

In an earlier post I said there may be some tuning caps in the search head, which caused problems with the inductance measurement, but I am confident that the TX oscillator was on the PCB. You can easily see that from the schematic.

[taliesin]

sorry it's not a viking

Can you post a photo of the whole detector?
I suspect this is a different (maybe newer) version of the Viking 5D.

In an earlier post I said there may be some tuning caps in the search head, which caused problems with the inductance measurement, but I am confident that the TX oscillator was on the PCB. You can easily see that from the schematic.

i didn't explain myself correctly.i meant to say it is a TR type .it's got "ALERT" and "made in china".

[metaldetector107]

its Micronta 3001

the transmitter is from Micronta 3001,
http://website.lineone.net/~johngl1/page9.html

kind regrads

[Qiaozhi]

i didn't explain myself correctly.i meant to say it is a TR type .it's got "ALERT" and "made in china".

So your photo was not from a Viking 5D?