Help!!! I cannot seem to find anything deep with my Explorer II. I buried two coins 9 inches deep in my yard. A silver dime and a indian head penny. I went over them with my Explorer and a 12 x 10 inch SEF coil in semi auto and heard nothing. I raised the sensitivity to 32 and still nothing. I switched to manual and got a signal although it was broken up. What am I doing wrong? I raised gain to 10 to get the signal. Help Please. Rayski.
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Explorer Depth
- Thread starter rayski
- Start date
sgoss66
Well-known member
rayski --
9" is a DEEP coin! ESPECIALLY if your soil is not super-mild. I would bet that very few folks find a dime or penny-sized coin deeper than about 10" max. Sure, you hear stories...but 10" is getting close to the limits of these machines, in most soils. Quarters, can hit an inch or maybe two deeper, and I'm sure a half can be had at a foot or more. But, for a small coin, 9" is pretty deep! YES, you will hear only a broken signal on many deep coins...I'd practice working with that coin you buried and get used to the "less than perfect" sound and ID. One more thing -- a coin long-buried will often give you a better signal than a newly-buried one. That's been my experience, for sure.
Steve
9" is a DEEP coin! ESPECIALLY if your soil is not super-mild. I would bet that very few folks find a dime or penny-sized coin deeper than about 10" max. Sure, you hear stories...but 10" is getting close to the limits of these machines, in most soils. Quarters, can hit an inch or maybe two deeper, and I'm sure a half can be had at a foot or more. But, for a small coin, 9" is pretty deep! YES, you will hear only a broken signal on many deep coins...I'd practice working with that coin you buried and get used to the "less than perfect" sound and ID. One more thing -- a coin long-buried will often give you a better signal than a newly-buried one. That's been my experience, for sure.
Steve
Rayski....for starters....Explorers HATE disturbed ground
I would estimate that 50% of the silver dimes, wheaties, and Injuns' I have found in the last 4 years have come from the 8" to 10" depth range.
I would also estimate that about 20% have come from the 10" to 11" depth range in cleaner ground. (I have found plenty at a true measured 11" depth)
The other 30% I have found are either mixed in with trash....under trash...on trash...mixed in with iron...under iron....laying on iron....on edge....etc...at depths anywhere from 2" to 11". I actually found a barber dime on edge one time that was next to a bottle cap at only 4" deep...honestly. You just never know.
I found countless deep silver and injuns' in the 8" to as deep as 9" range (plenty of 9" ones" with the 6" Excelerator).
All the 10"+ deep coins came with the 10 x 12 SEF, Minelb Pro, 12" Sunray...etc....and a few 10" ones with the 6 x 8 SEF.
Most ANY good coin hit in the 9" to 11" depth range WILL NOT have that textbook sweet, consistent sound. They WILL be broken and chattery BUT with time you will be able to recognize that sound.
Just this year alone I dug at least 100 keeper coins (silver, injuns', and wheaties) that were in excess of 10" deep and probably closer to 11".
The other several hundres keeper coins were found in the range and conditions I stated here in my IL soil.
In the last few years I have found a handful of wheaties and silver dimes at a true measured 12" depth...and 1 silver dollar....but those depths are VERY rare and happen for me maybe 2 to 3 times each year.
The key is for you to learn that "broken" yet sweet sound over an 8" to 10" deep silver coin.
The next step will be for you to learn that same sweet sound...BUT learning that sound when the coin is mixed in with trash or iron.
That's a whole different ballgame..and it just takes time. Give it some time and a LOT of practice.
The explorers are GREAT machines.
I would estimate that 50% of the silver dimes, wheaties, and Injuns' I have found in the last 4 years have come from the 8" to 10" depth range.
I would also estimate that about 20% have come from the 10" to 11" depth range in cleaner ground. (I have found plenty at a true measured 11" depth)
The other 30% I have found are either mixed in with trash....under trash...on trash...mixed in with iron...under iron....laying on iron....on edge....etc...at depths anywhere from 2" to 11". I actually found a barber dime on edge one time that was next to a bottle cap at only 4" deep...honestly. You just never know.
I found countless deep silver and injuns' in the 8" to as deep as 9" range (plenty of 9" ones" with the 6" Excelerator).
All the 10"+ deep coins came with the 10 x 12 SEF, Minelb Pro, 12" Sunray...etc....and a few 10" ones with the 6 x 8 SEF.
Most ANY good coin hit in the 9" to 11" depth range WILL NOT have that textbook sweet, consistent sound. They WILL be broken and chattery BUT with time you will be able to recognize that sound.
