am I doing something wrong?

[idugthatup]

Hey guys I'm at this blacksmith building thats far as the owner knows never has been detected. Ive been out there 3 times and have found nothing but shotgun shells rifle cartridges and some 22 shells. Here is the part they havent been any lower then 2 inches. I tried to raise my coil up over a shotgun shell I knew was in the ground before digging it up. It quickly disappeared. Maybe like 3 inches was the highest I could get. What do I have wrong on my machine? I also use rechargeable batteries if that matter? Here is the video of my machine settings. The battery indicator shows its full battery I charged it before my last hunt and been about 3-4 hours on the batteries. http://youtu.be/WdphSh2fsFk

 

[Old Longhair]

That video doesn't quite tell the whole story, because we didn't get to actually see you hunting. The reason that that would have been helpful is because I have a hunch that you're working that little coil a bit too fast. It's an easy thing to do, especially when working large areas.
The other thing that happens when you swing too fast, is that you experience a lot of falsing, which leads you to believe that the machine isn't stable, resulting you turning your sensitivity down further than necessary.

If I were you......I'd start by turning Tracking ON, slow way down, and see if you can find the optimum speed by increasing sensitivity until you can't go slow enough to keep the machine stable any higher. Then back it off one or two. Your machine's stability will then act as a reminder to slow back down.

Everyone is so enamored with speed, but in fact it is the machines that can go slow and still lock on a good target that find treasures in heavy trash. I encourage everyone to play with their Xterras to learn just how slow you can go and still lock on a good sounding signal.
IMO it's more important than speed......this isn't a race.

 

[Mark in S.E. IA]

First off, thanks for making the video. That helps alot.

I think your Threshold is a lil too low. I would move it up to 3. You should be able to hear a lil back ground noise but not too much.

I think your sensitivity is way too low, your loosing depth at #16. I use a x505 and the Sen max is 20 and I NEVER go below #18. I put up with a lil chatter. I would move your Sen to the point your getting some chatter and falseing and then back it off maybe a number or two. Since their is alot of nails there does not mean that you need to lower your Sen, you just need to swing slower.

also, at the site your at, their might not be anything else to find there besides shotgun brass and nails. A Blacksmith shop would not be very high on my list of places to MD.

One more thing. It looks like your in a farm field and you will not get very good depth in a field since it gets turned over every year.

 

[ramairnut]

Everyone is so enamored with speed, but in fact it is the machines that can go slow and still lock on a good target that find treasures in heavy trash. I encourage everyone to play with their Xterras to learn just how slow you can go and still lock on a good sounding signal.
IMO it's more important than speed......this isn't a race.

SO TRUE!!

 

[mapper65]

I'd start by turning Tracking ON, slow way down

I think your sensitivity is way too low........at the site your at, their might not be anything else to find there

Don't take this the wrong way but to me, your detector looks way too new for you to have completely bonded with it yet. Like it tell everyone that is new or a seasoned detectorist when they aren't having any luck "It's a detector, not a magic wand, give it time to detect and get comfortable with what it sounds like and what targets ID like and remember those two things when you dig your target......and before you dig the next target that looks and sounds the same."

In many cases once you are comfortable with it you'll be able to visually and audibly tell the difference between a shotgun shell and a coin but it takes practice. In most cases Ground Balance Tracking in your friend. Don't be afraid of sensitivity under most circumstances and in our area I've found very few times that too much sensitivity has been a problem but when it is, you'll know that and adjust for it.

If you've had your detector for awhile and you are new to that coil, there is a slight learning curve with it and that may be the case. You could just be on a tough site also and we've all been there before.

Have fun!

 

[Digger]

You're finding 22 shells, so we know it is detecting small pieces of metal. Which notch segments are accepted and which are rejected? HH Randy

 

[idugthatup]

You're finding 22 shells, so we know it is detecting small pieces of metal. Which notch segments are accepted and which are rejected? HH Randy

Hey digger! Actually I, 90% of the time, run in all metal mode. If not I notch out anything it would be just iron and 48.

I think your Threshold is a lil too low. I would move it up to 3. You should be able to hear a lil back ground noise but not too much.

I think your sensitivity is way too low, your loosing depth at #16. I use a x505 and the Sen max is 20 and I NEVER go below #18. I put up with a lil chatter. I would move your Sen to the point your getting some chatter and falseing and then back it off maybe a number or two. Since their is alot of nails there does not mean that you need to lower your Sen, you just need to swing slower.

Thanks for the response mark! At the threshold im at I can hear a faint hum sound. I make sure that I heard that barley. Ive never wondered about 3... maybe I have good headphones? Its always 0 1 2 3 on threshold. Also with my swing I have about a 3 second swing so I go fairly slow, should I go slower?

Don't take this the wrong way but to me, your detector looks way too new for you to have completely bonded with it yet. Like it tell everyone that is new or a seasoned detectorist when they aren't having any luck "It's a detector, not a magic wand, give it time to detect and get comfortable with what it sounds like and what targets ID like and remember those two things when you dig your target......and before you dig the next target that looks and sounds the same.

Mapper65 thanks for the response I just keep my detector clean and take very good care of it. Ive had it for two years and have put many hours on it.

 

[Digger]

The reason I asked about discrimination settings is because I've hunted sites that were home to old blacksmith shops, and they are typically littered with iron. That iron will rust over the years, making some spots a difficult situation to hunt, to say the least. If you are running with the iron discriminated out, it is highly possible that the threshold is nulling over those patches of iron (and iron oxide) and you're not hearing it. To see if that is happening in your site, grid off a spot about ten feet square, and hunt it in Prospecting mode. Mark any targets you encounter with a golf tee or something that is non-metallic. Then go back over that same area using the set up that you have been using. See if ALL the targets you found in Prospecting are providing the audio response you expect in Coin/Treasure mode. If you have zero discrimination, you should hear them all. If you are using some discrimination for highly ferrous targets, you should hear a nulling of the threshold, indicating that the X-TERRA is discriminating them out. Do it again using a bit higher Threshold. Raising the Threshold another click might allow you to interpret any nulling that you are currently missing.
If you are wanting to pull coins out from between those masses of iron scrap and iron oxide, you may want to run with zero discrimination. And to really sort through the iron trash, use a small DD coil, overlap your swaths by half or more and work the area from different directions. You could still get some masking from the iron. But using the small DD, overlapping your swaths and working from different directions will give you the best odds of separating the targets. JMHO HH Randy