Bought GT, need some help please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[newtohunting]

Hi ladies and gents,

I bought an excal 1000 and Sov GT pretty much at the same time. I am now starting to learn the GT and I really like it. Seems to go very deep. My questions are pretty simple and any help is greatly appreciated.

1.I am running the machine on Discr at level 3 just like the GT's book says for starters. I will primarily hunt parks and the beach. I would prefer to descriminate from what I have seen but certainly dont want to pass up any gold. What settings do you recommend for a starter when on the beach? I dont mind digging and if I should not use descrimination please tell me why? Any help as far as settings go would greatly be appreciated and thanks for taking the time to give me some feedback.


Gary

 

[Rick(ND)]

Gary,

On the beach if you want to find gold then run no disc at all and the notch all the way off too. Now the reason is gold can come at any place on the disc and if you don't want to miss any you will dig any and all positive signals.The GT at these setting will still disc out iron, so all positive repeatable signals on the beach you want to dig. Now for park use I run it also this way,or at about the 10 o'clock position and go by the tones and the numbers on my meter on those targets that are close tones. Now if you want to cherry pick and don't care about gold then you can max the disc out as you will lose the gold and the nickle, but the zinc penny's on up you will get as they can not be disc out.
Settings on the GT being you are new to it is volume max and adjust your headphones to comfortable level, disc and notch low as it will go, sensitivity at auto (all the way counter clockwise until it clicks) for now and once you learn it you can go to the 10-12 o'clock position. Now I like the threshold so I leave that switch in normal position and not silent, the disc toggle to iron mask on which is one below all metal positing and put the other toggle in the pinpoint position. This switch is only active when the toggle for disc/ all metal is in the all metal position so when you do switch to all metal to pinpoint it will be in the pinpoint position all ready and ready to pinpoint. I find the noise cancel in the #2 position works the best and use the 1 position if you get a lot of interference. Set the threshold to a slight threshold and you are ready to hunt.
These setting are what most will use as we hunt in disc, but some like to hunt in all metal for prospecting and the setting may be a Little different if running all metal.
Remember to go slow as speed will kill depth and have some patience to learn with this GT is telling you and you will do well.

Good luck and keep us informed how you do.

Rick

 

[adam in cal]

another thing to consider is the potential for targets to get masked out by running the disc. if a good target and a notched or disced out target are in the same hole then you will not see the good target, an old silver dime under a pull tab for example, it is real common to see junk in with a good target, and this is more so at older parks where the silver tends to be hiding at deeper depths..... good luck ...

 

[newtohunting]

Rick, thanks so much for taking the time with these instructions. I will keep you guys informed of the treasures as I find them. Still working with the Excal as well and trying to figure her out as well.


Best regards and thanks again,


Gary

 

[newtohunting]

Thanks for the help. I apreciate all of the great info and concerns. But my next question is "can you really tell the differences in tone (sounds) in all metal mode? We have tons of lobster trap crap up here in MA and when hitting Salisbury beach etc, how do you notice whether you hit a nail or lobster trap compared to everything that is good? I can sit here all dau long in hit lobster trap parts, but what if there is a silver dime or mgold ring under the lobster trap part. What do you do to identify this problem. Or can you????


Thanks for responding,

Gary

 

[adam in cal]

all metal makes everything sound like a squleching siren.......I find it to be quite an annoying mode to hunt in .and I see no reason to hunt in all metal unless you really love microscopic bits of rusty nail and broken saftey pins ect....All metal has one function for me and that is just to use it for a quick check of a deep target , iron squlechs out where the deep coin will still remain quiet and a small sounding signal ....good luck ... the real thing is you just need to go hunt with it and find out where you feel comfortable .......its a powerful machine and even in auto mode you can have some real sucess ......I recomend the auto mode as a good place to start out.......

 

[ikon]

i have to agree with Adam on the all metal mode. way way down the road its a nice option to play around with. learn your basics and then go from there.
stan sjmdc

 

[newtohunting]

I am a little confused. So you believe in your opinion not to hunt in all metal and use descrimination,...or to hunt in all metal? What settings do you like mainly. I notice that you have amassed quite a few nice finds on ths forum. At which point do you give up the small gold?

 

[adam in cal]

only to do a quick check,on certian deep targets there is no noticeable audio response only the treshold disapperring, this generally signifies an undesirable iron target, but when a coin is real deep it will be too deep to give any audio maybe only a waver sound wise in these cases I click to all metal when it is iron it will usually scream at me in all metal but a coin will still just be a waver even in all metal, I notice lots of iron objects (nails in particular) have what I call a cherry , what happens is on an rusty nail there is usually one spot where you can get a positive response and a solid meter reading , to cut down on being fooled by the ''cherry'' on a nail you can click to Am and the nail will be obvious in many cases. I find the disc mode to be superior in depth to the All metal mode (contray to popluar opinion). I would never hunt in all metal , unless I wanted to dig a zillion tiny pieces of rust .As far as the settings go , my desired setting is zero notch and zero disc with the sensitivity as a high as i can get it without chatter, I will use the auto mode on occasion if hunting say a nasty demo where the dirt conditions can change rapidly, but generally can only get my sensitivity around the 1 o;clock position I have a park where the detector only calms down in the auto mode and I use it there with sucess. I have found some great stuff , but it is not without very hard work and detication , I went nearly a year before finding a silver coin , for every good find I post there is a massive ammount of junk in the back of my pickup truck. As far as the small gold goes,I find myself abandoning it quite frequently due to the nature of it sounding exactally like small foil wrappers, If I am hunting I dig a few pices of ''warm up '' junk if the first few hits are foil and it becomes obvious that we have lots of foil junk I stop digging that paticluar meter reading , so if the first few are tabs at 156 I stop digging that sound and reading of 156 .....I really think that going out as much as you can even if you arent positive what is what is the best , one day a great epiffiny will occur and the light goes on ........good luck