Just this year alone I dug at least 100 keeper coins (silver, injuns', and wheaties) that were in excess of 10" deep and probably closer to 11".
The other several hundres keeper coins were found in the range and conditions I stated here in my IL soil.
In the last few years I have found a handful of wheaties and silver dimes at a true measured 12" depth...and 1 silver dollar....but those depths are VERY rare and happen for me maybe 2 to 3 times each year.
The key is for you to learn that "broken" yet sweet sound over an 8" to 10" deep silver coin.
The next step will be for you to learn that same sweet sound...BUT learning that sound when the coin is mixed in with trash or iron.
That's a whole different ballgame..and it just takes time. Give it some time and a LOT of practice.
The explorers are GREAT machines.
sgoss66
Well-known member
Bryce --
When I said "very few folks," you were one of those "very few folks" I was referring to!
I think you have to be the master of finding them that deep...and I'm not kidding!
I am lucky to get a chirp or two on the 10" dimes in my test garden and its irony soil...with 11" Pro coil. And that's only when the soil is damp. Dry soil? I WILL NOT HEAR that dime...
Steve
When I said "very few folks," you were one of those "very few folks" I was referring to!
I think you have to be the master of finding them that deep...and I'm not kidding!
I am lucky to get a chirp or two on the 10" dimes in my test garden and its irony soil...with 11" Pro coil. And that's only when the soil is damp. Dry soil? I WILL NOT HEAR that dime...
Steve
I wasn't directing my response to you
I was trying to let rayski know that his Explorer should have absolutely no problem hitting a 9" dime under normal hunting conditions...and a test bed is NOT one of those normal conditions.
You and I know that...but he doesn't.
I can barely hit my 9" deep dime in my test garden...but in the field I have no problems.
At this point I am afraid to explain any further about iron...trash...on edge coin sounds..etc...to rayski.
Hopefully we can all help him along so he doesn't get frustrated.
I was trying to let rayski know that his Explorer should have absolutely no problem hitting a 9" dime under normal hunting conditions...and a test bed is NOT one of those normal conditions.
You and I know that...but he doesn't.
I can barely hit my 9" deep dime in my test garden...but in the field I have no problems.
At this point I am afraid to explain any further about iron...trash...on edge coin sounds..etc...to rayski.
Hopefully we can all help him along so he doesn't get frustrated.
sgoss66
Well-known member
Agreed!
Hang in there, rayski, and give yourself some time to learn your machine. I can tell you this for sure -- I'm STILL trying to learn to hit the really deep ones, but there is no doubt that initially I was finding ONLY sub-6" coins; it was NOT a problem with the machine, but was a matter of learning what a deep coin sounds like, amongst all the other sounds you hear. In time, if you commit to learning it, you'll start pulling the goodies, from deeper and deeper depths, there's no doubt about it.
Just to illustrate about the "newly buried coins" with a real-life example...I can hit a 6" dime pretty consistently with a small (6x8 SEF) coil, in my test garden (coins buried earlier this year). The 8" dime, though, is broken and iffy. However, I dug a measured 7 1/2" dime with the same small coil while hunting the other day, that sounded quite a bit better -- very solid and clear -- than even the 6" dime does in my test garden.
Steve
Hang in there, rayski, and give yourself some time to learn your machine. I can tell you this for sure -- I'm STILL trying to learn to hit the really deep ones, but there is no doubt that initially I was finding ONLY sub-6" coins; it was NOT a problem with the machine, but was a matter of learning what a deep coin sounds like, amongst all the other sounds you hear. In time, if you commit to learning it, you'll start pulling the goodies, from deeper and deeper depths, there's no doubt about it.
Just to illustrate about the "newly buried coins" with a real-life example...I can hit a 6" dime pretty consistently with a small (6x8 SEF) coil, in my test garden (coins buried earlier this year). The 8" dime, though, is broken and iffy. However, I dug a measured 7 1/2" dime with the same small coil while hunting the other day, that sounded quite a bit better -- very solid and clear -- than even the 6" dime does in my test garden.
Steve
dewcon4414
Well-known member
Operator plays a big part, also your setting you didnt mention, then you berried the target when? The explorers dont care a lot for disturbed dirt or a lot of space between the coil and ground. Some detectors also recognizes the HOLE and looses the target.
Dew
Dew
I will agree that most disturbed items in the ground will not be so to say as reactive to non disturbed items.
This is often referrred to as the Halo effect.
