Another depth question

[bubblehead]

I'm not a true newbee but not that experienced. I've had my MXT less than a week. When I ground balance, I have the mode in "prospecting", trac on "ground", Gain and Dual on the preset marks. I hold the coil high in the air, turn it on, lower the coil and pump it 3 or 4 times. I show a normal ground reading in the low to mid 80's. With the coil sitting on the ground, I switch the trac to "lock" then to the C/J mode. Question 1 - does the ground balance remain the same when I switch modes or should I balance again?
I've been out three times so far and found 28 cents a quarter and 3 Lincolns...one being a 1927 at about 4 inches. I seem to see lots of +94/$1 readings but they are only quarter bar. Is this some kind of default? If not, there are more silver dollars in this area than in the local bank!
Question 2 - I see lots of coin readings with only a quarter bar and depth 8 - 10 inches and a weak tone. Should I dig these or would a deep coin still give a full bar with a weak tone?
I'm sure different coils would have different meanings so for these questions, I'm using the 5" excelerator.
All input is appreciated and read very carefully but Monte, if you read this, I'd appreciate hearing from you. So far I've read 40 pages of this forum and you seem to be THE guru of metal detecting.
Thank you all.

 

[Rob (IL)]

When I ground balance, I have the mode in "prospecting", trac on "ground", Gain and Dual on the preset marks. I hold the coil high in the air, turn it on, lower the coil and pump it 3 or 4 times. Does it GB? If the threshold does not remain constant( it increases or decreases)it is not GBed. You ten need to adjust the gain and repeat.

I show a normal ground reading in the low to mid 80's. That's tough ground
I switch the trac to "lock" then to the C/J mode. Question 1 - does the ground balance remain the same when I switch modes or should I balance again? The engine keeps analysing in the background,it doesn't stop when you lock. At anytime you can switch to ground and back to lock and you will be updated and GBed.
I've been out three times so far and found 28 cents a quarter and 3 Lincolns...one being a 1927 at about 4 inches. I seem to see lots of +94/$1 readings but they are only quarter bar. Is this some kind of default? If not, there are more silver dollars in this area than in the local bank! Most of my 94's are cans that are deeper than the coil says. 94 at 3" is usually a can at 6-7-8" deep.Question 2 - I see lots of coin readings with only a quarter bar and depth 8 - 10 inches and a weak tone. Should I dig these or would a deep coin still give a full bar with a weak tone?
I'm sure different coils would have different meanings so for these questions, I'm using the 5" excelerator. I use the 5" with my MXT. The coins will shallower than be 8-10" reading, the 5" doesn't ID depth correctly only the 9.5 coil does. With a ground reading of 80 at 8-10" and quarter bar means dig. Rob

 

[Phil]

When I hunt with the MXT, I put the trac switch in ground and the mode switch in C&J or relic and find a clean spot of ground. Then I pump the coil up and down several times until the threshold is steady. I rarely have put my trac switch in lock, I generally leave it in ground. The soil here may be different than yours though. I've read where some people have had to lock their GB because of the ground conditions. I find a DD coil works much better for me than the stock coil. The MXT gets awful noisey with the stock coil if you turn the gain up much.

 

[Monte]

"I'm not a true newbee but not that experienced. I've had my MXT less than a week."... A lot of learning still ahead, and it would have been helpful, perhaps, to know if this was your first detector or what you have had experience with. You're using a powerful detector with a lot of potential and sophistication ... just remember that there still isn't, and never will be, a 'perfect' detector.

"When I ground balance, I have the mode in "prospecting", trac on "ground", Gain and Dual on the preset marks."... That's 'OK' but I personally prefer to GB in the mode I'll be hunting in. Once balanced I can toggle to the Prospecting mode, if I am really curious what thew Ground Phase Reading is.

The 'preset' for Gain is fine. I would suggest mastering the MXT before you increase it to the +1, +2 or +3 range.

Is the Dual control on the lower 'preset' for Discrimination? Don't use the higher preset setting unless you're hunting in the Prospecting mode and need it.

"I hold the coil high in the air,"... No need to, really.

".. turn it on, lower the coil and pump it 3 or 4 times."... That's often enough to complete a good tracking Ground balance, but you might need to pump it a few more times. Just be sure that you're over a metal-free spot of ground and pump it several times, from about 6"-8" down to about 1", until it stabilizes and the audio remains the same. Also, make sure you have a slight audio Threshold when doing the GB maneuver.

"I show a normal ground reading in the low to mid 80's."... But "normal" do you mean the '80' reading is normal or typical of most of the ground you're hunting? If so, that's pretty bad ground.

"With the coil sitting on the ground, I switch the trac to "lock" then to the C/J mode."... MY 1st question is: Do you have experience with Ground Balancing and that is why you're locking it, or is it because you've read where someone (like me ) prefers to Lock the GB in most hunting applications? One thing I like to remind people is to set all controls so that they detector will be "FUNCTIONAL", and that means that if you're going to 'Lock' in the tracked GB setting, make certain that you have it set for the ugliest (highest GPR) ground at the site you're hunting (IE: slightly positive).

"Question 1 - does the ground balance remain the same when I switch modes or should I balance again?"... If you are not moving about, then Yes, the locked or Tracking GB remains the same. If you immediately GB and Lock that setting, remember that while searching the MXT/M6 circuitry is continuing to Track and analyze the ground mineralization, and it is stored and ready for immediate updating. All you have to do is stop the coil sweep, hold the coil still at the search height (which ought to be about 1"

 

[ohio fred]

I grew up in 60s and 70 .Iam 53 now maybe a bad choice of a word.

 

[N.J. PRIVATEER]

IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY, THE MXT MANUAL SAYS TO PRESET ALL YOUR
SETTINGS BEFORE TURNING THE MXT ON, THEN GROUND BALANCE IT. YOU
WILL HAVE TO REBALANCE THE GROUND AS YOU HUNT AS THE GROUND
READINGS CHANGE. IN C/J OR RELIC MODE AND SET TO TRAC, I GET
ABOUT 10 OR 11" OF DEPTH, WITH GAIN SET AT +1 TO 1.5. AT +2
IT GETS TOO NOISY WITH STOCK 950 COIL.