I am wondering how can I get more depth out of my machine? I have been using it for about a month and have found lots of great finds but I have not noticed any target at a greater depth than 8". Is there another program I should be using? I am just in the factory coin program. Should I slow down my swing speed ? Like I said I have found some awesome targets just nothing 8+ inches any info would be appreciated.
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Ctx 3030
- Thread starter Muddpunk
- Start date
Try using less discrimination,that stock program has a lot of discrimination on it. Even those downloadable programs I downloaded ,I noticed the same thing. I use a combined mode with very little disc ,and I'm getting deeper targets all the time. And keep your eye on the sens.numbers. some soils will run less. When this happens ,I go to manual ,and try to run it as hi as I can without being too chattery. Sometimes I will even use the seawater setting to keep it somewhat stable. But mostly what I found is with less, disc with the screen not looking like a tetris game, I get more depth.
foreign object
New member
More to lack of depth than just settings.
Biggest depth robber is high mineralized soil.
8" with good id is hard to beat most of the time.
Biggest depth robber is high mineralized soil.
8" with good id is hard to beat most of the time.
You asked how to get more depth out of your machine but did not give forum much info to work with. So all of us are making guesses as to the issue.
The hard deck in your area may be 8 inches in that there may or may not be coins deeper than that to begin with but beyond that you really have to know how to tune your machine.
I am not sure I agree with other posters in that you need to lower your discrimination, I thing lower the discrimination should be part of the process, not the entire solution.
If you think you should just set your machine once and go hunting in all conditions, you need to sell the CTX and buy a different brand.
Below are some thoughts for you to try that work for me, in my area.....test them out in your area.
1. How high is your "Threshold Level" set? If it is set to low you will may not hear a small or deep target.
2. What is your "Volume Gain" set at? (others mentioned this as well), here are some thoughts for you:
a. Preset on the machine is 24 which is pretty low.
b. If the ground is wet set to 25 to help eliminate falsing.
c. Consider using 27 in high mineralized ground
d. Consider using 28 in low mineralized ground.
e. Going all the way to 30 may make the detector too noisy causing you to lose depth and separation.
3. What about the sensitivity? Are you using auto or manual? This becomes a personal choice, but if you set it and forget it then you are not using the machine to its potential.
a. Auto plus 3 may not give you the depth that the same manual level may give you. Search this forum as there is a lot of info on the manual verses auto sensitivity.
b. Manual may not be desirable due to causing the machine to become very noisy especially in highly mineralized soil.
c. Search out comments on "SeaWater" turning it on can help stabilize the machine in highly mineralized soil, it will help auto sensitivity run higher and may calm down the noise in high manual settings.
d. Know that there is a point of decreasing returns with sensitivity, to high is like driving with high beams in fog, the feedback will not let you see clearly through the fog, but low beams will allow you to see further.
4. Are you the "Ferrous Coin" user only? Did you go for the gone hunting settings and never change them? Again, learn your machine.
a. Watch your machine recommended sensitivity it can tell you a lot about the soil condition.
b. Consider trying some of these in your area, develop your own cut off rules based on what you see:
* if the recommended sensitivity drops below 18, switch from Ferrous Coin to Ground Coin as Ground Coin handles mineralization better.
* if the recommended sensitivity drops below 12-13 you may want to consider ground balancing the machine.
5. How often are you noise canceling your machine? if you are at a farm once is enough, but if you are in a metropolitan park, you need to do it every 30 minutes are so.
6. If you are worried about your processor in the machine not handling what is going on, start to knockdown things that make your processor work harder:
a. 50 CO Tones makes the machine work harder then Combined.
b. 2 FE or 2 CO Tones makes the machine work less then Combined.
c. Target trace can slow the machine down, make it a user button instead of being on all the time.
d. Turn of your GPS functions, etc
e. OR, as others have told you, SLOW DOWN, you bought a high end machine, give it time to do its magic!
