Explorer XS I Need help

[Anonymous]

I just purchased an explorer xs. My first hunt in the field was not what I expected AT ALL
I used the 10" coil and set up discrimination to hunt for coins.
After about 2 hours of hunting getting plenty of good strong High pitched sounds and digging nothing. I figured I had a problem.
I know there was allot of trash here so I moved on to another site that was'nt as trashy.
Finally found my first coin just under the grass line
Thats when the problem became clear to me
All the coins i have hit were just under the grass
thats where the signals where loud and banging.
And all the signals 2 to 6 where hit and miss signals
that sometimes where coins and most of the time there was nothing at all.
except for nickels and pull tabs they hit strong.
I am thinking I have a bad coil
I ran close to a pop can bottom within 14" and the detector went off like a church bell with a cross pattern and all
Anybody ever had this problem

 

[Anonymous]

It sounds like your machine is just fine.
For starters, Click on my link below on how to set up the Explorer for detecting in the most simplest way.
The explorer gives off coin like tones when passing over trash and iron. BUTT they will not repeat as you swing the coil back and forth.
When detecting, ignore ALL signals that are NOT repeatable as you swing your coil back and forth.
Post here or email me directly if you have anymore questions.

 

[Anonymous]

Hey Clark,
Yea man, that is a real pain in the +++! I know what you are talking about! All shallow coins with nice big signals, and a bunch of signals where you dig and find nothing. Don't stress out over it because over time, you will work those problems out and be hitting silver coins and having a great time.
Here are a couple things for you to get started:
1. Switch to manual sensitivity. While you are hunting, adjust your sensitivity until the threshhold sound is coming back in between targets. If you have constant null out (pure silence and no threshhold tone), that means your coil is totally distracted by surface targets and is not sensing deeper ones. By lowering sensitivity, you will reduce the affect of surface trash and clad coins so that the coil can see in between them.
2. Use the 7.5" search coil in trashy areas where targets are usually less than 6" inches apart. The 7.5" coil will give you a chance to look in between those trash targets.
3. Those nice coin hits where you dig down and find nothing after digging a big hole are usually false coin hits. Rusty iron nails usually produce a fake coin signal a small distance away from the nail. This falsie signal makes you dig out away from the nail and find nothing. One trick is to trace the coin hit along the ground to see where it leads. If the signal transforms into a silent area with little bits of tone that sound similar to the original falsie coin hit, then it is a nail. Typically, rusty nail falsies sound like coin tones poking out through silence (null). An actual coin hit sounds like good coin tones poking out thru your threshhold sound. Paying attention to what the threshhold is doing is very important. Rusty nail falsie coin hits (falsies) sound like brief coin tones that are chopped of because they are being inhibitied by discrimination.
There's more but I gotta go.
Mike Unruh

 

[Anonymous]

Hey Clark,
Here's some more stuff:
4. Program your explorer XS with settings that a certain expert on the internet uses (like Mike Moutray or Shaner or Jim Vokes) and stick with them. Do not change your settings because then you will not learn anything. You only need to be changing manual sensitivity settings in order to achieve intermittant threshhold tone return in between targets. I chose Mike Moutray settings (posted on this site or on the site http://groups.msn.com/MinelabExplorerXSusers). I did not change these settings in order to learn my machine sounds.
5. Shaner, who is on the above XSusers site, has a real nice method for learning the sounds. Place different items in envelopes, label the envelopes, sweep the envelopes with the XS, and try to guess what is in the envelopes. In one envelope, you can put a MERC. In another, a pulltab, or .22 shell casing, or rusty nail, or indian head, or wheatie,etc. When you are sweeping over these items and guessing them, make sure you are working on clean ground. Also try sweeping at different altitudes so you can see how the tones vary with depth. I made a coin garden with targets buried at different depths. I practice pinpointing and tone recognition at the garden.
6. If you are in alot of trash (where targets are less than 6 inches away from each other) you need to sweep super slow (take 3 seconds or more to sweep 1 foot of distance). I also make little right and left sweeping motions while I am sweeping that 1 foot of distance. I only do the little back and forth sweeps within the main sweep when I am in heavy trash. When I am in trashy areas I have my sensitivity down to 15 manual or lower depending on threshold presence in between targets. When you are in less trashy areas, you can sweep a little faster like maybe 1.5 seconds per foot.
7. Get the Sunray X1 target probe. When you dig your hole, this probe can tell you where the target is (so you don't damage the coin) and what the target is. The probe sounds like your main coil because it runs thru the XS circuitry. If you dig a hole, pinpoint the target with your probe, and then switch the probe to the discrimination pattern you are using, you can then decide whether or not you want to recover that target because you will have a better idea if it is trash or not. The probe has a depth capability of about 2.5 or 3 inches. The probe can reduce your time in the hole and thus helps you learn faster by getting on to the next hole.
8. If you can, find a clean area (targets are about 1 foot apart) to learn in so you will have a chance to learn what targets sound like when they are isolated, and so you will have a chance to learn how to pinpoint without interference from nearby targets.
9. Expect to have more frustrations. But also know that little by little you will master the machine. This is a gradual process, so expect it to be. If you have a day that you get skunked, just ignore it. Don't expect instant success and your frustration won't be so intense. When you have frustration, come to this forum and Shaner's forum, ask your questions and we will help you buddy!
Mike Unruh

 

[Anonymous]

Mike I will put your advice to use.
I have been talking to Jim Vokes and turns out we are really close by and he has offered to go out with me a couple times.
I really appreciate all the help you guys are giving me on this. I have a sovereign and it wasn