Vertex Adroit

[Mike(Mont)]

In the manual mode MDRI I do a sweep to start out. I’ve found it works best for me to sweep about 90 degrees in one direction and then sweep back the other direction.

It’s right at the start and end of the sweep where problems can occur more easily. When it finds a target the antenna stays pointed at it and the main unit keeps sweeping. Then I square up the antenna with the main unit and sweep back the other direction. I’ve tried short sweeps back and forth rapidly and it’s just not as good. The long sweep keeps smooth movement and less chance for error.

I’ve read in the Simmons Scientific dowsing manual that it can take up to five or six sweeps before you hit on the target. The Adroit doesn’t take that long at least on the fresh-dropped silver. Long time buried target I assume will hit much stronger, more pronounced.

Today I just left the frequency adjust at zero and held the antenna near level. It worked fine. I had light wind today but I’ve tried to work in higher wind and it’s not easy. Tilting the antenna down some can help but it also reduces sensitivity. That might not be an issue for a nice long time buried target.

Around here the strongest winds are December through the end of February. Typically the strongest wind is 2:30 in the afternoon. Problem this time of year is it is cold in the mornings.

[Mike(Mont)]

I was messing around and found something I like. Assuming the target is to my south I aim the main unit and antenna to the south and I walk towards the east. After I cross the north/south line to the target the antenna starts to turn towards the target. So after a take a few more steps the antenna has swung and continues to aim at the target. If I stop the antenna stays locked on the target. Again this is a fresh-dropped target silver using the manual mode MDRI.

[Mike(Mont)]

I think most people around here know I have never been a fan of handheld locators. I much prefer walking around a transmitter with a set of L-rods. So today I set up the Adroit for silver and I had to stick a piece of cardboard in the pivot mechanism to keep the antenna from moving and I laid the unit down so the antenna is pointing upwards—basically just like a frequency generator transmitter. Well, no surprise the L-rods found the signal line to the target. So if the Adroit has all the fancy electronics they claim I suspect it will be very accurate in the field. I will find out soon. I tried it on a gold ring also.

I so want to hook up my electronic receiver to this device but I don’t dare for fear of damaging it. And I don’t the money yet to buy a replacement.

its too cold to try it outside so later today I’ll see how it works. Indoors at close range it seems to work quite well—the rods give a good response and pinpoint.

[Mike(Mont)]

On second thought there is no way my electronic receiver would work. I don’t have a clue how the Adroit works. They say it’s a transceiver antenna. I’m not touching it.

[Mike(Mont)]

I also figured out when I set the Adroit on the ground and use L-rods I can more accurately adjust the frequency to get the line right on the target. If the line is left if the target, increase the frequency and vise versa. At least for silver, just one percent change moves the line quite a bit. I didn’t measure it but like a couple of degrees.

[Geo]

Problem with these methods is that i never had the ability to reject the rust steels.
All these years i found only 3..4 guyw with this ability, noone other.

[Mike(Mont)]

In transmitter mode

[Mike(Mont)]

This is what the factory replied to me.

[Geo]

The question is ..... how u will understand that there is rust steel so to use the MDRI mode???

[Mike(Mont)]

I guess nothing is perfect. You try and adapt. According to their advice you start out in RMS then go to ADRI then go to MDRI. Then I would go to metal detector.

[Mike(Mont)]

Well, I’m learning more as I go. In the manual mode MDRI you set the distance and depth. Not really thinking much about it I was using the shortest distance and the least depth on my test target which is small. I have come to the conclusion that these numbers are not absolute so a small, fresh-dropped target can/should use a stronger signal to be more easily detected. That makes sense and I have seen instructions on other locators that say as much, that small targets are eliminated at the lowest settings.

As for the RMS ionic mode the same procedure holds true. I was adjusting the balance when I should have been adjusting the sensitivity. I know, I’m not too bright when my hyperactivity ADHD brain fog overtakes my thinking. But I’m learning. Just testing it around my house I was able to increase detection distance on various forms of interference like fluorescent lights and electric toothbrush charger. Also hit on a dirty light dimmer switch. I turned the sensitivity up from 75 to 140 without getting much chatter. So now I’m seeing light at the end of the tunnel and maybe I’ll have some success in the field when the weather warms up and the wind dies down.

[Mike(Mont)]

I found out something else about the frequency adjust in the manual mode MDRI I set the adjust to +4%. I noticed the antenna was not locking on exactly but rather swinging back and forth maybe five degrees. I lowered the frequency adjust to +2% and the antenna stayed locked on without the swinging back and forth.

so my guess is if you see the antenna swinging instead on a good lock-on it probably means you don’t have the frequency adjust set right. The instructions say to leave it at zero when learning. They don’t say anything else. But I know Tim Williams says if you don’t have the exact frequency you will get what he calls a “ring” around the target. For me that means you are hitting on the edges of the target’s field.

[Mike(Mont)]

I’ve noticed the swinging back and forth across the target in the past but since I have increased the power level it appears to be more pronounced. I suspect on long-time buried objects this effect will be stronger yet. Alloys or items in metal containers are going to have a different frequency and that can cause the ring. Most people probably know about how some metal targets form a halo that is detectable with a metal detector. The frequency generators amplify this effect. So it’s easy enough to adjust the frequency offset in order to get a tighter pinpoint.

[Mike(Mont)]

I was just reading a user manual for another locator BR 100 pro. It said to bury a target like a gold alloy and adjust the frequency until you get the best response on that target.

Of note is they start with 5000Hz for gold then then go up or down in steps of 1Hz up to 5010Hz. So according to them the gold alloys are all within this range. That doesn’t seem right to me. I haven’t checked this but plan to do so.

[Mike(Mont)]

After reading the Ajax Alpha User Manual ( you can do an online search) it explains how to find distance better than the Adroit manual. Just as an example let’s say you detected the target due south. It tells you to move over 25 meters staying 90 degrees from the target line but it explains it better because you are supposed to keep the main unit pointing south (in this example because you were aimed south to start with) and as you choose to walk either east or west (90 degrees from the line) the antenna with stay aimed at the target. So after you walk 25 meters the antenna will no longer be pointing due south—it will be angled one way or the other depending on which direction you walked. At this point you hit the button and it calculates the distance depending on the angle of the antenna.

My explanation might sound confusing but the target might be in any direction. I just used the south because it’s easier to see that you would walk east or west. But whatever direction the target is you have to walk 90 degrees from the target line to get an accurate distance calculation. And you have to keep the main unit pointed so it stays parallel with the original target line. The Adroit instructions do not explain this very well. Yes, the diagram shows the main unit parallel with the original target line but the instructions don’t say this,

after carefully reading the Alpha user manual I’m not sure there is much of any difference in the two locators as to the search procedure.

Here is a diagram from
the user manual that shows the distance calculation procedure better than I can explain it in words. Note: this is steps #2 and #3. This is after the ADRI mode automatically finds the various targets and you scroll through the list and decide which target you want to search for.