Hi GT users, I have a noob question about discrimination

[Ism]

My machine was sold to me as new but I discovered it had been a display/used model that never had the warranty card filled out. So hopefully you can understand my concerns for the following;

I have been out in a park and a school the past two days using and learning my Sov GT. Since I decided to see if I can find deep silver amongst all the trash that is present without sorting out all the signals. I set my disc at max. to null anything that isn't a high conductor. To my surprise, I dug beaver tail tabs that had a good signal. They won't even disc out. Is this to expected from the GT with disc at max?
In addition, I dug a few pieces of iron and an old rusting beer can that had good signals as if there was a coin adjacent to an object that was being disced out. I did the coil wobble to isolate the apparent high conductor but dug the objects I previously mentioned. (they were around 5+ inches in the earth)
All my controls work but I'm not sure if the disc is properly calibrated in comparison to other GT's. Maybe some pull tabs are conductive enough to foil the disc, but in that case the notch feature is useless.
If this is the way the GT operates, I can deal with it...I just want to make sure. (I did a 1 year search in this forum on the topic before asking)
My settings....

Volume-full
GB P/P
Disc-max
Sens-Auto
Iron mask-on

As a side note...its impossible to miss shallow coins and rings. If they are anywhere near the coil the GT lets you know!
I dug 3 sterling rings and a handful of change.

 

[Rob in (Ca)]

Beaver tails Tabs ID in the penny range so maybe thats why ??.... If I was using the GT with full discriminating....... I would bring all targets (good and bad ones) lay them out side by side

Using the Disc and Notch together to eliminate to your liken.......Rick and others can help you more...good luck ....be patient, the GT has a learning curve .....once it's mastered you will be rewarded

 

[Rob in (Ca)]

Also Beaver tail Tabs ID about the same as a woman's Heavy set Ring and normally they have large diamonds on them......so just something To consider.

 

[Ism]

After a couple hours, I decided to put my GT on the sawhorse (my testbench). I pulled the coil cover and cleaned the water and dirt that accumulated. I turned the detector on with the settings the same as in the field with the very pulltab that wouldn't disc out.
Now the GT is discing it properly. I am going to leave it run for an hour and try it again. Maybe its the filth under the cover maybe a problem with the detector. I had the same issue the first time in the field but thought my settings were wrong since I am new to this machine.

Thanks Rob, I do understand about gold and will remove disc soon. I was just testing if I could find deep silver in high trash concentration.

 

[ML]

Ism - Just curious, was it a dealer that sold you a used/demo machine as brand new? I had a similar experience a few years back when I purchased my first GT. I was told it was new and I even questioned the dealer when I received it from because the housing had a few scratches and it had no warranty card or manual in the box. I was assured that it was new. About a year later I sent it in for repair and I was informed by Minelab that I was not the original owner (they still repaired it at no charge). When I contacted the dealer at this time I was now informed that it was indeed pre owned (he even gave me the name of the original owner) but when I told him I was pissed he then changed his story and told me it was brand new. Needless to say I never used this well known/respected (by some) source again.

 

[GunnarMN]

yep scew someon one time and they will never buy from you agin , let the dealers listen up on that one

 

[Ism]

Well the detector passed the endurance in my EMI filled house. The disc held so it must have been the coil cover. I sealed the covers on my other detector coils so I didn't think about trying to clean it before posting. Even so, It doesn't seem like a little dew would cause that much problem. Maybe it was also dunked in saltwater before I got it. Oh well, Thanks for responding.

 

[bootyhoundpa]

3 silver rings in 2 days.......i would say you are way ahead in this game........congrats....... without going into alot of detail -rob pretty much nailed it....read the manual ,find the most common shaped pull tab and adjust the notch dial until it nulls ..you now have elimanated most pull tabs,however some will still be detected....i never tried full disc setting in the park.....i might have to give those settings a go one day and see if i can find silver using that method......

 

[Rick(ND)]

First thing I will talk about is the disc, at full max on the disc it will not disc out the zinc pennies or anything higher. Some of the newer pull tabs will read like the screw cap and that is slightly higher then the zinc penny, so they will respond to it. Now notch has to be set higher than what the disc is or it will not work, so at disc all the way counter clockwise the notch will work at any setting depending on what you are trying to disc out. I don't use my notch much at all and go by the tones, but there has been cases where it is real bad in some of the tabs that the newer ones and constant signals, so I find I max out the notch and now these same signals will be broke up or null, so it makes it easy to just walk over these. Now if it is another type of tab that reads lower I have to get rid of i will take one and swing the coil over it and turn the notch up from 0 until this tab will start breaking up as when I hear them I just keep going as I know it is one of the tabs I don't want. Just remember the notch has to be set higher than the disc, so if the disc is max the notch will not work. It is rare I use the notch as I like to listen to what the Sovereign has to say about each and every target.
Now the beaver tails off of the round tabs should read just slightly lower then a nickle, if they are still on the round pull tab they should read higher than a nickle, the square tabs off the new pull tab can read all the way to almost a zinc penny, those bigger tabs from my experience can even read higher than the zinc penny, but most not as high as the copper penny or other bigger coin.
Keep the coil cover clean as it don't take too much dirt or water to make it unstable, so mine is cleaned out before each hunt or after each hunt just to be on the safe side. I think this is the biggest complaint I have gotten on the Sovereigns I sell or even the Explorers, so say it is very unstable and first thing I now ask is have you took the coil cover off and make sure there is not water or dirt in it, most do and after they remove it they say it is fine now.
On beer cans and other big targets I found when you get one of the loud signals I will raise the coil up as I swing the coil and if I can raise up 4 inches and the signal stays the same it is probably a big target, but if you hear it make a difference in the signal it is not such a big target and one you want to check out as it could be good or maybe a piece of a alum can. . I dug several half and quarters in with beer cans plus a very nice Cole Car eagle emblem doing this in a area loaded with old alum Hamms beer can at a site i was at with the Sovereign and I do this with my Explorers and the E-Tracs too as it help get the good target in area with a lot of alum cans without digging the cans.

Good Luck with the GT, have patience and learn all you can as the Sovereign will reward you well.

Rick

 

[Critterhunter]

Are you running your sensitivity too high? If you run it too high discriminated out targets might start sounding through. Even still, pull tabs should be discriminated out if you have the discrimination dial all the way up. Maybe you are hunting some really bad ground which is causing targets to read higher.

 

[Ism]

Critter, my GT was in auto sensitivity. The ring tabs are disced out just before max disc. when working properly The ground has minimal mineralization.

Rick, thanks for the info. I have to learn the footprint of coins vs depth and I will be alright there. My situation was that the cans were discing out except for a high tone at the edge that sounded like a coin next to trash.
I can see how a meter would help since the tones sound very close between the ring tab and coin until heard side by side.

I went out today but my pro-pointer failed. I am not one to tolerate swinging hand fulls of dirt in front of the coil and making a mess out of a plug in a park so I left before I could see if it was the coil cover dirt causing my problem.

 

[Thegreat26]

Ground balance?