Hi Everyone--

[rogerwalco]

Recently acquired my 305 and am having a good time hunting for stuff. Hello to everyone!

Randy, your book and articles on 'hunting by ear' have been invaluable to me; thank you. Even though i am new to detecting, I've pretty much switched over to your technique and am getting decent at it.

My girl and I live on the shores of Bainbridge Island, in the Seattle area--near an old lumber town called Port Blakely. We go back and forth between the sandy / rocky beach shores (nuthing but junk so far...), the local parks (modern-ish coins) and some of the old state parks / ex-military bases of old / old industrial spots (starting to get some neat old tools). I've gotten decent at working the thing, but I feel like finding the good areas is what is needed next. Detector, she seems to GB at 3 or 4 in our area. Does that seem right? The detector seems incredibly sensitive and finds stuff way deep in the earth here. Just, usually, not always the best stuff .....still studying and understanding my sounds and tids to help w/ that.

Any tips folks might be able to offer up to improve our hunting would be welcome. I'd like to up my game, both in terms of detecting (and equip if needed, esp for our ground conditions) and where to detect. I 'spect our historical island may be more tapped out than i had thought.

Thanks much in advance--

Roger

 

[bob.oz]

X30/X305 detectors are a great starter detector...you might try a lower sens setting to start out...and maybe reset the detector on turn on and clear all programs..good luck

 

[Digger]

Welcome to the X-TERRA forum Roger. And thanks for the kind words about the eBook. You mentioned that your detector seemed incredibly sensitive....... they are. But if you are finding the proper ground phase setting to be 3 or 4 in your areas, some of that "sensitivity" may actually be false signals, attributed to hunting in fairly highly mineralized soil. With those ground balance settings, you might find your detector is more stable using a DD coil. Now I ain't saying you need to go out and buy one right away. But if you get the urge to purchase another coil someday, I'd recommend you consider a DD coil as they are designed to handlle highly mineralized soil better than the stock concentric that comes with the 305. A DD coil will knock out some of the chatter and give you more stable operation. Best of luck in your hunts! HH Randy

 

[7centsworth]

Welcome aboard .

 

[RickIowa2009]

Keep on digging

 

[pescadore]

Welcome to the forum !! Digging alot of targets will help you learn what the detector is trying to tell you. I am a long time Minelab user but new to the X-Terra 705. It is a great detector and I am still amazed with it's performance every time I take it out. I am in the process of buying a 6 inch DD coil and I hope to be adding a 305 or 505 soon as a backup. Good luck with your next hunt and hope you find some great stuff to post up.

 

[rogerwalco]

thanks all.

i will experiment with LOWER sensitivities to see how the MD behaves. also-randy does that ground phase setting seem normal for what you've heard about the northwest?

i don't really get any chatter, but i DO get a lot of stuff that is an intermittent high TID mixed w/ a low -4. i've been learning randy's method of tuning some of that out when the high seems really inconsistent--usually it's buried iron. so i THINK my detector is behaving pretty well stable. if i do get some random chatter-i just lower the sens--but can usually run it near max (8 or 9) w/o getting any problems.

but i'm also gunna try lower sens to see what happens. thanks-keep that advice rolling pls

roger