L-rod Technique and Tips
Top #1: L-rod spacing. If you are not getting response from L-rods try widening the space between the rods. I know it sounds counter-intuitive but actually you get a stronger signal with wider L-rod spacing. I like about 16 inches (40 cm) apart but as wide as comfortable gives the best response.
Tip #2: Try shortening the L-rods. I know some say 17 inches (43 cm) but I like just under 13 inches (33 cm). Longer rods react slower. Not all bad as it might eliminate spurious signals, but you can angle the tips down an inch or more (3 cm +) .
Tip #3: When performing a sweep, the rod will lock on better when angled down a little.
Tip #4: If you keep the rods exactly level you will pick up many more spurious signals. I know it is tempting to be able to get a response, but if you have the rods wider apart you should not need to hold them level.
Tip #5: When doing a sweep, do not let the rod get ahead of your hand, or "pushing" as it is called. If the rod is angled ahead of the sweep it will not be able to swing properly. Keep the rod pointed straight ahead of your arm. Put another way, if you are sweeping to the right, do not let the rod be angled even more to the right. It is okay to have it angled slightly to the left on a right sweep and visa versa.
Tip #6: Sweep very slowly. No more than 3 or 4 inches (10cm) per second.
Tip #7: Sweep multiple times, at least six passes to determine is a target is present.
Tip #8: An ion wrist band might help you. Natural clothes might help you. Leather-soled shoes might help you.
Tip #9: ground yourself often. Some people carry a walking stick/grounding rod. You can find grounding shoes on line. Harmony 783 has been in business for a long time. Note: Don't wear these in an electrical storm!
Tip #10: Keep the rods "fluid". I see video of people look like they are scared stiff. You have to be relaxed and loose. When I am walking with two L-rods they swing back and forth with each step. They move together the same amount. This small movement gives them a boost when the signal line is crossed--they already have some momentum and the movement breaks free any friction. This movement is horizontal and not any vertical. Vertical movement will prevent the rods from closing so try to avoid that . Sometimes I will actually shake the rods a bit to get them free of any friction that might by binding them. When I get near the target the rods will start to close then open up. The instant they open up they are already starting to close again. Kind of a momentum effect. On the third time they close completely. Now these are old rods and not all that good of movement. Nicer rods have less friction and don't need much help.
Tip #11: Walk slowly. Some people say you have to walk fast to get a surge when crossing the signal line. If you have nice rods it’s better to go slow, take small steps, but keep it smooth.
Tip #12: Back in the 1980's I bought a book titled "How To Build And Use A Molecular Frequency Discriminator". It said the way you can determine target size is to find the signal line and stand on it with the L-rods closed and count how long before the rods open.If they open after a short time the target is small or insignificant. Flour gold 7 seconds, Grains (5) 20 seconds, 14K gold Wedding Ring 14 seconds, 1/4 oz Gold Coin 60 seconds, etc. Not sure I agree with these times, I found much longer times so test yourself.
Tip #13: Increase your body conductivity. Before ingesting anything, talk with your doctor. Electrolyte drink or powder to your drinking water. Or add a pinch of sea salt to a glass of filtered water. Dry skin does not conduct well, Use moisturizer or moisturizing shower wash. I have added some olive oil to bath water. Dry, rough feet might need some work.
Tip #14: When using two L-rod while circling the transmitter pick a spot out in front of you a ways and look at it as a distraction. This is very helpful to take your mind off the rods. Don’t be cheating and watching the rods. When they move you will know it.
Tip #15: Healey Double-Crosser sweep technique. When doing a sweep put your thumb on top of the left L-rod so it will not move. Put hands together so they are touching each other and as you sweep in a right direction just keep 100% of your attention on the left, dead rod. Watch where it is pointing. When you are aimed at the target, the right rod will move and start to cross the left rod. If you sweep in the left direction the free rod will open up more when you are aimed at the target. This is my favorite technique. Because your hands are locked together it keeps the rods very stable and it is easy to see when there is a response.This has been very reliable for me. Yes, I miss now and then and sometimes I do not get an exact aim, but it is a real confidence builder especially when things get bewildering out in the field. This is fairly easy but you really have to put 100% of your attention into the left rod. The right rod is right there in your vision so it is easy to cheat and peek at the right rod. Remember you will be cheating yourself and nobody else is going to know or care, but you will be losing if you do.
Tip #16: When standing on the signal line it feels like a smooth wind or very smooth water flowing through you to the target. Actually it is electrical current.
Tip #17: Don't work too long a time. Twenty minute per session is plenty. You should be grounding yourself often. Place hands on the ground for thirty seconds--it is not instant because your skin is like a resistor and it takes time to discharge. You can rub the palms of your hands together for sixty seconds. You can turn on water faucet and hold the palms of your hands near the water flow but not touching.
