Eagle Spectrum Sensitivity Question

[pescadore]

I am purchasing a Whites Eagle Spectrum an have been reading the manual. I am an experienced detectorist and have used Whites machines in the past and have been very pleased with them. I had a medical situation with my son recently and had to sell my detector and picked up the Eagle Spectrum to use until I can afford another top end machine. I was curious if any Eagle Spectrum users could share some settings that they use for U.S. coin hunting. I am primarily a coinshooter and hunt schools and parks mostly with an occasional old homestead. I was especially curious how high you are able to run your sensitivity settings and still maintain detector stability. I will be using the 9.50 coil for now but will be purchasing a 5.3 for trashy areas. Thanks in advance for any help offered for this machine.

 

[Scaupus]

AC sensitivity between 50 to 68. 55 seems like the magic # for many trashy urban areas, including maybe with emf's around.



SPECTRUM EAGLE PROGRAM #1



Basic

Audio Disc.: ON
Silent Search: OFF (you can turn on if you like silence)
Mixed Mode: OFF
A.C. Sensitivity: 55 to 68. For the typically trashy urban area, I just go to 55. (I go to 50 for maximum stability, but start to noticeably lose depth at 50. adjust this for your ground, to where it's stable. Higher is more sensitive. You can increase depth by swinging faster, but I found I lost some shallow responses with a fast swing, or couldn't distinguish responses)
D.C. Sensitivity: 3 . Basically changes the no-motion response volume, as far as I can tell.
Backlight: OFF (Turn on in the dark)

Pro

Audio

S.A.T. : ON
S.A.T. Speed: 1 (Set this one as low as you can and maintain threshold)
Tone I.D.: ON
V.C.O.: on. This makes pinpoint change pitch. Fun!
Absolute Value: OFF
Modulation: ON Turn this off if you have hearing loss or if you like steady volume regardless of depth

G.E.B. / TRAC

Autotrac: ON
Trac View: on
Trac Speed: 1 (This one sets how often it ground checks. The Trac View shows you often it is checking. Too often is not good. Set it as low as you can and maintain stability)
Trac Inhibit: ON Manual G.E.B.: AUTO

Discrimination

Disc. Edit
Accept: NEG 20 TO POS 95 Reject: NEG 95 TO NEG 21. The machine uses +95 for unknowns. If it reads +95 and it's deep, it may be interesting. For maximum depth accept down to -30 or -40. If too much foil, dial it back. I'm using -20 as my break point, for now.
Block Edit: S/A Learn Accept: OFF Learn Reject: OFF
Recovery Speed: 5 (Faster speeds lose depth. I found 5 for moderately trashy areas was fast enough and more stable. Adjust as needed for your conditions. Most people use a higher number I think.)
Bottlecap Reject: 1

Display

Visual Disc.: OFF (This way you see all VDI numbers)
Labels: ON
V.D.I. Sensitivity: 85. Reduce this if unstable
Ground I.D (DC Phase) OFF - This one is useful only if you set Ground Balance manually. It can be a little problematic if left on.

I haven't really experimented much with anything below here. However, if I recall rightly, a minimal fade rate didn't work well.
Accumulate: ON
Average: ON
Fade Rate: 7

Signal

High Transmit Power: ON
Low Transmit Power: OFF (Reverse these if the deep stuff is trash and the shallow stuff is rings)
Transmit Frequency: 4
Preamp Gain: 9

 

[pescadore]

Thank you so much, I will give it a try. My detector should be waiting on me when I get home from work today !!

 

[cadman_us]

If I remember right, the pre-amp gain has the most effect on depth, but, the higher the number the more unstable it will become.

I used to run the factory coin and jewelry program and just tweak the pre-amp gain to the most stable depth I could.

Scaupus has it right "Preamp Gain: 9" I would start with that to begin with. I think the factory programs have the pre-amp set to 1.

Also XLT programs will work for the Eagle, just google XLT programs and there are a ton of them out there.

You say you bought Eagle Spectrum to use until you can afford another top end machine, I still have my Eagle Spectrum and it is one that I will keep, it is that good....just heavy...

 

[pescadore]

Thanks for the help. I guess I should have emphasized that it will be quite some time before I will be able to afford an upgrade. The more I read about the Eagle Spectrum and all the good things that folks have to say about it makes me very glad that I bought this detector. I am hoping that I love it so much that I will just want to buy it a companion not a replacement. I realized after getting it fired up tonight that it will take some getting use to but I pick up pretty quick since I have owned so many detectors.