 

[Rick(ND)]

To me and I am sure other we find with the Sovereigns you will get more depth, or seem that way in the disc mode as we cam hear the targets better. Many real iffy ones when switching to all metal to pinpoint or to see if it is iron or not like Adam says I find it is real hard to get a signal in all metal. On some of these I just have to go back to the disc mode and go around the target listening to the slight tone changes and dig a plug and use my Sun Ray S1 probe to find the target.
What Adam is saying about checking the signals in all metal works good on the real iffy ones in disc as if it is iffy in disc and it is weak in all metal it is good, but if iffy in disc and loud in all metal chance are it is iron. Another way I use to be sure even on weak ones in a metal is go to all metal and pinpoint using the 90 degrees turn to pinpoint so you have the target right under the very center of the coil. Now while holding the coil still over the target is switch back to disc and slightly wiggle the coil, if it just nulls it is iron false, but if it goes to a positive signal of the sweet tone it is a good one. Works good for me and got some very deep coins this way on many iffy ones i may not have dug. I also think if you want to get the deep ones you may have to look in to the Sun Ray S1 probe to find many of them that may disappear after you dig a plug.
Here is a picture of one worked out park I used this method and had to go real slow to get these with most not giving a good lock on the meter or tones just trying to climb, but using the 90 degrees pinpoint and the S1 probe able to find these that were 9-12 inches deep. For those that seen these please forgive me for showing them again.
[attachment 41169 scanner053.jpg]
Rick

 

[ikon]

n/t

 

[newtohunting]

Rick,

AWESOME FINDS and hats off to you. Going to have to go play with the machine and see what I am working with . Trying to absorb all of this is like going back to school to learn how to fly a plane. Thanls for the great tips. I will use them wisely.


Gary

 

[newtohunting]

Again, great info and comments. Like you said, get it out there and getter done. Will take some time but worth the effort. The main reason I want to get these settings down is because I found a great small rugged and durable box to put the GT in and cut some hole for the wires. Now I put the GT in the plastic case and then put it in a small but heavy duty backpack so I have the weight on my back and freedom of movement to swing the coil. This way on the beach, GT remains safe from elements and I can hunt all day until batts run down.Onlt problem is that in order to switch to all metal and test the sound, I would have to remove backpack, hard case with GT in it, and then have to figit around, then after finding whether or not to dig, put GT back in case and then back in the case and then back in the bag. Might kill my hunting time. Would prefer to find the ultimate settings and go go go!!!!!!!!!!!


Gary

 

[ikon]

gary,
another important thing to consider not only with your GT control box is understanding your DD coil. its a different animal then most coils but very easy to master. with your control box set to just your basic starter settings if you pass over a target your going to hear it. if theres no target there you wont hear it so remember that.
your hot spot or hot bar is right down the middle of the coil. now you want to teach yourself how to locate and pinpoint your target. place a coin or ring on the ground and wave your coil over it. the GT is a motion detector so you have to keep swinging your coil. start to narrow down your swing so you see that your target is almost under your center bar. now once you see that start to pull your coil back till you cant hear your target anymore which will tell you your off your target. now push your coil forward till you just start hearing your target again and your getting a strong positive sound and that will tell you where your target is and where you need to dig. simple
you can switch into all medal and pinpoint mode and that will also tell you where your target is but in time you wont need to use that because youll understand your DD so well you'll just know where your target is and wont need to go into those modes.
its good to get yourself a few different coils for certain types of detecting you might find yourself in. ill use the 5 to 8 inch coils for extreme trashy areas to not so trashy areas and a 10 or 12 incher on cleaner areas. the sunray S-1 probe is a most have probe. it will cut your recovery time in half. on the beach its good to use a big coil so you can cover alot of ground plus digging in sand is alot easier then dirt.
the main thing is to go slow and listen. youll get to know your tones and you'll understand what you want to dig and what not to go after. on the beach you want to dig everything.
practice practice practice. HH
Stan SJMDC

 

[newtohunting]

Thanks for the great instructions. If I could spend a year on the beach doing everything to master this stuff I would in a heartbeat. Just have to get out there and do it like you say.


Gary

 

[pb-to-au]

Minelabs love lobster trap pieces more than most other machines, regardless of the settings. I hate to say it being the owner of an Excaliber, but Salisbury beach is the last place you want to run a Minelab because of the overwhelming amount of buried large and small iron. Your machine will be constantly nulling out, you can't detect another target until your machine resets from the null. Buy a cheap used Fisher Aquanaught just for Salisbury beach! You can cover ten times the amount of ground, you can use a fast sweep speed, no null, instant target response, excellent trash/ treasure seperation even with the 10 inch loop. You won't go as deep as the Minelab, but you will cover many many more feet of ground.And you will get "good" target signals on lobster trap pieces with the Aquanaught too, comes with the territory.You could always go to Revere beach and find less pot debris but many many aluminum can bottoms at three feet down with your Excaliber.

 

[newtohunting]

What is your take on the Sov GT at Salisbury?