Tip #18: Get a good set of L-rods. For many years I used L-rods that were not all that good. Recently I bought a pair I really like. They are very smooth. When I approach a signal line they slowly start to close/converge. I might take four, five, or six steps before they close completely. For me this is very reassuring. I got the Telerods as they are adjustable length. A case is nice to have to keep away dirt. They are not cheap. I got fast shipping. They sell other rods with various accessories. https://gdi-detectors.com/set-gold-dowsing-l-rods/
It is best to practice counting lock times with a visible target at first. Your rods might be sticky and may require you to wiggle them a bit to break loose the friction. Typically for me the rods rachet open, one step at a time. It is tempting to try and hold them closed so the practice can help you avoid this problem. Once you get this to work you can try it on a hidden target.
ip #19: Chances are you are not relaxed enough. When one goes out in the field the heart starts racing. People in a hurry just can?t take the time to get relaxed. Bad plan. Here is an easy exercise to help you calm down emotionally and mentally.
HTTPS://m.YouTube.com/watch?v=0bBOgmc45Cs
Tip #20: I already touched o this but warm temperatures are much faster for the signal line to develop. Yesterday it was 74 F (23 C) and it was perfect conditions. The signal line developed in about thirty seconds across my yard. This morning 43 F (6 C) it took a longer time about five minutes or more. So if you have to work in cold weather plan on waiting. Longer distances require more time. Fifteen minutes is not abnormal. And it's always good to put out a visible test target especially out in the field. Conditions are probably going to be different than in your practice area.
Tip #21: If you stand on the signal line to count the time, you will need to demagnetize the rods by holding them down at your sides while standing away from the line afterwards. About thirty seconds. It?s not a problem if you are not immediately doing another search. Otherwise the rods will respond to false targets.
Tip #22: The signal line always extends past the target depending on signal strength by as much as 200 feet (60 M). But usually several feet. If you have a weight cancelling device attached to the rods set it just before the target is eliminated and you will be able to get a more accurate pinpoint. Or you can connect a 100K - 250K potentiometer between the rods. For a gold ring I set mine to about 40K and still give a good signal. Don't go any lower than a 100K potentiometer or you might get a weaker signal during weak conditions. 250K is better. At full resistance you get the strongest signal. Practice with a visible test target before attempting this in the field.
When you have it adjusted close to eliminating the target the rods will only close partially. This way you know you have it adjusted correctly. Only do this after you have located the signal line. It depends on locating conditions as to how you set this. If conditions are weak you might not even need it at all. Once you find the line you will need to make a few passes while adjusting so the rods partially close. Conditions are different every day so you need to adjust each time you go out. If you have too many targets you can adjust it to eliminate some of the small stuff before you find the good line.
Tip #23: This is part of #22 but... When doing a weight chek/measurement keep within 50 feet (15 m) of the suspected target. Otherwise the approximate weight will appear to weigh more. Also the approximate weight will depend on the signal strength at that time. Solar magnetic interference will make the target appear to weigh less. Use a test target to get a relative figure. Or another technique is to place a test target near the suspected target about 30 feet (10 m) away and stand in the middle and the rods will pull to the larger target.
Always use a test target to help judge how much interference/signal strength. Important!
Tip #24: I already mentioned this, but it’s very important to keep the rod tips angled down. You will have to practice this to get the rods to respond. Start out the first time with the rods closer to level and when you see the rods start to move consciously relax your arms and tilt your hands inwards a bit. Practice this until you do it without thinking. This is one of the harder things to get right. so spend a lot of time with it. When you get a good day and the rods are crossing completely now is the time to start lowering the rod tips as much as you can to get to the inch or two down (3 - 5 cm). If you don't learn this you might never have any success. You need a test target set out so you can feel a good, solid response for that signal tength. You can compare targets with your test target. If you dig an empty hole it is a good bet that you are holding the tips down enough to get the nulling.My experience is that a square wave requires more nulling than sine or triangle wave.
Tip #25: Signal strength has little or no bearing on target size. You turn off the transmitter and stand on the line with rods crossed. A big target will hold the signal for a longer time. As already mentioned you can stand on the line with transmitter on and count how long the rods stay crossed.
Tip #26: Calculating efnmr frequencies. First you need to get the magnetic field strength for your area. Go to:
https://ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/calcula...lination.shtml and in the lower right click on Calculator. Then on the lower right click on the site or bullseye icon and it should fill in your coordinates. Note the altitude will need adjusting. Then click Calculate! Then click Table. Now write down the F(nt) amount. Example 53123.4 Now go to:
http://www-usr.rider.edu/~grushow/nm..._frameset.html and click on the element you want. On the left column write down the Frequency factor. example gold(Au) is 0.01754 Now to calculate 2.3488 divided by the magnetic field strength in Tesla (add four zeros in front)
2.3488/0.0000531234 = 44214.037 Write this down.
Now convert frequency factor 1754000
And divide 1754000/44214.037 = 39.6706 Hz. This is the gold efnmr frequency. NOTE: this is just an example. Do not use this frequency. Some people multiply this by 100 so you get 3967.06 Hz buy you can try either one. Lower frequencies penetrate better like if target is near to large metal mass.
