New metal detector designs with w eird a rz e; -der fvi

names like VLF Phase Angle or Induction Balance

TR, keep popping up and manufacturers are keeping
their techniques very much under wraps. This article
tries to describe how various machines work and what
sort of performance can be expected from them. In
some cases the sensitivity quoted may be exceeded
by a highly developed machine.

Beat Frequency Oscillator

The BFO is the simplest type of metal detector and day shield round part of the coil. The BFO machine
hence it is the least sensitive and the most difficult cannot tune out silver paper, coke, ring pulls from
to use. The essence of the design is having two oscil- beer cans etc. and will be affected by salt water, wet
lators tuned to frequencies very close to each other. grass and terrain changes. Its typical sensitivity is
One oscillator is the reference and the other is tuned 100 to 120mm on a 2p coin.
by the inductance of the search coil, which will alter
as metal is brought near it. Either oscillator can be
tuned by the operator, depending only upon the
manufacturer's choice. When the two oscillators are
IAD247J
at nearly the same frequency, mixing their outputs
together produces a beat note which is equal to the
difference between the two frequencies. This note is
arranged to be in the audio spectrum, and thus it can Oscillator
be amplified and fed to the headset. LF
The output from the headset is thus a tone which Amplifier
increases or decreases in frequency when the coil Oscillator
is brought near to metal. If the metal is ferrous then n
the inductance of the coil will increase and the
frequency of the oscillator will fall. This gives a
falling note in the headset. The opposite applies to 40
non -ferrous metals which gives a rising note in the
headset. Needless to say, this can be reversed by
tuning to the other side of the reference oscillator.
Extra sensitivity can be obtained by tuning the
reference oscillator to a frequency which is a multiple
of the coil oscillator and using a phase -locked loop
to control the system as in the PW "Ferret ".
One disadvantage of these machines is that two
oscillators are used. Each can drift causing constant
retuning to be necessary, although some manufac-
turers have used a crystal-controlled reference
leaving only one oscillator with a drift problem. These
machines are also affected by ground capacitance
causing the coil oscillator to vary in frequency,
though this can be partially avoided by using a Fara-
Practical Wireless, January 1979 35
 It has also been found that small ferrous objects and
aluminium objects, silver paper or bottle tops exhibit
a skin effect where the coupling causes phase changes,
and thus these items can be discriminated against.
The final result is a comprehensive metal locator
with lots of control knobs. This makes it look very
impressive but unfortunately also makes it very
difficult to set up perfectly. Generally, if the dis-
criminating mode is used, the sensitivity of the
machine is reduced.
The problem with both these types of machine is
the ground effect, which causes changes in the
coupling of the two coils and thus causes false read-
ings if the coil is not held at a constant height above
the ground. Salt water, wet grass and terrain changes
can also upset the machine, although manufacturers
are introducing Ground Exclusion Balance (GEB)
machines which can eliminate any effect caused by
the ground. GEB machines are expensive at around
£250 and are complex to set up. A good IB /TR
machine will detect a 2p coin at over 200mm.
Induction Balance (IB)
and Transmit /Receive (TR) Coil 1
IA02481
Oscdlutor-Modulator
A great deal of confusion has arisen from these two
names, one manufacturer calling his IB a TR and
vice-versa and other manufacturers calling them Coil3
IB/TR machines. They both work on the same
principle of Induction Balance though even this is
somewhat of a misnomer. The true IB machine has Coil 2
three coils, while the TR has two coils. The effect
used for detection is the change in coupling which
occurs as the coils are brought near to metal. Both
machines use only one oscillator.
In the IB machine the oscillator is fed to two coils.
The three coils are arranged on top of each other,
very slightly displaced from centre, and the top and
bottom coils are connected to the oscillator. The
bottom coil is wound in the reverse direction to the
top one, and thus the two coils generate antiphase
fields. The third coil is placed between the other two
where the fields balance and thus, at its terminals,
has no signal. When metal is brought near to the Block diagram of an IB detector. Coil 2 is wound in
coils an imbalance occurs and the centre coil then the reverse direction to Coil 1
picks up a signal as the amplitudes of the other
signals change unequally. The output from this coil
can then be amplified and rectified to drive a meter,
and the oscillator is usually amplitude modulated to Coil t
produce an audio tone for the headset.
The TR machine has only one coil connected to the Ì Oscilla tutor
oscillator. The other is connected to the non -inverting
input of an amplifier. The inverting input is connected
via the control potentiometer to the oscillator and Coil 2
thus the amplifier can be set to give no output when
the coil is not near metal. As the coil approaches Amplifier
metal a transformer effect occurs, coupling more
signal into the receiving coil. The imbalance is
amplified as before for the headset and meter.
In both machines the coupling increases for ferrous
metals and decreases for non-ferrous, so by mixing IAD249j
the output from the amplifier with the signal from
the oscillator the resulting signal will increase for Block diagram of a TR detector. The balancing signal
ferrous metals and decrease for non- ferrous metals. is adjusted by means of the potentiometer

