Kevin okay got it. The original Explorer was the 'round' tones king but the Explorer II is no slouch. Ironically users complained about the very thing in the Explorer that produced deep round tones so Minelab modified the machine beginning with the Explorer II reducing the effect. Lets begin...
Fast Off
Deep On
Sensitivity manual, 24 would be my minimum, 26 has proven to be a sweet spot for me in many soils and moisture conditions, I'll take 28 when I can get it. I have had deep silver dimes hit good on 28, sound decent on 26, and vanish altogether at 24 it can fall off quick. Whenever you get a good deep target don't rush to dig it, that's an opportunity to play around with your sensitivity to see how low you can go before a target starts sounding crappy and then disappears, and also to see how high you can go and how that improves or in some cases if you go to high degrades the signal with falsing.
Volume 10
Gain 7
Variability 10 - I likes me some variability 10, this setting is part of the fluty tones recipe and further separates clad from silver giving silver a higher pitch. Typically silver dimes will sound fluty and chirpy as you sweep them vs a more monotone response from clad dimes. Silver dime tip...quite frequently the cursor will be half off the top of the screen on a silver dime while clad dimes will be lower with most all the cursor still visible, that's a trick in telling silver from clad dimes. Remember in ferrous tones the tones vary left and right with cursor position along the ferrous axis not up and down along the conductivity axis. Since clad and silver dimes don't vary that much left and right from one another the tone is close with silver just a touch higher. But by watching the cursor position behavior you can get pretty good at telling a clad dime from a silver dime. On most swings the cursor on silver dime will be half off the top and only occasionally will the cursor drop down into full view. Clad dimes are just the opposite, on most swings the cursor will be in nearly full view BUT occasionally it may jump up off the top of the screen. I have tried to talk myself into believing a clad dime was a silver dime on more than one occasion when I knew different.
Now where was I, with variability 10 silver quarters and clad quarters are both high pitched, but sound a touch different with silver just a touch higher pitched and pure sounding, or one could say they shriek. Typically not fluty more mono toned. Large cents sound like 2 silver quarters stuck together, powerful signal and typically a touch higher up the screen with the cursor towards the top right corner vs quarters just down from them. Big silver halfs and dollars will ID further down the right edge of the screen below quarters and typically do not vary/jump left or off there mark except at extreme depths. We will discuss that and the 'iffy target zone' dark arts another day perhaps.
Limits 10
Sounds Ferrous
Stock Minelab 10 inch coil not the Sunray 8
Next setup two screens. First edit the Iron Mask screen to -16 wide open no discrimination at all. Second edit the Smartfind screen to notch out all iron and trash, give yourself about a 1.25 x 1.25 inch of open screen in the top right corner and black out all the rest of the screen. I used to hunt with this screen on my lunch hour when I had just 40 minutes to pillage a park before returning to work. Anyway this will silence almost all iron and trash. Lead will still come through as will aluminum bottle caps but that's fine. Tip a target in the lead range but that seems small when you sweep could be a half dime or a silver 3 cent piece or small silver jewelry they can ID well below coins so keep a sharp eye.
Strategy - You want to find some deep targets, the deeper the better to practice on which is why I say just stick with high conductive coins and targets for this hunt. Using the above Smartfind screen should keep you from losing your mind by silencing most trash and iron. Your first goal is to find a deep target. Once you find a promising target then switch to the Iron Mask mode. With zero discrimination this lets in everything, things will sound different, there are no iron, trash, or ground mineralization nulls messing with the tone. Its like crystal clear cell phone service in all metal vs cell phone service that's breaking up in Smartfind.
What 'round' tones sound like - This is much easier to show someone in person than describe on a forum but I'll give it a try. Since you are now hearing everything in IM -16 you may hear a mix of lower ground mineralization and even some low iron tones mixed in with the high tones. Now visualize the round shape of a coin (or any round object for that matter). As you approach the coin from the right with your coil at first the magnetic field lines are only intersecting the right edge of the coin, the target seems smaller, as you continue to sweep the target and approach the center of the coin it gets louder and larger until you are centered on the coin, then as you continue to sweep towards the left past the center of the coin fewer field lines are intersecting the left side of the coin and so the target sounds smaller and smaller until your coil is out of range of the coin to the left. So the size and loudness of the target ramps up, peaks, then ramps down, that's a round tone. With practice you will be able to call your shot on round targets before you dig. Targets have shape to them as you sweep them and the Explorer will communicate this to you via sound. Its a lot more difficult to hear the shape with a bunch of discrimination turned on and nulls and certainly more difficult with fast On chopping off the vary left and right edge of the target that gives you that information.
One day you will tell yourself, I'm not sure what that deep iffy target is that's bouncing all over my screen with tones all over the place but I know its round by God and THAT is your portal to the realm of hunting the deepest iffy targets.
Final thoughts, don't forget the fundamentals. Keep your coil flat don't be lifting it at the ends of your swings. Keep the coil on the ground don't hover, scrub the ground, that Minelab coil is nearly indestructible just don't dunk it in a saltwater ocean its not waterproof. Once you are over the target don't be afraid to take short 4 inch wide rapid swings over the target, loading the Explorer up with the best information on the target. I might give it 3-4 short swings just 3-4 inches wide than stop my coil just off the target, flat on the ground, motionless, and let the Explorer crunch the data and position the cursor. Be on the look out for the rusty nail bounce pattern, if its jumping back and forth from top/left corner to right edge (yet another reason to switch to IM -16 mode) , cursor half off the right edge of the screen, about 3/8 inch down from the top, and not deviating (not bouncing into another known coin location) as high pitched as it might sound its iron keep walking. Do you have a Sunray X1 probe? I consider one a must have for hunting deep coins. First because I frequently find a rusty nail or two in the same hole as the coin and the X1 gives me the same tones as the Explorer so I don't waste time digging the nail. Second on many occasion there has been more than one coin in the hole and remember when I said the Explorer hates air space its a depth killer, that is especially true after you dig a plug. I have found second coins in holes that are screaming loud with the X1 that the 10 inch coil can no longer detect. I hear Sunray doesn't make the X1 anymore, bummer I hope mine never fails.