If you don’t have a smartphone, look on the calculate page and click on Go to full site.Click on Magnetic field. Enter your location and it will retrieve your coordinates. Enter your altitude. You can also manually enter the desired coordinates if you like. In lower left click on Calculate. On far right look at Total Field.
You can try to multiply the frequency by 10 or 100.
If you find the frequency for hydrogen, you simply multiply it by the desired element?s frequency factor. Hydrogen F.F. Is 1 so
1/44214.037 = 2261.73 Hz (hydrogen frequency)
So gold in this fake example would be 2261.73 x 0.01754 = 39.67 Hz
So you can try 396.7 Hz or 3967 Hz. These are not the right frequency—you need to calculate for your search area. Also note the magnetic field strength changes, usually not by much.
Just to reinterate on the rod tilt, once you have calibrated your Weight CHeck unit for your test target so the rod tips just barely cross (you can feel a little pull and know that the test target is being nulled) you still might have to adjust the rod tilt depending on the magnetic field strength for that time. So if the rods are crossing too much you will need to tilt the rods a bit more and visa versa.
Tip #27: Remove electronic key fob from your pocket. Don?t put it near you search area.
Tip #28: Carbon is the frequency for diamonds. I use diamond powder used for faceting gemstones. Don?t know if it matters but I found some natural diamond powder. And BTW, diamonds hit hard with the frequency locator. You might think car tires would be a better target, but the diamond is so tightly formed it gives a strong signal. Many jewelers carry diamond powder. I think I found some on ebay. I would get a larger grit, but anything should work.
Tip #29: The frequency generator in ground mode will not travel through dry sand. Dig down until you reach moist ground. You might try to compact it before inserting ground probes.You can aim the ground probes up for the "air mode". This is the recommended mode until you get near the target then switch to ground mode. The signal travels farther through the air and is not blocked by canyons, ravines, tunnels, etc. like ground mode is. AIr mode works for targets on the side of a cliff, inside houses,,etc. Do not let the ground probes touch anything metal or conductive while in air mode.
Tip #30: Rod length and spacing. Long rods better for distant targets. Shorter rods better for pinpointing. Long rods react slower, so by the time they cross completely you might be a little past the signal line. Good idea to back up one step and see if you get a stronger response. Shorter rods usually right on the line. Rod spacing I have heard that in highly charged air a wide spacing is better. I even heard to wear long rubber gloves. So if the rods are not responding as you like, try wider spacing.
Tip #31: Ground probes for very dry sand. Please note you need quite a bit of wire in the coil or else add a resistor between the leads. You could severely damage your equipment if you don’t do this correctly.
One schematic shows 47k resistor parallel with the coil (across the two output leads).
Tip #32: A you tube channel "Stefan Burns" has some good solar activity info. You can go to settings, captions, and auto-translate to various languages.
Tip #33: Those efnmr frequencies are sensitive to geomagnetic solar activity. Well, probably all frequencies are. LOL A changing magnetic field is just bad for locating. One LRL manufacturer uses a sweep function, a few Hz either side of the frequency. I call it "Beating around the bush". The idea being that hopefully once each sweep it will hit the exact frequency once. It will certainly take longer to build up a signal line. I think he said you might have to wait a half hour. I have not had much success with that but I admit I am impatient.
You can find some of Dell Winders old frequencies on the geotech1.com LRL Reports page for the VR-800. Gold is 612 Hz, silver is 466 Hz. Those work a good part of the time.
Tip #34: Smartphone magnetometer. There are several magnetometers at the App Store. Many are free and some cost a few dollars. I got one called Physics Toolbox that has a five star rating for free. It shows a moving graph of the magnetic fields. You want the total which is a white line near the top of the graph. You can enlarge/zoom it by spreading your fingers over it to get much more detail.
I’m not too schooled on these mags but you probably need to calibrate your phone sensors by moving your phone in a figure 8 pattern. I do this is all three axis. Remember to keep your phone away from metal objects.
After you have watched this several times you can get an idea of how much the magnetic field is shifting and decide if locating conditions are worthwhile.
Also there is a web site called Spaceweatherlive.com that has mag read outs. The DST section shows where the graph goes into storm conditions or you can click on More Info and get stackplot for Europe or America’s that has many mag graphs all together. These are live so it is not just an estimate. Which some research you can find which mag is nearest to your location. Also the Bz graph shows when the field goes South. This means much energy is being pushed into the earth. Not good.
Tip #35: Higher frequencies develop a signal faster than lower frequencies. But they also lose the signal line faster during interference or when you shut off the transmitter and count lock time.
Tip #36: Here is some info on the Gold X-Finder.
Tip #37: I already mentioned this a bit but if you are having trouble getting the rods to respond be sure to tilt the rod handles in towards each other slightly. If the rod tips are angled down you can put a slight amount of pressure to tilt them inwards without them moving. With that slight pressure it just makes it easier for the rods to get moving when you cross a signal line. My guess is some people do not realize they are putting pressure outwards slightly so this can make a real difference especially when the tips are angled down. I would say this is important and it can really help you get a rod response.
