GT Confidence grows at Carmichael Park (Calf.)

[Dang]

I went to a old city park clear across town with my trusty GT today. I was only finding pennies and the usual trash targets. A lot of the usual trash. Now I know this goes against the rules of professional MDing but I decided to crank the ol' discrimination all the way up and hunt in that mode for awhile. Just to see what would happen.
Heres what I found:
1st-A small silver heart.
2nd-A 1955 Dime.(In good condition I might add.)
3rd-A small silver ring.
4th-A wheat back penny.
5th-Another wheat back penny. (Both also from the 50's.)
Thanks to the pounding this park gets from other detectorist I found less then a bucks worth of clad while I was there.

 

[Art (NWOH)]

Can you tell me why this happened?

I want to see what you have learned from this experience.

HH

 

[Dang]

Well...(Gosh, here it's Saturday and Art's giving me homework.) I learned that because a location has been pounded for years that there's still goodies there because most detectorist don't use a BBS detector. Which, because of it multi-freq. can penetrate through tough ground condition that single freq. detectors can't.
I also learned that most of the detectorist before me ignored the penny signals which is probably why I found the small heart and toe ring. And I better give some credit to the Iron Mask feature because one of those wheaties wasn't that deep. But as I said, lots of trash there.
Oh. And clad isn't important to me anymore, because I'm a Sovereign Dude now!

 

[Rick(ND)]

Do you realize that setting the disc at max will still get you the zinc pennies and all the clad, the only thing you will not get is the nickles and the gold rings. This is one thing that is nice with the Sovereigns is the fact you cant disc or notch out the higher conductivity coin, I know some wish it could get rid of the zinc pennies, but then you would lose the IH pennies and some of the older Wheaties in the teens.
with setting the disc at max you will get rid of a lot of the audio signals of pull tabs and replace them with the threshold nulling, so you may have to even go slower for the deep targets. when I hit one of these areas that is so full of pull tabs instead of turning up the disc I will use my notch and get rid of the most popular pull tabs so I don't have to listen to so much info. The pull tabs will either null or the signal will break up so you know it is not a good signal but yet still no matter how high you set the disc or notch you will not lose your zinc pennies, IH or any coins other than the nickles.
With the disc turned up to max you will not have to listen to all the signals trying to sort them out in you mind which are good and which are not, but the more you use the Sovereign the more this will all come natural when swinging the coil as you will know which ones to check out when you hear the good tone in with all the other tones.
Good luck and hope you can go back and find even more of the older coins.

Rick

 

[Dang]

Yes. I discovered that with my first bench test. Thought my Discrimination control was busted at first. I also wished I had the option to notch out the zincs, but as you said, there goes your IH pennies. And as I know, the Sov is very capable of discovering those lost IH pennies. But by god, I'm still gonna notch out zincs when I take my Ace 250 out again. IF I ever take it out again. ( Hmmm...Maybe I'll trade it for a Digi meter.)
I worry that I'll go over gold when I use high Disc. I generally never set it that high. I wish folks would stop littering!

 

[Art (NWOH)]

Rick had that one covered!!!

HH

 

[Dang]

[quote Art (NWOH)]Rick had that one covered!!!

HH[/quote]

What? You mean I failed your test? Thats not fair Art. What Rick says is just common knowledge. Every GT user knows that. It's a give.
I think my theory about other hunters ignoring the pennies is much more interesting. Ricks just your favorite. Phooey.

 

[Art (NWOH)]

You sure get excited easy.

I was looking to see what conclusions you would draw about WHY you could find that stuff in a trashy area with disc maxed out when you were not finding anything with disc at minimum.

This involves more than just what other hunters deliberately left.

How much you are hearing, and how fast? Was it too much to sort through without turning disc up? Perhaps your sweep speed played a part in feeding the info too fast. Perhaps you have trained yourself to listen for clads and had been confusing weaker good hits for trash.
You may also have moved to a better spot.

I find it interesting to see what ideas people come up with when something they try works so much differently.

It's not a pass/fail test. Many different conclusions can be drawn. Was curious to see what you would come up with and how you might apply it in the future.....that's all.

HH

 

[Dang]

Ah shucks! I was hopping I won something. Well I guess I did in a way.
A silver dime and some jewelry while getting to know my GT better.
I think, that a good target has a smooth edge at the start and end of it's signal. And its consistent. Does that make sense? It's hard for me to describe. Where as with a less desirable target the signal response comes at you like it hits a wall!
Or here. Maybe this is a better way to describe it....lets say that your car is the GT 's threshold okay? All of a sudden your car passes over a frozen pond. And its level with the road and the only way you know that your driving over it is because the cars wheels hum slightly as you pass over it. Its a smooth drive.(Good Target reponse.) But up ahead is a slight raise in the road. You can't see it but you know it's there because you feel the wheels going up over the bump in the road.Bad target response.) Then the road decreases again and you back at the original Plato.
Heck! Thats even more confusing. Well. I think I'm getting the hang of the GT.

 

[Art (NWOH)]

Yeah, the differences are hard to describe.

The kind of coil you use, the kind of headphones, your hearing, how you work the coil, how the object(s) lay in the ground all have an effect.

Just when you think you are getting it down pretty good and you switch to a different coil.........boy, can it sound different.

Personnaly I think the stock T-10 is a rotten coil to start with....
Not very selective and does not pick out the subtle variations in target conductivity like some of the other coils do. Makes the targets sound pretty bland.

The most important thing is to really listen to it. Stick with your stock coil for now.
If you end up trying a few different coils, you will find that some pronounce the Sov's "words" much clearer than others.

As long as you continue to notice differences in target response, you will not have much trouble learning what the Sov is telling you.

HH

 

[Dang]

Really? Different coils will do that? Thats very interesting. I can pick up a used 8 in. coil for $80.00. It's for the older Sovereigns. The seller says it should work just fine on the GT. Should I get it? I was kinda saving up for the meter.

 

[Rick(ND)]

In my opinion the older 8 inch Coinsearch is the best coil to learn the Sovereign with as the tones seem to sing out better. These can be found yet for less then $70 at time in the classified and also E Bay. Myself I never cared for the 8 inch BBS coil that was used on the XS2, XS2a that I tried and felt the 10 inch Tornado coil that come on the Elite and the GT was the best 10 inch coil. Now on Sun Rays the S-8 was also a great 8 inch coil, but felt it would go deeper and pick out good targets in with trash better than any coil would, but felt the responds was quicker and may be harder to hear if you are new to the Sovereigns. This coil has done well for those that know the Sovereign and you will notice not many used ones for sale as those that have them wont sell them, must tell you something.

Rick

 

[Art (NWOH)]

Go with what Rick said. I can only speak for the coils that I have used so far. Rick has used just about everything.

I think you should stick with what you have now and get a meter next......if you think you really want one. Get a good feel for the locations that you hunt before leaping for another coil.

If the opportunity presents itself and you can get an S-8 or Coinsearch for a good price, you might want to grab it up anyway ahead of the meter. Either one should be a good general purpose coil that will still work good around quite a bit of trash.

Now let me give you an example about how different coils will work.........
I started out with a 2a and the BBS 800 coil. Got to where I could tell the difference in sound between zinc, screwcaps, and clads most of the time by sound only. Then I put a 14" Detech on. Had trouble telling the difference between things, as the tone was more singular and lacking in character. Made it necessary to look at the meter more often. Ever watch someone hunt with a White's? They can't fart without looking at the meter for 5 minutes first. Excessive meter watching rubs me the wrong way.

HH

 

[Dang]

I'm inclined to agree with you about the meter. I'm just gonna stick with what I have for a year and see how I feel then.