A
Anonymous
Guest
if i turn off my iron mask do i get better depth?????
Find's Treasure Forums
Welcome to Find's Treasure Forums, Guests!
You are viewing this forums as a guest which limits you to read only status.
Only registered members may post stories, questions, classifieds, reply to other posts, contact other members using built in messaging and use many other features found on these forums.
Why not register and join us today? It's free! (We don't share your email addresses with anyone.) We keep email addresses of our users to protect them and others from bad people posting things they shouldn't.
Click here to register!
Need Support Help?
Cannot log in?, click here to have new password emailed to you
Changed email? Forgot to update your account with new email address? Need assistance with something else?, click here to go to Find's Support Form and fill out the form.
A
Anonymous
Guest
No, as iron mask is simply another mode that so we have two different ones that can be used with the digital screen. If iron mask is on then the digital screen represents the clear areas of the iron mask screen. If iron mask is off then the digital screen represents the clear areas of the SmartScreen. We can set one level, patterns, on the SmartScreen and one level on the Iron Mask screen and switch between them.
HH, Cody
HH, Cody
A
Anonymous
Guest
I beg to differ with Cody to an extent. Some deep coins get 'pulled' to the middle to almost total left of the LCD. If you're not in iron mask the Explorer won't make a peep. Coins close to iron will also 'pull' to the left and out of the Explorer's accepted range in DISC mode. It really depends on what type of site you hunt and how your mineralization is. At some sites I have noticed differences in how coins act on the LCD but I always go by sound. Sound ID is extremely accurate and I recommend trying to learn how to hunt totally by sound. Your finds will increase dramatically. Go to the Explorer forum and ask how many run in IM mode compared with DISC mode. I guarantee those that consistantly have good find are hunting in iron mask mode. If they aren't hunting in iron mask they are missing coins. Guaranteed.
-Bill
-Bill
A
Anonymous
Guest
Those are interesting observations about the need to be in iron mask and the coins pulling off to the left in discrimination. I guess what I am missing is that the iron mask is a discrimination screen and has the same ferrous and conductive points as the SmartScreen. The difference is just how the screen is labeled and laid out but the left and right halves of both are the same ferrous and conductive ranges. The difference is how we select the pattern for accepting and rejecting targets. We can select a single point with the SmartScreen but must select 16 conductive ranges for any IM setting. The screen don't have anything to do with depth other than slecting which digital combination of ferrous and conductive numbers to accept or reject. As an example if both screen have the left side at a ferrous content of 31 rejected for all conductive levels then they will detect the same. If both screen are clear then they both detect in all metal. The only difference in depth would be how much we discriminate in IM or the SmartScreen.
I guess I don't understand why you believe the IM screen has anything to do with depth. The IM screen can be duplicated on the SmartScreen and saved in an S slot which is what some users do since the IM screen cannot be saved. You really lost me on this one so I would appreciate knowing why IM will detect deeper since there is only a difference in how the data is presented and selected. A good example is when we clear both screens in that they both detect to the same depth. If we set a mask at -16 in iron mask or on the SmartScreen they both detect to the same depth. Depth has nothing to do with which screen is used to my knowledge. There is a slight loss of depth due to the processing of data for discrimination compared to all metal but it would be so small as to be of little value for most soil conditions in my opinion.
Anyhow, interesting post and look forward to understanding how the screen will increase or decrease depth other than by where the discrimintion is set.
HH, Cody
I guess I don't understand why you believe the IM screen has anything to do with depth. The IM screen can be duplicated on the SmartScreen and saved in an S slot which is what some users do since the IM screen cannot be saved. You really lost me on this one so I would appreciate knowing why IM will detect deeper since there is only a difference in how the data is presented and selected. A good example is when we clear both screens in that they both detect to the same depth. If we set a mask at -16 in iron mask or on the SmartScreen they both detect to the same depth. Depth has nothing to do with which screen is used to my knowledge. There is a slight loss of depth due to the processing of data for discrimination compared to all metal but it would be so small as to be of little value for most soil conditions in my opinion.
Anyhow, interesting post and look forward to understanding how the screen will increase or decrease depth other than by where the discrimintion is set.
