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Excal Operation?

G

grumpyolman

New member
Am using the Excal in fresh water. Set it up like Gulfhunter recommends. Get a barely audible high threshold and then start searching. I think I run across some iron and the threshold changes to a low growl. I can reset the threshold to a high tone by running the coil next to the scoop. Is this necessary? Can I just continue to hunt in the low growl mode and if I come across a good target will the machine still sound out the target? I ran it that way all day and dug a lot of stuff. Only one small sterling ring though. What I can't tell is how many targets I might have missed because I was searching with the low growl threshold rather than the high tone threshold. Help please! Jim
 
You can hunt in the low growl with no problems, it will change when you hit a good target just like it does when you reset it with your scoop. HH Joe
 
Does not matter what pitch the threshold tone is. When you hit a target the threshold will change to the new target pitch.
You do not need to reset the threshold to any particular tone unless you can't stand listening to a particular pitch. The threshold tone has nothing to do with the detector's ability to pick up the next target.

HH
 
It will change the next time to cross over a different target.
 
Thanks all for the answers. One more! When Gulfhunter says turn the threshold down so you can barely hear it and then turn it down just a bit more, does that apply to the growl as well as the high tone threshold? The growl is definitely louder than the high tone. The fear is if I turn down the growl from just audible to not audible will I still hear the good targets? Me thinks so but just guessing. Thanks again...Jim
 
I disagree with Gulf Hunter. I always like to hear some threshold sound. I think I would have missed some deep weak signaled targets if wasn't hearing it at all.
 
Hello Jim,

Don't worry about getting back to the high tone, low is better, imo. What you need to concern yourself with is when the unit goes into the high pitched, strained tone. At this point, the unit is NOT dealing well with the ground or you are swinging too fast, or have too much sensitivity. Low growl is OK, trust me. You will find plenty!
 
I have been running just a touch of Threshold (barely audible) and I'll tell you why.....When running silent, the unit can go into the high pitched strained tone and you may NOT be able to determine that it has happened, running silent. You will just stop finding any targets of density and consequently believe the conditions are sanded in and leave. This may not be the case and the sensitivity may need to be backed off, swing slower or adjust your methods in some way. Hope this helps.
 
I just run my excal with little or no noise at all have good hearing so don't miss much.You will hear all targets but you want hear the iron trip your threshold thanks
 
Although I love Gulf Hunter like a brother, I also disagree with his "turn it down until you can barely hear it and then turn it down some more".

Sorry, but the biggest strength of the Excal is that threshold. In the words of the great "Dan from PA", it should be set to sound like "the gentle buzzing of a bee", steady and audible. When you narrowly miss a target, or when you have a very deep one, the break in the trheshold can tip you off to it. You then go BACK...to what you just missed...and try again. Upon closer scanning, if you get a good signal, DIG! If not, and it turns out to be a null, move on. That's the way to use the threshold.

Also, it needs to be understood that the threshold on the Excal (and the Sovereigns as well) will take on the tone of the LAST TARGET PASSED OVER. If it was a quarter, the threshold will be high. If you then pass over a nickel, it will shift to medium. If it's gold or foil, it will go LOW. And if it's iron, then it will be NOTHING...yes, you will LOSE your threshold. Because the tone of the last target passed over (iron) is NOTHING...NULL. This is the most misunderstood aspect of the BBS machines. And those who don't "get it" will be constantly adjusting their threshold, trying to "get it right", when in fact much of the time it IS right...it has just shifted tones. That's why "flashing" your scoop near the coil can often "fix" the threshold...by making it higher. When it wasn't REALLY "broken" to begin with. Does this make sense?

The best way to set your BBS machine is this:

1) Get your hunt spot and fire up your machine

2) Set the sens at 12 o'clock for starters

3) Find an area that's clean...no targets, no nothing when sweeping

4) Set the threshold to a slight buzz...audible enough to hear it well in the area you're at but light enough not to be a nuisance

5) Hunt and leave the threshold ALONE.
 
Mike (Virginia Beach) said:
... when you have a very deep one, the break in the threshold can tip you off to it. You then go BACK...to what you just missed...and try again. Upon closer scanning, if you get a good signal, DIG!
.
Click to expand...

I've been trying to zero in on deep faint sounds. I get threshold breaks frequently (running my Sov at the 11 o'clock position, with a slightly audible threshold, disc all the way down, nothing notched), but haven't yet equated these to a deep target.

Aside from a threshold break, what other examples of deep target sounds or behavior are there ?
 
