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Help with prospector mode

N

nuggethunter13

New member
I don't ask for this help as a short cut to reading and practicing but out of a need to keep from losing my sanity. My 705 is new to me. I have taken great pains to read the manual watch the MLOTV.com instructional videos and make my own cheat sheet for the coin, beach and prospecting mode so I can't mess it up. Or so I thought. I seem to have the beach and park setting handled. The prospecting mode is giving me fits. I followed the directions to the letter over and over and the same thing happens. I am aware that I will hear a hum in my ear all the time and the tone will change over a gold target. It does exactly that when I lay out my nugget samples and test my detector. Problem is the thing gives me tones changes on every swing in random locations. When I lift it away from the ground it screams at me. When using the prospecting mode it sounds similar to the sounds I get in the "All Metal" setting in the coin mode in a trash filled area. The location I am searching has no gold or heavy mineralized soil. I search the same area in the AM mode coin setting and it is quite. The thing seems to be very unstable in the prospecting mode even if I adjust the threshold, sensitivity auto tracking etc. No matter what I do.

Where am I going wrong?? What did I miss?? Please help I have a trip planned to Oregon on Tuesday and trying to figure this out in the mountain may just cause me to frown a bit. Thanks to any and all help!!!
 
You are correct in that Prospecting mode will give you tone changes when you pass the coil over gold. But it will also give you tone changes when you pass the coil over anything metal. To avoid having the tone change over many ferrous type materials, you might try advancing the Iron Mask setting. Keep in mind that small gold specimens can (and will) be "rejected" if you run with too high of Iron Mask setting. There are a couple good articles in the FAQFAQ section, regarding Prospect mode on the X-TERRA.

Interesting comment you made when you said it sounds similar to the sounds you get in All Metal while using coin mode in a trashy area. By that do you mean it gives you separate tones with different pitches? If that is the case, something may be wrong with the Prospecting mode, because the Prospecting mode makes a "smooth transition" from the Threshold tone to the higher pitch (and volume) when centered over a target.

As to you saying it "hits fine" on nugget samples in air tests, but goes nuts when sweeping over the soil, it sounds to me that the problem is either with the properties in the soil (targets or minerals) or problems with maintaining a proper ground balance. If it didn't work properly in Coin/Treasure mode, I'd wonder about the coil. But since it seems to work as it should in C/T, there is no reason to suspect the coil in Prospecting mode. Remember that the Settings you use for Sensitivity, Ground Balance, Threshold, Volume and Noise Cancel are different for Prospecting mode than C/T mode. I'd suggest you check them all while in Prospecting mode to make sure they have been set up separately from when you use them in C/T mode. If that don't do it, I'd suggest you reset the Prospecting mode parameters back to the preset level, (Mode Factory Preset) and then change them as you want them. In other words, reboot the X-TERRA in the Prospecting mode. Instructions are in the second column of page 46 in your manual. Hope you do well in Oregon! HH Randy
 
Digger. Thanks for the response! Where do I finds the FAQ section. In the manual or here at the forum? The sounds I was referring to was just the crazy amount of targets it is claiming are in the ground. They are not separate pitches but it does get louder at times like 3 to 4 times louder like when it becomes unstable in the C/T pin point setting if you leave it on to long. I almost have to remove the head phones but the tone change is the same as when I move over my gold sample. What I mean is the crazy amount of tone changes it give as if there was metal every square foot of my land which I know is clear because I raked it out during construction so I think I am getting false signals.

I will reset it as you suggest. I have done that in the C/T mode but not the prospecting mode.

Thanks again.
 
FAQFAQ section is near the top of these posts. I know you said you cleared the ground during construction. But keep in mind Prospecting mode goes deeper than Coin Treasure mode. So it is possible that there are targets that you can't "reach" in C/T. One suggestion would be to raise your coil a few inches off the ground and see if the tones are still there. (if you're not using a DD coil, you probably should be) If the tones stop, they likely represent targets of some sort. Deep iron, hot rocks, etc. If the tones do continue with the coil raised, I'd suggest you sweep the coil more slowly, lower the Sensitivity and see if you can come up with a combination that works at that site. And keep in mind that if it is a soil problem, the situation will be totally different for the hunt in Oregon. So don't lose hope!!! HH Randy
 
Where are you using the detector? Are you testing it at your house or out in the field.
I used to prospect quite a bit in Arizona and some areas there are way to hot to hunt with anything but maybe a PI detector.
scott
 
Digger, Thanks again. I did the reset to factory mode as you suggested. Seemed to be the answer!! Don't know what setting I had out of wack. They are very close now if not the same as what they were when I was having problems. I think my problem was it has been windy and cold here so I was testing in an area surrounded by three sides of foundation or sidewalk containing metal that sheilded me from the wind. After my reset I tested in another part of the yard far from the house and the machine sounded just as I had expected it was to sound if operating properly. I did not shut off the unit and as I neared my house it started to go crazy again. Now I have to figure out what is wrong with my house :) Anyway thanks again for taking time out of your day to get me going. I almost has to ask for help from my wife to figure it out. I would never of lived that down!!!

nuggethunter13
 
Any chance you have a wireless network in your house? The reason I ask is because a "commercial" source of interference won't usually be restricted to just the area around the house. The "low power" of a home network could. So do some of those wireless dog "fences". Might try to manually set the NC to see if it improves. Just a thought. Regardless, good to hear you got it going with the reset. HH Randy
 
As a matter of fact yes I do and I could not of been closer on the first trials I was doing. I was within 15 feet of the Wi-Fi signal. That probably explains it because each time I went towards the front door of my house the thing went crazy. I forgot all about that kind of stuff. Thanks again.
 
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