HH, Cody
A
Anonymous
Guest
It is possible that the general soil conditions in your part of the country have an impact upon coin readings "pulling to the left". I detect in KY and have detected in other states such as NC with different soil. The results are dramatically different. Depth, etc. I can say unequivocally that the readings do pull to the left in KY on many coins. That may not be the case everywhere which may confuse the responses on the forum since we all probably use a personal frame of reference. As for Iron Mask. I'm with Cody in that I don't think it makes a difference.
A
Anonymous
Guest
This is one way to see what I think happens. The digital numbers represent the ferrous and conductivity of a metal as we know. They read from 0 to 31 for ferrous and 0 to 31 for conductive. If that is correct then there are 1024 combinations. It would be very difficult for users to try and work with all these combination in digital form.
The displays give the user a visual method to work with the digital numbers to establish patterns or blocks of digital numbers to accept or reject. If we want to reject just one digital pair up to the type of patterns stored in memory for coins, jewelry, pull tabs, etc, then we use the display they call SmartScreen. If however we desire to reject all conductive metals that fall into one of 16 ferrous content zones then we use Iron Mask. But the fact remains that the same digital combination are used and define the screen for Iron Mask or the SmartScreen.
The Iron Mask screen that is labeled from IM 0 to -16 is nothing more than the ferrous content from 16 to 31 as can be seen if we look at the digital number combinations for each coordinates for the corners of the screen. Where we get into trouble is if we assume that we can completely block out numbers such as at IM-3 and still find all targets.
The same is true with the trash pattern I posted in that I have mine set at that iron mask equivalent of -3 which is ferrous content of 19. Actually I have several set at different points with the FE area open at different heights and widths. This gives more or less null over surface iron and also more interesting finds depending on how much digging I want to do on a particular day.
<span style="background-color:#ffff00;">I believe that Mike is saying that if we want to find the maximum number of good targets at ultra depth then it is a good idea to have most of the left of the SmartScreen clear or the Iron Mask screen set somewhere between -16 and -15 or so. I agree with that </span>but as we all know only a few hardy old dogs are willing to dig all that trash to find one ultra deep coin. I prefer to hunt in heavy trash and find the higher number of coins and give up some targets by selecting some digital combination to reject. Again the visual display is just a way to allow us to work with the digital combination in some organized easy form in my opinion.
Have a great day,
Cody
The displays give the user a visual method to work with the digital numbers to establish patterns or blocks of digital numbers to accept or reject. If we want to reject just one digital pair up to the type of patterns stored in memory for coins, jewelry, pull tabs, etc, then we use the display they call SmartScreen. If however we desire to reject all conductive metals that fall into one of 16 ferrous content zones then we use Iron Mask. But the fact remains that the same digital combination are used and define the screen for Iron Mask or the SmartScreen.
The Iron Mask screen that is labeled from IM 0 to -16 is nothing more than the ferrous content from 16 to 31 as can be seen if we look at the digital number combinations for each coordinates for the corners of the screen. Where we get into trouble is if we assume that we can completely block out numbers such as at IM-3 and still find all targets.
The same is true with the trash pattern I posted in that I have mine set at that iron mask equivalent of -3 which is ferrous content of 19. Actually I have several set at different points with the FE area open at different heights and widths. This gives more or less null over surface iron and also more interesting finds depending on how much digging I want to do on a particular day.
<span style="background-color:#ffff00;">I believe that Mike is saying that if we want to find the maximum number of good targets at ultra depth then it is a good idea to have most of the left of the SmartScreen clear or the Iron Mask screen set somewhere between -16 and -15 or so. I agree with that </span>but as we all know only a few hardy old dogs are willing to dig all that trash to find one ultra deep coin. I prefer to hunt in heavy trash and find the higher number of coins and give up some targets by selecting some digital combination to reject. Again the visual display is just a way to allow us to work with the digital combination in some organized easy form in my opinion.
Have a great day,
Cody
A
Anonymous
Guest
Just to correct a wrong notion. Hunting without disc or iron mask does not mean one digs everything or a whole lot of junk.