7. What response are you using? Since it is all about hearing the target the different characteristics of the response may help you hear a weak signal.
a. Try using long or smooth to help you pick out the weak good signals in heavy iron.
b. Remember, it is all about hearing the small signals.
c. Hopefully it goes without saying that you are using headphones or ear buds in high noise areas, if you cannot hear the weak signal you will never see deeper then 8 inches.
8. Now you are ready to start knocking down your discrimination, but this becomes a matter of choice depending on how trashy the area is.
Like I said, learn your machine, a CTX is not a set it and forget it machine, although it can do a lot for you, you are the brains behind the operation.
Most people who buy a CTX do not realize that you can make this machine do great things but you better know the machine. If you read any Andy Sabisch books or books other have put out, they tell you that right up front.
Lastly, educate yourself, there are a lot of great hunters on this forum, search the forum and learn from others then go and try it out, just because one us states how good something works for us, does not mean it will work exactly the same in your soil conditions.
I am not telling you my notes are perfect but they give you a starting point, many came from this forum and others were found through experimentation and I am sure many are up for debate, but again, it comes down to the conditions in your area which will drive your settings.
Get your settings right for the conditions you are hunting and deeper finds may show themselves.
Best of luck.
The hard deck in your area may be 8 inches in that there may or may not be coins deeper than that to begin with but beyond that you really have to know how to tune your machine.
I am not sure I agree with other posters in that you need to lower your discrimination, I thing lower the discrimination should be part of the process, not the entire solution.
If you think you should just set your machine once and go hunting in all conditions, you need to sell the CTX and buy a different brand.
Below are some thoughts for you to try that work for me, in my area.....test them out in your area.
1. How high is your "Threshold Level" set? If it is set to low you will may not hear a small or deep target.
2. What is your "Volume Gain" set at? (others mentioned this as well), here are some thoughts for you:
a. Preset on the machine is 24 which is pretty low.
b. If the ground is wet set to 25 to help eliminate falsing.
c. Consider using 27 in high mineralized ground
d. Consider using 28 in low mineralized ground.
e. Going all the way to 30 may make the detector too noisy causing you to lose depth and separation.
3. What about the sensitivity? Are you using auto or manual? This becomes a personal choice, but if you set it and forget it then you are not using the machine to its potential.
a. Auto plus 3 may not give you the depth that the same manual level may give you. Search this forum as there is a lot of info on the manual verses auto sensitivity.
b. Manual may not be desirable due to causing the machine to become very noisy especially in highly mineralized soil.
c. Search out comments on "SeaWater" turning it on can help stabilize the machine in highly mineralized soil, it will help auto sensitivity run higher and may calm down the noise in high manual settings.
d. Know that there is a point of decreasing returns with sensitivity, to high is like driving with high beams in fog, the feedback will not let you see clearly through the fog, but low beams will allow you to see further.
4. Are you the "Ferrous Coin" user only? Did you go for the gone hunting settings and never change them? Again, learn your machine.
a. Watch your machine recommended sensitivity it can tell you a lot about the soil condition.
b. Consider trying some of these in your area, develop your own cut off rules based on what you see:
* if the recommended sensitivity drops below 18, switch from Ferrous Coin to Ground Coin as Ground Coin handles mineralization better.
* if the recommended sensitivity drops below 12-13 you may want to consider ground balancing the machine.
5. How often are you noise canceling your machine? if you are at a farm once is enough, but if you are in a metropolitan park, you need to do it every 30 minutes are so.
6. If you are worried about your processor in the machine not handling what is going on, start to knockdown things that make your processor work harder:
a. 50 CO Tones makes the machine work harder then Combined.
b. 2 FE or 2 CO Tones makes the machine work less then Combined.
c. Target trace can slow the machine down, make it a user button instead of being on all the time.
d. Turn of your GPS functions, etc
e. OR, as others have told you, SLOW DOWN, you bought a high end machine, give it time to do its magic!