36 Practical Wireless, January 1979

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Pulse Induction (Pl) power consumption. The other important factor is

The PI machine is described elsewhere in this issue,
so it is unnecessary to spend too much time explain-
ing how it works. The stability of the Pulse machine
is vastly superior to any other and it does not suffer
from ground effect. It cannot differentiate ferrous
and non -ferrous materials and has a relatively high
that the PI machine is an absolute metal detector,
whereas the other machines are relative metal
detectors. This means that on a relative metal detector
it is possible to put metal near the coil and then tune
it out without losing sensitivity. On the PI machine
this is not possible, and sensitivity will be reduced
if any metal is near the coil when the machine is set
up. The net result of this is that P'I machines cannot
have metal shafts etc, but other machines can.

Practical Wireless, January 1979 37


VLF !wi
The VLF stands for Very Low Frequency and refers
to the frequency of the oscillator used to drive the
coil. The advantage of using low frequencies is to re-
duce the effect that the ground capacitance has upon
the circuits, and thus the coils, tend not to be affected
by terrain changes. VLF is also used in IB machines
which have the GEB suffix and it is this factor which
contributes so much to their expense. When low
frequencies are used the changes produced in the
coils are much less than for high frequencies, no
matter which technique is being used for the detec-
tor, and thus much greater signal processing and
hence stability is necessary to produce a machine
with the same capabilities.
The phase -angle method of metal location is the
latest development in this field, and as yet is very
underdeveloped by commercial manufacturers. It
offers the greatest scope in location techniques as it
can easily be made with digital electronics. and thus
a great deal of digital signal processing can be carried
out at relatively low cost. The phase- angle machine
has two coils, one of which is connected to an oscil-
Coil
Buffer
Coil 2 1
L..)
F-00
-00
Counter
Fe/non Fe
Detector
1111
Display
38
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lator via a buffer stage. This ensures that the coil
cannot alter the frequency of the oscillator. The
second coil is connected to an amplifier which pro-
duces a square wave at the same frequency as the
oscillator. The oscillator is also fed into an amplifier
to produce another square wave. When the coil is
brought near to metal, the phase difference between
the two square waves alters, increasing for ferrous
and decreasing for non -ferrous. The implications of
this phenomenon should now be obvious. The simplest
form the circuitry could take would be to invert one
signal and add the results to produce a spike. Feed
this into a smoothing circuit and there you have a
voltage to drive a meter. To improve the gain, a
monostable could be used to generate an inverted
spike of the same period to cancel out the first spike.
Followed again by a smoothing circuit and now a d.c.
amplifier and the gain is vastly improved.
To continue in the digital sphere, a fast clock could
be gated by the spike to produce a count for a
digital readout which could read + for non -ferrous
and - for ferrous, with the magnitude of the number
indicating the depth and size of the find. Sensitivity
on these machines can easily be 250 -300mm on a 2p
piece with full discrimination.
IAD250)
Oscillator
i Monostable
Fast
Clock
Biock diagram of a VLF Phase Angle detector using
digital signal processing
Practical Wireless, January 1979
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200mm (8 ") annular search head gives wide
scan with easy pinpointing. Simple high

