Fooling Around With Deep Targets

[RLOH]

I have an old park that I have all but hunted out and today I tried a different approach. A good day here will be ten coins with most being wheats and occasionally a silver. I tried digging bouncing, iffy signals that showed 8 inches or more in pinpoint. I have found that a small piece of foil or aluminum will show deep in pinpoint when in reality, it is only 2 to 4 inches deep. I did dig a bunch of these small targets, but a good hint to follow is if the target is in the plug and not the ground, it is junk. A deep coin will almost always be way deeper in the ground. I got a gold birthstone ring that was jumping between 26 and 36 and pinpointed at 8 inches. A real nice ring that I would not have dug under normal circumstances. The next good target was jumping between 40 and 60 and gave a medium tone with a once in a while high tone.Pinpointed at 9 inches so I dug it. Out comes a V nickle(1903) from 8 to 10 inches. This is the 7th "V" I have dug this year and the 4th with the F75. I dug a 1885 a week and a half ago and it is a very rare coin. I use the 3h tone mode and it is very accurate up to 6 or 7 inches, but I always dig deeper high tones and about one in 10 is something good. Not very good odds, but I have all the time in the world. I use to play around with these deep signals with the Explorers I have owned and I dug some nice older gold rings. It seems that the F75 is going to be good at this type of hunting also. I have noticed that the depth gauge is is a couple of inches off when checking a shallow target(4 inches or less), but it is very accurate on deep (8 inches or more) coin sized targets. I can live with that. Most every detector I have owned has some drawbacks or problems with certain types of metal(pulltabs, beaver tails, bottle caps, etc.) and the F75 is no different. It seems to get fooled most of the time with aluminum slaw. I seem to dig way too many small pieces of aluminum. I am trying to figure this type of junk out and it has become clear that a coin will lock on more sharply than junk and the numbers will stay tighter even though the tones are consistantly high tones. Junk will seem to give an initial number in the low 90's. I have been avoiding digging any target that shoots a 90's number out. It is hard to ignore a high tone though. This detector seems to be very jumpy when I encounter bad ground. When I get a fast grab number in the high 80's or low 90's, the numbers and tones seem to vary slightly. Where I was hunting today is one of these bad ground places. When the ground balance numbers are in the 50's to 60's, the detector is a much more accurate. I am starting to get some hours on the F75 and I am an analitical type of detectorist. I am always trying to figure out the outer limits of any detector I am using. I wish I had some places left to hunt that had more of the 9 to 12 inch deep coins left. The last three high end detectors I used(CZ70, Xterra 70, and Explorer 11) I could in a short time come to recognize a deep coin. I think I am getting my spots cleaned out of these deep coins. It's time to come up with some new spots so I can find out just how deep the F75 is. Right now, 10 inches is the deepest I have found a coin and I have found too few of these targets to say I can recognize what they sound and look like. Sorry for the rambling. R.L.

 

[Streak!]

circle the target while swinging over it. Can slaw or similar junk will vary widely.....while coins will tend to stay closer to the initial ID mumbers. Of course.this isnt a hard and fast rule....but helps in areas where junk is thick. I too tend to ignore targets in the 90's.as they are 99% of the time crap!!! Coins will also 'sound" rounder and smoother......... Streak!

 

[MattR]

This detector seems to be very jumpy when I encounter bad ground. When I get a fast grab number in the high 80's or low 90's

Hi there!..........Reading through your post, and noticed your reference to bad ground and the figures quoted.

I'm interested to know why you conclude that 80-90's 'Fast Grab' indicates bad ground.?

In my opinion, 80-90 (I've never personally monitored such a high ground reading), in the absence of of any Fe meter indication, and any evidence of 'Hot rock', normally means the ground is almost 'perfect' for detecting.

The highest I've encountered is about 75 ( In the woods, dry loamy soil ). Under those conditions I've had some of my deepest finds...10 inches for a silver English 1920's shilling, and a copper Victorian penny at both 10 and 12 inches. (bigger coin than the shilling).

Ground readings in the 50's usually are more acidic,'boggy' soils, in my locality.

One thing is mandatory when quoting ground readings. You must also 'note-and-quote' the absence or presence of any Fe levels.

To make the point, without 'going technical'. There is a world of difference in detecting conditions potential, between ground of 70 and no Fe graph indications, compared to 70 plus 3 bars of Fe.

I'd be interested to hear your comments.( Or any other reader who may have some input on the subject )..........MattR.UK

 

[tmanfromtexas]

I am hunting in Northwest Indiana and I have had readings as high as 85 with 1 or 2 bars on the fe meter but they arent always there. When I run into these numbers the machine is erratic and it seems to lose depth. As the numbers lower it seems to mellow out some. If I get a target from 65-92 I dig it. If I get a target that is bouncy with numbers all over I dont unless its 7 inches or deeper, then it is dug. I am still learning it so I am not the best person to listen to. lol. TMAN...

 

[RLOH]

Matt, I have hunted this particular park with many manual ground balanced detectors. Several times over the years I have asked what the ground balance numbers indicate. I never got a conclusive answer until one of the Xterra 70 gurus told me the numbers indicated mineralization which I had always thought to be "bad ground" I am by no means a very technical person, but I try to figure out what a detector is doing each and every time I hunt with it. The F 75 in this particular park ground balances at 86 to 91. There are almost always three bars blacked out and they are the bottom three. Occasionally four will be blacked out. Three seems like the norm here. The small coil is extremely jumpy here and the detector does not lock on a coin as tightly as other places I hunt. My Xterra 70 with the small high frequency coil was a bust here. I could dig coins, but I also dug much junk that was identical in the numbers and tones to coins. I could not observe any differences between tabs of all sorts and coins. I got rid of the detector because of that. Most of my other spots I get a fast grab of 60 to 70 with no bars or occasionally one bar on the meter. In these spots, the detector with either the big coil or small coil is in my opinion more accurate on coins. If you would please, explain the ground balance numbers and the fe2 04 meter readings. Up to this point, I thought they were the same, but now I am a bit confused. I do understand the "whys and hows" between DD coils and concentric coils. I used several Fisher Cz's and Explorers in this park which I have labeled a "bad ground" park and I never experienced any ID problems on coins. This brings me back to a question I asked a couple years back about my CZ 70. I noticed the ground balance at this park was always about 1 and 1/2 compared to 3 or 4 at the other spots I hunted. I asked a question on the forum what the numbers indicated. I was backward in my thinking. I thought the lower numbers indicated mild ground. It would be greatly appreciated to hear what the numbers and bars saying about the ground. While I am picking your brain, how would you adjust the F75 to get the best perfomance in a place like this. Thanks R.L.

 

[Daniel Tn]

I read all the posts so far in the thread and I agree 110% with you on your findings. I've found the same to be true with the numbers in the 90s...particularly in the all metal mode when it reads iron then bounce hits in the 90s. Always has been junk for me.

The ground all around here reads about what your bad place in the park you described. I GB numbers in the 80s and 90s, and my FE bar is about pegged out to the top. The best places I've found for good IDing signals and depth, have been GB numbers in the 50s and 60s, but with only 2 bars on the FE meter.

Another little tip for finding out junk from good targets, is to listen to them in pinpoint mode and get a gauge of the size. For whatever reason the F75 can do a good job at "sizing up" a target. Even on deep 10+ inch targets. Some of the minie balls I've dug that were that deep, retained their sound by size.

 

[MattR]

Hi there RLOH.

Working on reply, back ASAP..............Matt

 

[kickback]

The last 93 I dug with the F 75 was a 1884 Silver dollar.