7. What response are you using? Since it is all about hearing the target the different characteristics of the response may help you hear a weak signal.
a. Try using long or smooth to help you pick out the weak good signals in heavy iron.
b. Remember, it is all about hearing the small signals.
c. Hopefully it goes without saying that you are using headphones or ear buds in high noise areas, if you cannot hear the weak signal you will never see deeper then 8 inches.
8. Now you are ready to start knocking down your discrimination, but this becomes a matter of choice depending on how trashy the area is.
Like I said, learn your machine, a CTX is not a set it and forget it machine, although it can do a lot for you, you are the brains behind the operation.
Most people who buy a CTX do not realize that you can make this machine do great things but you better know the machine. If you read any Andy Sabisch books or books other have put out, they tell you that right up front.
Lastly, educate yourself, there are a lot of great hunters on this forum, search the forum and learn from others then go and try it out, just because one us states how good something works for us, does not mean it will work exactly the same in your soil conditions.
I am not telling you my notes are perfect but they give you a starting point, many came from this forum and others were found through experimentation and I am sure many are up for debate, but again, it comes down to the conditions in your area which will drive your settings.
Get your settings right for the conditions you are hunting and deeper finds may show themselves.
Best of luck.
Jason in Enid
Active member
Great post jc!
Gary
Thank you. I never meant to write such a long email at 3 AM in the morning, but when you get a company incident call and you are up, well.......
I did forget a few things on my post....like the point about the gain.
If I am running with "Deep On" I leave the "Volume Gain" set at 24, the factory preset. I move the gain up whenever I turn the Deep On to the off position depending on soil and mineralization. (that is why I kept saying test in your area).
I love the CTX, I believe the right settings for the area you are in mean the difference between sucess and real sucess. Using the pro-coil, I was running ground coin (the machine was recommending sensitivity at 17), had my sensitivity set at manual 22, Volume Gain at 27, Deep Off, Smooth Reponse and running a coins only discrimination pattern when I found penny(s) and dimes at 9-10 inches in an area I was working. With the pointpoint and trace on, I knew it was a coin each time. The signals were what I call a medium return, not weak.
Unfortunately they were clad dimes and memorials because apparently the area had fill dirt on it and I did not realize it until I started digging. Still it was a great feeling to pull in finds that deep.
Thank you and others for all your posts, when I bought the CTX about a year ago, you all helped shorten my learning curve and build my own settings for my area.
Keep up the good posts, good luck to all.
Jerry
Thank you. I never meant to write such a long email at 3 AM in the morning, but when you get a company incident call and you are up, well.......
I did forget a few things on my post....like the point about the gain.
If I am running with "Deep On" I leave the "Volume Gain" set at 24, the factory preset. I move the gain up whenever I turn the Deep On to the off position depending on soil and mineralization. (that is why I kept saying test in your area).
I love the CTX, I believe the right settings for the area you are in mean the difference between sucess and real sucess. Using the pro-coil, I was running ground coin (the machine was recommending sensitivity at 17), had my sensitivity set at manual 22, Volume Gain at 27, Deep Off, Smooth Reponse and running a coins only discrimination pattern when I found penny(s) and dimes at 9-10 inches in an area I was working. With the pointpoint and trace on, I knew it was a coin each time. The signals were what I call a medium return, not weak.
Unfortunately they were clad dimes and memorials because apparently the area had fill dirt on it and I did not realize it until I started digging. Still it was a great feeling to pull in finds that deep.
Thank you and others for all your posts, when I bought the CTX about a year ago, you all helped shorten my learning curve and build my own settings for my area.
Keep up the good posts, good luck to all.
Jerry
A lot of good points here but NOBODY mentioned pinpoint mode which is all metal and is the deepest mode .