Well quite often those threshold breaks are indicative of an iron null. But also quite often the target is a good one and a closer inspection and hitting it from a few different angles will produce a signal with a little tone to it. And then if you can "coax" the target up a little from the right angle, you have a digger. And then sometimes the target may be deep enough that a null may be all you get. And you could be passing up a good target, thinking it's an iron null. I don't advocate digging EVERYTHING, but maybe for a while it's a good policy, until you have a high cinfidence level in your interpretation of the signals.

Other than what I've mentioned, there isn't really any other indication or behavior of a deep target to speak of. That's where a larger coil can also be a help. I have compared signals on a number of occaisions between my Excal 1000 and an Excal 800 and sometimes there is a marked difference in the signal quality on a deep one. And a few times where it may not be detected at all by the smaller coil. And I'm sure when you get into the SEF coils, S-12, WOT, etc. the same can be siad of the Excal 1000 coil missing the deeper ones. There are limitations, but I have seen the 10" coil get some crazy deep targets in the hard packed wet sand. Crusty green quarters and other coins that have been there a while will signal from very deep.
 
Thanks Mike.

I'm hunting an old swimming hole that's been producing, but I know there's stuff deeper then I've been finding. I've been using the Sunray 12.5" Intruder, but I think I'll give my WOT a whirl, by all accounts that I've read it loves silver and gold:thumbup: I need to focus on deeper signals to get to the oldies, as everything I've been finding with the Sunray Intruder has been in the 1"-8" range.
 
Im new to the Excal, but I "discovered" the same thing this past weekend on my very first ever salt beach hunt. I just let the Thresh run on Low if it wanted to, and when it went High, I would dig and out came a deep coin almost evey time. Now the freshwater lakes I hunt are not old enough to harbor any deepies like that, but on the beach, it works like a charm.
 
After passing over iron null the threshold comes back as a low growl, to let you know it was iron, not as nothing, same on the sov, excal, Explorer SE(in pitch hold)
 
That's what is SUPPOSED to happen, but is not always the case at all. The threshold will often not come back, causing many to incorrectly decided to raise it to a point where they can hear it. And then when the next target is crossed, it comes back...too high.

I have had the Sovereign Elite, the SE, and now use an Excal. I agree with you on the fact that the SE behaves as you say. And I don't remember my Elite doing that. But on the Excal and the Excal 2, I have seen it many times. It's not an issue for me, because I'm aware of it. But for many it results in constantly fiddling with the threshold, which is why I mention it.
 
The Excal is a very SIMPLE machine. But there are certain intracasies which are only mastered through experience in YOUR hunting environment and with YOUR style, settings, coil, etc. And with "swing time" doing actual hunting. And once you do master those little intricasies...LOOK OUT BABY! :thumbup:
 
Well it's possible that the site you are hunting only HAS stuff in the 1" to 8" range, because I have found MANY targets with my Excal with the 10" coil that were far in excess of 8". It's not uncommon at all to find crusty quarters at depths of over a foot and gold rings at close to that.

Since you are running the S-12, I guess that means you have an ikelite or other watertight coupler to allow switching to the WOT? Sure would be interested to see what you would get with an SEF out there.

Come on out here and we'll strap 'er on and take it for a spin! :lol:
 
Mike (Virginia Beach) said:
Well it's possible that the site you are hunting only HAS stuff in the 1" to 8" range, because I have found MANY targets with my Excal with the 10" coil that were far in excess of 8". It's not uncommon at all to find crusty quarters at depths of over a foot and gold rings at close to that.

Since you are running the S-12, I guess that means you have an ikelite or other watertight coupler to allow switching to the WOT? Sure would be interested to see what you would get with an SEF out there.

Come on out here and we'll strap 'er on and take it for a spin! :lol:
Click to expand...

I suspect there's deeper targets, but I've been too impatient to put in the time to listen for these deepies :biggrin: This weekend I'll concentrate on the threshold changes to see if I can bag them.

I have the Sovereign XS2a-pro, I guess the ikelite or watertight coupler is for the Excal ? I seal up the Sovereign box in a plastic baggie, and hip mount it in the Sunray pouch (poor mans Excal). It works pretty well for fresh water wading.

I'd really like to take that SEF coil for a spin, it looks very similar in concept to the new Explorer SE Pro coil, I bet it'll work well for turf hunting too (they've been raiding silver from the parks on the west coast with the Pro coil).

When I was a kid we had a major drought and I remember finding TONS of cool old things from the late 1800's to the 1930's (they would've been like 8-10 feet deep when the lake was full). Imagine all the treasures that could've been found with the Sovereign, of course it didn't exist yet, but still :devil:

HH,
Brian
 
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