If you type in "Buried Coins Halo" etc you will see what is being talked about in what I think most posters are eluding to "disturbed ground". There have been many studies on this fwiw. Disturb a small iron piece that you know you heard and poof you my think it vanished.
Also, note that you may well be able to pick up a silver coin laying flat that might easily peg your SmartScreen cursor to high right at 8" but, put that coin edge and your talking a whole different ball game.
Also, you know that just by going to 32 (if you where in Auto) you still might actually be 16 if that is what it determined as acceptable to the conditions.
Basically 32 Auto lets it set itself up for the conditions and will vary as conditions dictate.
I might also add unless you have spent some time behind the XS II you will quickly see Indians can be a tad jumpy.
Burying and fresh Silver dime at 9" is a tough so don't beat yourself up or sweat over it.
Set up your machine from some people you believe in here and go out and dig BUT, do somewhere where there is potential to find older coins and relics. Anything built or priorly built on that site from 1930 prior is tasty.
Dig all those signals you get and keep a mental image and mental reference to where they hit (or what Cond.-Ferr. #s they read) and most importantly what they sounded like.
Dont pass up even the shallows signals as I have found LC's at 1/2 believe it or not.
When you really get into the deep coins they can be one way signals so X your signal but, if it is repeatable and deep one way DIG. They also like to bounce on your Smart Screen so no worries just DIG.
In closing I do not know if this has helped but, remember a Test Bed is simply that a Test of what you will be hearing and seeing in the field and unless you duplicate it exactly (not planting fresh coins in disturbed ground) its really not going to give you the result intended.
Best of Luck and keep with it those deep coins will come.
This is often referrred to as the Halo effect.
If you type in "Buried Coins Halo" etc you will see what is being talked about in what I think most posters are eluding to "disturbed ground". There have been many studies on this fwiw. Disturb a small iron piece that you know you heard and poof you my think it vanished.
Also, note that you may well be able to pick up a silver coin laying flat that might easily peg your SmartScreen cursor to high right at 8" but, put that coin edge and your talking a whole different ball game.
Also, you know that just by going to 32 (if you where in Auto) you still might actually be 16 if that is what it determined as acceptable to the conditions.
Basically 32 Auto lets it set itself up for the conditions and will vary as conditions dictate.
I might also add unless you have spent some time behind the XS II you will quickly see Indians can be a tad jumpy.
Burying and fresh Silver dime at 9" is a tough so don't beat yourself up or sweat over it.
Set up your machine from some people you believe in here and go out and dig BUT, do somewhere where there is potential to find older coins and relics. Anything built or priorly built on that site from 1930 prior is tasty.
Dig all those signals you get and keep a mental image and mental reference to where they hit (or what Cond.-Ferr. #s they read) and most importantly what they sounded like.
Dont pass up even the shallows signals as I have found LC's at 1/2 believe it or not.
When you really get into the deep coins they can be one way signals so X your signal but, if it is repeatable and deep one way DIG. They also like to bounce on your Smart Screen so no worries just DIG.
In closing I do not know if this has helped but, remember a Test Bed is simply that a Test of what you will be hearing and seeing in the field and unless you duplicate it exactly (not planting fresh coins in disturbed ground) its really not going to give you the result intended.
Best of Luck and keep with it those deep coins will come.
CBAILEY IN GA
Member
i also have a lot of clay in my yard and a couple of years ago had a T2 and F75 to try out. I had coins (freshly buried) at 4, 6, and 8 inches and F75 and T2 could only get a decent reading and sound at 4 inches. Sold those and have been using Minelabs since. Have had explorer 2 could read the 6 inch well and the 8 inch coin was iffy. Now I have Explorer Se pro and another one to come and will try and stick with these as I have tried too many detectors in the last 3 years. CB
Martnessmonstr
New member
Next time you dig a deep one, say around 10 inches, put the coin back in the hole and swing over it, it won't make a peep on my machine.
sgoss66
Well-known member
Yeah, and to take that a step further, Martness...I sometimes hit a coin, and then dig a plug -- check the plug and I find it's not there, so it must still be in the hole, right? So, I sweep the hole, and, NOTHING. I then stick the Pro-Pointer in the hole, and there it is...
Definitely strange, but I guess if I understand correctly, these units really use the "soil matrix," and how that soil "sounds" to the detector, to then identify targets WITHIN the soil. Remove the soil, and put the coin back in an "empty" hole, and the machine can get confused and have a tough time, sometimes...