LOST efficiency B.F.O. circuitry draws <5mA,

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Super performance true TR /IB machine. Professional tone on /off ALT3- £12.95 + El towards p+p.
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to <5mA, lowering total component count (less to go wrong) and for a beginner as a first project (must be
producing a detector of outstanding stability and detection capability. able to solder). Pre-wound search loop and
Loudspeaker operation (padded headphones available í550 extra). tuning coil, absolutely everything supplied
Shaft and search head angle fully adjustable. Waterproof search head. except tools and battery. The least expensive
You could pay pounds more for a detector as good as this. way of buying. The parts bought separately
"Shadow" detector-£38.95 + EI towards p +p. might cost you more, certainly it d take
"Shadow" kit (pre -wound coils)- E2995 + El more time. Makes a great present for a
p +p younger brother, etc. (buy it for him-use it
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Building your own detector? Then we can supply ALT3 (kit) -L995 + El towards p+p.
the hardware 'shell'. Including fully adjustable shaft
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head mouldings with adjustable ball joint hinge. (supplied with detector) to two ear listening.
Suitable for any type of detector (BFO- TR- IB-PI, etc.) including those More comfortable -cuts down background noise
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Detector "Shell" kit £9.50 + El p +p. All rites include VAT

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Licensing Requirements
Having, hopefully, provided food for thought on General hints on designing your own metal detector
designing and building your own metal locator, or are: try to, keep the operating frequency as low as
even for the wealthy, going out and buying one, there possible. This reduces the effects of ground and
are other matters to be considered. The first point water. Frequencies below 25kHz should produce few
is that to use one of these machines a licence is false readings from the terrain.
required. It is referred to as a Pipe Finders Licence An audio output gives far more dynamic range to
and costs £1.40 for 5 years, application forms are the man -machine interface than a meter, and the
available from the Home. Office, Radio Regulatory changing pitch of a voltage- controlled oscillator
Department, Waterloo Bridge House, Waterloo Road, (v.c.o.) is far better than a rising volume output. Do
London SEl 8UA. A licence covers only one type of not worry about driving a loudspeaker, a headset is
detector, and if you buy another design you need a
new licence.
The Home Office also has regulations concerning
the signal in the coil and if you are designing your
own equipment you should stay within their specifica-
tions which state:
1. Air -cored or ferrite -cored coils may be used but
the energisation shall not exceed 0.1 amperes
r.m,s. per turn,
2. Modulation, either a.m. or f.m. may be used if
required.
3. The depth of a.m. shall not exceed 100% so do
not use square waves.
4. The authorised bands for use are 0 -16kHz and
16- 150kHz.
In a nutshell, they say do not use a 2N3055 to
switch the coil across a car battery at 1MHz!
Practical Wireless, January 1979 39
 E-S5COPes.superior
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selected rejection of worthless items. PLUS push- button C -SCOPE VLF 1000 AUTO DISCRIMINATOR In a class
tuning. TR 650-D £59.90. TR 750 -D £74.90. of its own- Deep seeking ground exclusion and three
C -SCOPE TR 850/950 (with meter and battery check) reject modes each with variable discrimination - the most
These detectors feature all the advantages of the TR versatile, effective, analytical detector at any price.
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VIKING FEATURES: Dual Tuning Controls -for ease and

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conscious treasure hunter in mind, employs the
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which changes sharply when passed over metal.
VIKING
PIONEER
INV ICTUS 'D'
£39.75
£46.50
£74.95
The Pioneer TRIB utilises the same principle
This Sol -Invictus metal detector is one of as the Viking but has the following Sol Invictus.Detectors Ltd.,
the finest in its price range. The Viking additions: Extendable Shaft, 7" Swivel Dixon Street,Bank Top,
TRIB is light and well balanced to prevent operator Search Head and is of ultra light- Blackburn, Lancashire.