The absense of IM or disc is used to maximize depth however the full benefit of audio, digital and smartscreen ID is still used and one can selectively dig targets.
I have dug a 5 inch deep merc in a VERY trashy park whose signal just disappears when I disc out crown caps (machine default pattern). The mystery here is that the merc does not land in the crown cap section whatsoever. Even with a major pattern loaded, I can still hit coins much deeper than the 5 inch merc, but it seems special siuations and conditions prevented me from hitting that one, and probably others given patterns and disc settings.
To play on the safe side, I hunt with a minimum of IM, disc or patterns. On an off day, I put in quite a bit of disc/patterns so I can cruise along.
Just my 2 cents.
The absense of IM or disc is used to maximize depth however the full benefit of audio, digital and smartscreen ID is still used and one can selectively dig targets.
I have dug a 5 inch deep merc in a VERY trashy park whose signal just disappears when I disc out crown caps (machine default pattern). The mystery here is that the merc does not land in the crown cap section whatsoever. Even with a major pattern loaded, I can still hit coins much deeper than the 5 inch merc, but it seems special siuations and conditions prevented me from hitting that one, and probably others given patterns and disc settings.
To play on the safe side, I hunt with a minimum of IM, disc or patterns. On an off day, I put in quite a bit of disc/patterns so I can cruise along.
Just my 2 cents.
A
Anonymous
Guest
Good input and I agree completely. There are days and sites where I use IM-16 or a clear SmartScreen but at other sites close it down and look for silver and copper only.
To my way of thinking it is learning the tones in conjunction with where they are located on the 1024 grid or however many grid points there are. A lot of data can be obtained by hearing the tones, sweeping from different directions to the target and watching the digital data or crosshairs. There is a point after we dig a few thousand tabs that we say "hey that is going to be a tab". We even did that with the old TR machines that had no discrimination circuits as such. There was just something in the sound tone that said "tab".
There are times when I like to run a clear screen and dig everything to see how accurate I have been in what I think a target is. Many times it has been the iffy different tones that have produced some interesting finds. I have found coins that fall completely out of the boundries of where one would expect them to be.
Anyhow great input and good luck this Spring, Summer and Fall in finding a nice gold coin!
HH, Cody
To my way of thinking it is learning the tones in conjunction with where they are located on the 1024 grid or however many grid points there are. A lot of data can be obtained by hearing the tones, sweeping from different directions to the target and watching the digital data or crosshairs. There is a point after we dig a few thousand tabs that we say "hey that is going to be a tab". We even did that with the old TR machines that had no discrimination circuits as such. There was just something in the sound tone that said "tab".
There are times when I like to run a clear screen and dig everything to see how accurate I have been in what I think a target is. Many times it has been the iffy different tones that have produced some interesting finds. I have found coins that fall completely out of the boundries of where one would expect them to be.
Anyhow great input and good luck this Spring, Summer and Fall in finding a nice gold coin!
HH, Cody
A
Anonymous
Guest
Maybe I should have stated it this way... To get deeper coins and coins near iron you NEED to have most of the left side of LCD display cleared duplicating IM-12 to IM-15. By loading the DEFAULT Explorer 'patterns' you CANNOT accomplish this. You need to make a custom screen to duplicate what the iron mask screen does. Getting deep coins can be accomplished in both modes but in DISC mode you need to make a custom screen. I should say that if you rely on the Explorer's DISC mode without doing any editing you are missing deep coins, etc. I like to hear everything so the iron mask mode suits me well. I hate silence when I am detecting because I do use the audio of everything to adjust my swing, etc. to match the conditions. Didn't mean to confuse anyone on the point I was trying to make... <img src="/metal/html/smile.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt="
"> I basically assumed you WEREN'T doing any custom editing to the Explorer DISC patterns which can affect depth.
-Bill
"> I basically assumed you WEREN'T doing any custom editing to the Explorer DISC patterns which can affect depth.-Bill
A
Anonymous
Guest
I agree Bill and also like to hear as much as I can. I try to keep several options open to allow for the amount of trash that I am willing to dig in order to get the good targets.
HH, Cody
HH, Cody