Coin/Jewelry vs. Relic Mode?

[Bottleguy]

I've had my MXT a little over 6 months now. For the most part, I've always hunted in Coin/Jewelry mode with the settings at (or around) the factory presets. I feel pretty confident and comfortable with those settings, but lately I've been fiddling around in Relic mode and I have a few questions.

My overall goal is to try and squeeze some older and deeper coins out of previously hunted and fairly trashy (man-made iron) areas. There are a few places (older lots and parks) where I've been teased with some older wheaties, and I know there's gotta' be some silver left there, somewhere.

It seems as if in Coin/Jewelry mode, I've been having a difficult time separating out a good, repeatable, deep diggable signal, especially when there's more than one target close to each other, which is most often the case. I'm using the 4x6 DD Eclipse coil almost exclusively, and many times it's hard to determine if there's actually something worth digging in Coin/Jewelry mode if the MXT can't make up it's mind what's down there, what with all the trash, etc.

Anyway, the last few times out, I've switched to using Relic mode. I really like the high-pitched "Beep" because, first off, it tells me that there's something down there that isn't iron. In fact, I've been running the MXT with the trigger-switch in the forward position to eliminate the iron "Grunt". This way, it seems that even if there is some iron near the target, the MXT still tells me there's a potential older coin there. Never mind if the VDI says it's a Button or a Buckle, or whatever, just by sweeping the coil in Relic mode with the trigger in the forward position, if I get a high-pitched "Beep", I feel it's worth a few more passes with the coil.

Next, I look at the numbers. Since I'm going after older coins, especially silver, I'll dig everything from a +60 to +94. Most of the parks I go to have a lot of pull-tabs, so I probably won't dig anything between +24 to +42. From +42 to +60, I'll change position, make a few more sweeps and see. Sometimes the number will creep up into the +70 to +80 range in which case I'll definitely dig it. Sometimes, the numbers drop down into the below +42 range, and I'll leave it be. Numbers between 0 to +24 can be tricky. Usually foil, but of course I'll dig anything with a solid +16 to +22, but I usually get 2-3 pull-tabs for every nickel. I usually won't dig anything between +10 to +16 unless it's an easy, shallow dig (2"-4") and never anything less than +10.

Before I dig anything though, of course I'll "pinpoint" it. It seems as if this is when I make that critical decision whether to dig the target, or not. Quite often, in Coin/Jewelry mode, it seemed difficult to accurately pinpoint a "good" target. The VDI would jump around from "penny-dime" to "iron" to "nickel/pull-tab", and I'd have to swing over and over the target until I got the VDI I wanted, and then pinpoint.

In Relic mode, though, it seems much easier to establish the "good" VDI number and then pinpoint. I'm also getting more accurate (and deeper) location and depth readings than in Coin/Jewelry mode. Just recently, I went back to a few areas where I had hunted before and had found a few coins down to about 5 inches in Coin/Jewelry mode. When I reworked those areas in Relic mode, I found quite a few more coins that I had missed before, and all of them were deeper, down to around 7 inches (still just clad, though).

Anyway, am I on the right track here?? I'm not so much interested in modern rings, jewelry, etc., but more interested in the older coins at a deeper depth. I've also tried locking the ground-balance at around 50 (my soils are usually around 50-62), and it seemed to stabilize the MXT even more. I'm finding that by just listening for the high-pitched "beep" in relic mode, I'm able to cover more ground, easily identify potential and deeper targets, and decide faster whether to dig or not.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Rick

 

[Jackpine Savage]

HI Rick,

It sounds like you have a good handle on things. If the relic mode works better for you, and it seems to, thats great! The only thing I would suggest is to try a bigger coil more suited to the task of getting a little deeper on coins. There is always the tradeoff of a little more masking but that cannot be helped when you need that little bit more depth. I like round DD coils as they are little less sensitivity to the tiny bits which makes things easier in some circumstances. Monte has posted the virtues of the 8" round DD coil and that would be my first choice to try. Regardless, depending on the site, sometimes it can be very hard to get down to the deeper older stuff with the higher frequency machines like the MXT.

HH
Tom

 

[ksdigger]

Hey Rick,
With just 6 months under your belt, seems you've analyed the MXT pretty well. I might add my two cents worth to help you on deeper targets. As Tom has stated above, a larger coil would indeed provide a couple extra inches in depth. You may want to take into account that while you are "pinpointing" a target I can usually tell if the target is deep on silver, gold, brass or lead by listening for that destinctive small faint high pitch tone in RELIC MODE which by the way I use 100% of the time. Otherwise, the bad targets like pulltabs and iron junk will respond with a much stronger and broader pattern signal.

 

[Rick(ND)]

I too love that relic mode as it save a lot of time looking at the meter as only the high tones I look at the meter. I also find I seem to find deeper targets too in the relic mode. There is only 2 coils I use on our MXT and that is the little 4X6 and the 6X10 and dug deep with either one with the 6X10 going the deepest. My deepest good signal in relic was almost 12 inch's on a key while my wife's was 9 inches on a 1840 seated dime that gave a good high tone in relic mode and the tracking on.

Rick

 

[Gila Marc]

I've had my MXT for over two years now, and have found more good stuff in that time than in all my years of detecting before (since 1970's)! I used the stock 950 coil for the first year and did good. It's fantastic at pinpointing! I then bought a little 5" concentric from Kellyco and it was like getting a new detector! It isn't as deep, but in the old city dumpsite where I was searching a lot it separated the goodies from the trash unbelieveably well!

I tried the Coin/Jewelry mode for about two days, but since then I've used Relic mode almost exclusively. The tone separation is great, just have to ignore the "Bullet/Buckle" thing. The dumpsite by definition is full of trash, but the Relic mode combined with the 5" coil has done wonders at pulling lots of really old relics and coins, lots of pre-1900, from the garbage.

Recently I have discovered that if I use Prospecting mode, trigger forward, SAT on P, Sens on P or lower and diligently watch the VDI readouts I can find some deeper weak signals that would not be strong enough to make any tone at all. I watch the VDI and % Iron reading and dig all low iron percentages with VDI over 17, whether they tone or not. I've found several old coins and some nice relics that way that I had overlooked before.

Works for me!

Marc