CTX 3030 Ground Balance Question

I am confused about the ground balance option.
Am I understanding the manual correctly .....leaving the GB enable option UNCHECKED is what is considered auto ground balance and should be used for most areas?
Should this also be the setting on fresh water beaches?
Thanx.

No CTX 30303 users that understand their detector?

I wish I could help you, Gabby. Hopefully one of our members who owns a CTX 3030 will chime in.

Tony Two-Cent said:

Hopefully one of our members who owns a CTX 3030 will chime in.

Click to expand...

No I don't own the CTX but I did stay at a Holiday Inn express. :lol: I read the manual myself. Look at pages 21 and 22. It is confusing reading the Enable GB paragraph stating it is selected by default when you open the menu but the checkbox is unchecked... Just read right below it for steps 1 and 2. No check mark (empty box) means disabled. It appears it's like a 'ground grab' type of ground balance. So unchecked it seems to be like a default 'ground balance' value (or factory preset value) that works with most types of soil. The "auto" part about it seems that you only need to hit a button and move the coil up and down and it will balance. It doesn't seem like it tracks the gound as you are swinging and refreshes at intervals whether the GB is selected or not.

It says not to use it in highly mineralized areas such as beaches. I am guessing they mean fresh water beaches, seeing as the ocean beaches are mineralized which causes single freq detectorsto false...idk. Since most single frequency detectors work fine at freshwater beaches, with which you are concerned, I would tend to believe you won't need to use a ground balance at those locations at all. It seems identical to my BH. Default program 1 as well as P2 and P3, any ground balance number may be stored in memory but wont affect the program. It will only use a default factory preset number in those modes regardless if you go through the ground balance proceedure or not.

Maybe someone who does use the CTX can confirm the above.

Checking the box enables ground balance and from what I understand you should not need it 95% of the time. I personally have not used it in the 3 years I've had the CTX. I've have not hunted in really difficult soil conditions or in salt water. If your auto sensitivity is really low, below 8, then I think you would want to check the box and use the coil pumping method for ground balancing. Once that is done the CTX will then automatically keep it ground balanced. When it is not checked I think the CTX is not ground balancing at all.

This Is in the manual:

"Ground Balance should not be enabled in most detecting conditions where ground
mineralization is mild. This includes most beaches, parks and sports grounds."

Perform Auto Ground Balance
Ground Balance must be enabled to perform Auto Ground Balance.