Dug weak signals with good results with cibola. Tips wanted.

[rufus3898]

After getting tired of digging surface clad I decided to try to go for the deeeep coins. after digging only a few iffy signals I yanked a 1911 LC (canada) and a 1936 1 cent (missing the dot..bummer) for those who don't know that is an ultra rare canadian penny worth $200,000 - $300,000 All found at about 6-7" deep. The signals were quite weak and a little broken, but convinced me the capibilities of this machine. My question is that I noticed that both signals dropped out just after the tab mark telling me that the descrim has a great affect on depth. Less descrim = more depth and More descrim = less dpeth. As for the sensitivity I had it about 10 but is it ok to back it off to 7-8? From what I heard there's not much affect on depth but you'll dig less iron. Is this true? any other deep seeker tips for me since I can see i'm on the right track. Any help would be great thanks!!!!

 

[sqwaby]

I like those weak signals also, so I keep the sens on my Vaquero as high as possible without it getting chatty. I cannot disc out iron if its any bigger than a large washer, reducing sens has no effect . I ID iron other ways(signal strength, etc) to avoid digging it, if your unsure dig it. If you have trouble pinpointing a deep target due to the weak signal, put the machine in boost mode, pinpoint the target, then return to your prior settings.

 

[Jharhed]

I always hunt a little before where nickel discs out, do your own test as to where it discs out at, I use real small arrow shaped piece of electrical tape above the dial as an indicator. If I got a clipped signal, i'd thumb down disc to minimum, if the signal amplified due to this, probably iron, but if stayed clipped its probably worth a look.

 

[Dang]

How about hunting in all metal? I get a weak signal and switch to disc. Now there's no signal. Could this be a real deep coin or just some piece of iron?

 

[tvr]

My experience with a Cibola is that the depth capability drops when sensitivity is turned down. For me it pretty much tracked air test results.

Sven has rather detailed air test results posted for a Cibola and a Tejon. My tests using one setting, sensitivity at 10, threshold just audible and discriminator at iron tracked Sven's results for that setting.

If you search for posts by Sven, he has a link to his web page in his signature block. From there look for treasure hunting (on the left) and then for the air test links.

Note that these detectors air test nickles further out than quarters.

As the discriminator setting gets near where the conductivity of the target is, you loose depth on that target real quickly. Set further away from the target you won't loose much depth.

I generally run the discriminator just a hair above iron with the Cibola and when I get a target, thumb the discriminator to see where it goes away. I generally run the sensitivity as high as I can without it falsing, that is usually just into to half way into the red area above 10.

I found that when I super tuned and got the threshold set way up, I dug a lot of iron. If you note in Sven's test notes, he indicated not seeing any depth increase when threshold was set higher than about 3 o'clock. I haven't tried varying the threshold in the super tuned range since I've grown to like using the pinpoint to size targets and give spot on pinpointing. With the threshold set to just audible, the discriminator knocks out small iron pretty well. Doesn't seem to matter much where sensitivity is. Large iron is another story. You learn to tell that it is large iron when you hear enough of it. It has a unique sound. Kind of hard to describe the sound but it is different.
Cheers,
tvr

 

[Gunnar MN]

thats right , the more disq the less depth you will get thats why Im thinking that a TID machine that will hunt in all metal and still give VDI numbers and tones would be very good not to mention a DD coil

 

[rufus3898]

I just was playing around today with it semi-supertuned and I dug a couple .22 lead bullets from at least 6-7 inches! Kinda of annoying to dig but it gives me confidence in the detectors ability. I am gonna go back to where I found the old coins last weekend and give it a good shot at the deep signals to see what will turn up. I love the depth but you really don't know whether or not its small rusted iron or a coin. I like some of the videos i seen with the minelab explorers with that nice tone on the deep silvers. I would love to try a minelab but I am gonna have to give the cibola a good run and try to master it first. Thanks and happy hunting!

 

[tvr]

Spend some time sweeping a target and thumbing the discriminator before digging. It took me a while to learn the language but once the language clicked in my head, it made an instant difference in hunting. Thumbing the discriminator gives information about the target.

Small iron discriminates out pretty well. If it has a larger rust trace in the ground, or is a little bigger, it may not completely discriminate out but the edges of the beep are sharper or kind of click and are not solid rather than being the smoother, more solid tone like a desired target gives.

Big deep iron doesn't always click but pinpoints large if you are pinpointing; and in the middle of the target the beep has a kind of bong sound more so than a beep. The sound changes based on target type and discriminater setting can be subtle but are observable.

If you are like me, it all sounded like beep at first. I guess I was a slow learner. It took me a summer and fall of pretty much digging everything and rereading posts about hearing the changes in the beep and being able to ID targets before digging by thumbing the discriminator before it all clicked in the connection between ear and brain.

And keep in mind that those 22 bullets could have been gold earring studs with nice expensive stones.
tvr

 

[holey dollar]

Hi There
I own the Vaq, i find all metal mode can go deeper than if i super tune the unit,use a very slight threshold hum so you can hear deep very faint signals.
If I'm in all metal, get a very faint signal, this could be very deep target, or very small target, i gen clear away surface sand/Dirt, signal should start to go louder, you can then disc the target, but beware you loose depth on target the more you disc the target, if the target does not go louder deeper i go its not worth digging the target. Must admit the Vaq goes deep, i like to dig most deep targets,that get louder the deeper i go.But if you are in the Range of Disc mode i find disc to be a good indication of the target, but targets in the ground change, due to soil condition makeup again beware of this.

Dave/Holey Dollar

 

[comcat]

hey guys,,can you run your vachero on salt wet with the stock coil??? i have a cibola and it is very quiet on the wet sand,, but still finds bloody hot rocks,,,,but what an awesome performer,,,