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An audio note is produced only when the unit 'sees'
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\
weight construction. The Invictus D TRIB Tel 0254 62561 & 664789
Discriminator is one of the lowest priced
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sacrificing none of its performance 3 Sudell Cross, Blackburn.
against detectors costing much more. Tel:56917

Sol lnvictus Pioneers in

Detectors
Limited price and quality.

40 Practical Wireless, January 1979

far easier to use and makes it easier to detect minute
changes in the signal in high ambient noise levels.
When developing your circuit, pay attention to supply
decoupling as large currents in coils or headphones
can cause most weird effects on the sensitivity of your
Using your Detector
Building or buying a metal detector is one thing
but using it is something else. Unless you are on your
own land you need permission to use one, and in
many parts of the country the use of metal detectors
on public land (parks, footpaths etc.) is forbidden by
a bye -law, so check first.
The other main rule is that which concerns any
finds that you may make. Gold and silver are classed
as Treasure Trove and are the property of the Crown,
and must therefore be handed in to a Coroner, who
will hold an Inquest to decide true ownership rights.
[terns of historical value usually end up in a museum
and in order to promote handing in of Treasure
Trove, the finder is generally given a reward to the
value of the items. Further information on Treasure
Trove may be obtained from the Director, British
Waving your machine at the cows
Practical Wireless, January 1979
circuit. The size of the coil is important both for
inductance and sensitivity. The larger the coil the
more sensitive the machine, but the more difficult it
becomes to find the centre of any metallic object
discovered.
Museum, London WC1. Any other items found
become the property of the owner of the land, not
the finder, so it is best to come to an agreement with
the landowner before you start searching. Archaeolo-
gists do not like metal detectors or people who use
them so do not go on known historical sites with
yours. You could be prosecuted!
After you have dug up everything in sight and
found very little, you may care to do a little research
at your local library. Establishing the likely positions
of ancient Roman camp sites may not be easy, but
professional metal detector users, and there are
many, spend nine months researching and three
months out in the field with their machines. One tip
is to ask your local museum curator where not to
dig, and if he gets his atlas out then try another
museum. Curators will generally be found to be very
helpful about known sites which are taboo and
possible sites which are likely.
41
 Having built or bought your machine, and
researched your possible site, and got permission
from the owners of the land, how do you find large
hoards of gold? If I knew I would not be writing
this article. It is no use walking aimlessly around
waving your machine at the cows to frighten them
away, and to expect to trip over a large treasure
chest. Take some pegs and some string with you
and mark out a square about 3m side. This is the first
area to search and it must be searched fully.
If you have a BFO or IB /TR machine without GEB,
you will find that the height of the coil above the
ground is critical. If you set up your machine with
the coil resting on the ground then as you raise the
coil to start searching it will give a reading. If the
machine is set up in the air, then when it is placed Use a small trowel, not a JCB!
near the ground it will become less sensitive. The
correct way to set them up is by adjusting the controls
with the machine on the ground and then backing square adjacent to the first. In this way it is possible
off the sensitivity just a fraction so that when search- to be sure that the whole of the suspect area has
ing the tone is just audible. As you move around, been searched. Remember that every centimetre the
signals will be heard as the coil moves up and down, coil is above the ground is a centimetre it cannot
and only practice will allow you to know which is a detect below ground, so keep the coil low down. When
find and which is not. When you sweep, the action the machine has detected something, concentrate on
must be slow and smooth and that comment applies finding exactly where the object is. Sweep the coil
to PI and Phase Angle machines as well. Integrators NS and EW to find the exact centre, raising the coil
take time to work. head and retuning if necessary to reduce the sensi-
Having searched the area in your 3m square com- tivity of the machine. Dig your find up carefully,
pletely, lift two pegs and move them to form another using a small trowel, not a JCB! Remove a triangle
of turf and then the minimum of earth, checking
frequently to see whether you have dug it up or if
it is still there. Do not throw scrap metal finds away;
you may find them three or four times again if you
just chuck them about, take them with you. Replace
the earth that you have removed and stamp the turf
down evenly so that it is impossible to see where you
dug. Do not leave a trail of potholes and divots behind
you. Good hunting!

Trip over a large treasure chest

42 Practical Wireless, January 1979