That said the way I use it which is not that often is to put the ctx in pinpoint lock . Pinpoint sizing should be enabled because as you know pinpoint normal well decrease the signal with every pass .Okay searching in pinpoint sizing with it locked and target trace in pinpoint sizing well give you a lot of information of what's under the coil , Pinpoint lock is activated by pushing your pinpoint button this locks it to pinpoint sizing .It's on page 50 in the user manual .
So you find a target in pinpoint lock go push your pinpoint button to go to the open screen you normally use check to see if you can get any information from that .
then lock it in pinpoint sizing ( pushing your pinpoint button) and build your target trace on the screen if you can't build a target because it's to deep then use sizing to determine if it's coin size or not .Check the depth also which tells you if it's a coin deep or not compared to a tiny pieces of foil if you dig 3 inches and it's in the plug it's junk okay if it's in the hole dig deeper . Most of the small crap can be eliminated using open screen 2 .
I run all my regular settings but well put deep on instead of fast when I'm hunting like this sensitivity is your friend for depth but if it becomes unstable your going to have to turn your sense down you can run your sense quite high in pinpoint compared to open screen 2 .
This works best in areas that are not loaded with targets the reasons is all small pieces of junk well be heard small iron tiny pieces of foil and so on depth reading well be off on these smaller pieces of crap .
Noise cancel this is from my observation channel 11 is the deepest channel 1 shallowest but running in 11 well be noisier than channel 1 . This kind of works like sensitivity where 20 is quiet and 30 is noises so 11 well get better signals than 1 but with added noise just like sense . Or let the ctx pick it for you but just like sense it well be lower than what you could use once you learn the ctx .
As to depth of coins I have found that if you have shallow top soil (black dirt) the coins well not be as deep as if you have deep top soil so if you dig check the depth of the top soil well tell you how to run your detector .Yards in town that are well watered and grass is cut quite often well have deeper top soil coins well be deeper here .Most coins after going through the top soil well rest where the soil changes to sand or other matrix .
I like this thread . sube
That said the way I use it which is not that often is to put the ctx in pinpoint lock . Pinpoint sizing should be enabled because as you know pinpoint normal well decrease the signal with every pass .Okay searching in pinpoint sizing with it locked and target trace in pinpoint sizing well give you a lot of information of what's under the coil , Pinpoint lock is activated by pushing your pinpoint button this locks it to pinpoint sizing .It's on page 50 in the user manual .
So you find a target in pinpoint lock go push your pinpoint button to go to the open screen you normally use check to see if you can get any information from that .
then lock it in pinpoint sizing ( pushing your pinpoint button) and build your target trace on the screen if you can't build a target because it's to deep then use sizing to determine if it's coin size or not .Check the depth also which tells you if it's a coin deep or not compared to a tiny pieces of foil if you dig 3 inches and it's in the plug it's junk okay if it's in the hole dig deeper . Most of the small crap can be eliminated using open screen 2 .
I run all my regular settings but well put deep on instead of fast when I'm hunting like this sensitivity is your friend for depth but if it becomes unstable your going to have to turn your sense down you can run your sense quite high in pinpoint compared to open screen 2 .
This works best in areas that are not loaded with targets the reasons is all small pieces of junk well be heard small iron tiny pieces of foil and so on depth reading well be off on these smaller pieces of crap .
Noise cancel this is from my observation channel 11 is the deepest channel 1 shallowest but running in 11 well be noisier than channel 1 . This kind of works like sensitivity where 20 is quiet and 30 is noises so 11 well get better signals than 1 but with added noise just like sense . Or let the ctx pick it for you but just like sense it well be lower than what you could use once you learn the ctx .
As to depth of coins I have found that if you have shallow top soil (black dirt) the coins well not be as deep as if you have deep top soil so if you dig check the depth of the top soil well tell you how to run your detector .Yards in town that are well watered and grass is cut quite often well have deeper top soil coins well be deeper here .Most coins after going through the top soil well rest where the soil changes to sand or other matrix .
I like this thread . sube