Steve
Definitely strange, but I guess if I understand correctly, these units really use the "soil matrix," and how that soil "sounds" to the detector, to then identify targets WITHIN the soil. Remove the soil, and put the coin back in an "empty" hole, and the machine can get confused and have a tough time, sometimes...
Steve
MNCoinhunter
Active member
That is why air tests with an Explorer are basically pointless, except to maybe make sure the coil is'nt defective and will detect a coin.
We have that god awful clay up here too, which would certainly explain why I don't find coins deeper than 8 or 10 inches in most places. And to further validate that, my best spot last year where I pulled 14 silvers from a 20X20 foot area, is a rich .. dark and sandy/loamy soil that I was able to cut through like birthday cake. I was pulling dimes from over 10 inches easily. It is definately all about the soil content.
We have that god awful clay up here too, which would certainly explain why I don't find coins deeper than 8 or 10 inches in most places. And to further validate that, my best spot last year where I pulled 14 silvers from a 20X20 foot area, is a rich .. dark and sandy/loamy soil that I was able to cut through like birthday cake. I was pulling dimes from over 10 inches easily. It is definately all about the soil content.
Wow a lot of variables to consider and depths are going to vary from State to State..operator to operator in my neck of the woods in the field where it counts surely 10 inch plus coins are doable and don't feel anything is wrong with your unit as experience in the field will pay off in time..Nope Explorers don't air test well or for that matter either on recently buried coins but its a killer on those long buried silver coins...in the field where it counts....
DaugBiscuit
New member
MikeO... you said;
Things I read by others say if it doesn't repeat after you turn and sweep from another say 90
MikeO said:
Things I read by others say if it doesn't repeat after you turn and sweep from another say 90
sgoss66
Well-known member
Hey Don --
I walk on those, usually. There are times I won't (if I'm in a site I KNOW produces alot of old coins, and I've cleaned out the "good" tones)...but usually the tell-tale sign of a nail is a decent high tone one way, turn 90, and it degrades BADLY, or else nulls.
The BUT is, that I'm sure a coin under a nail (like that Merc Bryce just dug, and posted in the Explorer forum) would sound good from a direction or two, but sound real bad, or even null, from another direction. Bottom line is, a nail and coin co-located closely together surely CAN sound that way, but 99 times out of a hundred, most things that sound good one way, and then null when you turn 90 degrees, are nails. On the other hand...if you are hunting an old park, and the good tones are gone, then trying those "iffy" or "non-repeatable" targets might be the only way to pull another keeper or two...
Make sense?
Also, FWIW -- I have dug several deeper coins that don't repeat from all directions on all sweeps, but the key for me is -- as you circle the target doing the "Minelab wiggle," see if there is any rhyme or reason as to where you get good tones, and where you don't. If you are getting only occasional chirps, but in working around the target you can get a good high-tone chirp on occasion from any of the directions (just not consistently on each sweep), I will dig those. But, if there is a sector or range of sectors where there is NO WAY you can coax a good tone (just a bad sound or a null), then I will usually walk. Again, though -- EVEN THOSE types of "hits" CAN be a nail/coin juxtaposition...
Steve
I walk on those, usually. There are times I won't (if I'm in a site I KNOW produces alot of old coins, and I've cleaned out the "good" tones)...but usually the tell-tale sign of a nail is a decent high tone one way, turn 90, and it degrades BADLY, or else nulls.
The BUT is, that I'm sure a coin under a nail (like that Merc Bryce just dug, and posted in the Explorer forum) would sound good from a direction or two, but sound real bad, or even null, from another direction. Bottom line is, a nail and coin co-located closely together surely CAN sound that way, but 99 times out of a hundred, most things that sound good one way, and then null when you turn 90 degrees, are nails. On the other hand...if you are hunting an old park, and the good tones are gone, then trying those "iffy" or "non-repeatable" targets might be the only way to pull another keeper or two...
Make sense?
Also, FWIW -- I have dug several deeper coins that don't repeat from all directions on all sweeps, but the key for me is -- as you circle the target doing the "Minelab wiggle," see if there is any rhyme or reason as to where you get good tones, and where you don't. If you are getting only occasional chirps, but in working around the target you can get a good high-tone chirp on occasion from any of the directions (just not consistently on each sweep), I will dig those. But, if there is a sector or range of sectors where there is NO WAY you can coax a good tone (just a bad sound or a null), then I will usually walk. Again, though -- EVEN THOSE types of "hits" CAN be a nail/coin juxtaposition...
Steve
DaugBiscuit
New member
Steve.... Thanks for answering my question. I usually will dig if it repeats as I walk around the target. Example, if it nulls at 90