I need help long

[Anonymous]

First of all I am very new with the explorer. I went to an old hotel site today. It is in the woods so digging is not a problem. I tried to detect with the standard 10" coil with the factory preset coin screen. This did not work really well...I think there was so much iron junk that the threshold mostly was quiet due to all of the nulling. So I switched to the iron mask -8 with ferrous sounds. I also switched to the fast setting. I played with these settings and still had many problems pinpointing. I seemed to get some good signals but could not pinpoint or when I tried to pinpoint it changed. Are the deep ones harder to pinpoint? Will a good signal always stay good? I do not have a pinpointer..yet.
I found one really good signal that sounded good and read to the upper right on the screen...so I thought silver. But then I tried to dig it. I couldn't pinpoint it so I scraped a layer of dirt away and tried to pinpoint again. The signal still sounded good but bounced around and pegged on the screen back near the the upper left of where the iron mask was set. What does this mean? Good or junk?
Another problem I had was that it seemed with the fast setting the explorer seemed unstable and gave many signals even if I did not move it. But without the fast setting it was nulling so much I lost the threshold.
I got my explorer with the Christmas special 8" coil. Should I use this instead? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Barb

 

[Anonymous]

If you can't get the machine to settle down you need to address that. Go to semi-auto on your controls and maybe just assume it needs to be down for this location. Maybe 20 at semi-auto to start out with in this bad spot. If you still have the problem hit the noise cancel channels. If that doesn't work you have some bad electrical interference or you're detecting a uranium field. <IMG SRC="/forums/images/smile.gif" BORDER=0 ALT="">
If you have the small coil and you know it's trashy anyway I think I'd go to that. Another thing I might try is to literally edit out everything for a test spin except the upper right side. Just what I would try. Stable first though or you'll be chasing phantoms. Also before you go out try some test targets buried just a few inches under and see how you do. Once you see how they should sound that will help. Put a dime down on the ground also. Then hover above it at different heights until you start to lose it. Guess what? That's what a deep coin pretty much sounds like.
That's just a few starters... Let us know... Guvner..

 

[Anonymous]

You'll find the eight incher will really make a difference in high noise/trashy sites. In fact I would suggest you stick with it until you get a little better aquainted with the machine. The 10 incher is better in cleaner sites but you gain nothing in trashy areas. In general the noiser the site the smaller the coil. Second get the X-1 probe it will make pinpointing in tough areas and pinpointing in general much easier.

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like the problems I was having in a trash infested park (wooded area now). I went thru with coin/ jewlery pattern first. Found 1 green penny. Thinking of the forum, I got to thinking of Charles and his thoughts on running in -16 Iron mask only. I went thru same small area and three more green pennys and a silver Merc. came out of the junk. This worked I assume, due to there was no averaging of targets in all medal mode, it sounds on all targets. I also noticed I had to put up with lots of sounds, but the only ones that I paid attention to was the higher pitch sounds,ignor the lower toned ones. It helps to have a few coins in pocket to train ear for which tones to listen for. I lost alot of time on high sounds that either were iron or the crowncaps. The crowncaps sound high like a quarter does but the crosshairs will be right bottom. If they were deep sometimes they started out top left then right to far left then after removing top layer of pine and leaves it would stay bottom right or move up and down the far right edge and then finally settle on bottom right. As far as the iron goes it is the edges of the iron that sounds good. I would find which way (left or right) the sounds were made and then go a little further that way and if I got a low signal then I knew it was Iron edges. If I couldn't isolate the good sound by turning 90 deg. I didn't waist my time. I had very few good targets to experiment with but every single one read and sounded good and stayed consistant. All were surrounded by trash though. It seemed to help to remove the top layers of pine needles and leaves, the signals were more accurate. Also If your coil is fisicaly on the ground the deeper coins will sound stronger and pinpoint will be less chattery. I can't run it on ground in the woods due to logs and such but when I get the signal I clear the ground. Make sure your sounds are on ferrous and not conductivity. I have to turn down the volume to 3 cause of the constant sounds, but I have gotten use to it. I chased many ghost but actually they were not ghost when I found out it was the edges of Iron. Just remember that the good ones WILL STAY GOOD and not change much at all except for a few deep ones that might dance a little but not extreme right,left or extreme top to bottom. Getting out there and experimenting with it and learning from the good signals that turn out bad should help. By the way those green pennys turned out to be 1938,20,16,12 wheats and a 1907 Indian Head. Love this thing! P. S. If you turn down the volume it helps to have head phones, I cannot use this without them.

 

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the world of foundation hunting, thats the way alot of them are, first of all yes change to the smaller coil, leave it in fast response. set your gain down to 5. open up iron mask a bit more to at least -11, more if you can stand the signls and dont worry about losing a threshold. use less sens if you have to but keep it in manual. use ferrous sounds and dont worry about the crosshairs. if you get high tones dig them and use the disc mode to pinpoint, too much iron will overpower the pinpoint mode and you may not hear the god target at all.. at first just dig the ones you can get a repeatable high tone from at least 2 angles, or those that read solid high tones from even one angle.. if theres lots of tin there, then you might want to build a pattern, tht mimics iron mask set at -10 or less and knock out crown caps so you dont get high tones from them...

 

[Anonymous]

I can understand your experiences and frustrations, and will send you some info by email.

 

[Anonymous]

Most find the double D coil tough to pinpoint, but with practice you can become very good..
Lay a piece of carboard on the ground with a quarter underneath it ..moving the cardboard around practice your pinpointing and raise the coil to simulate depth. Appears to me a hand held pinpointer should be on your Christmas list.
I feel you are hunting in an area with lots of trash and although I prefer the stock 10.5 perhaps
the 8 incher would be better..Again start slow
and inch into the advanced settings or your Explorer will be on the classifieds. I myself have the advantage as I once owned a Sov. with the double D coil and pinpointing is no problem for me. Do remember lots of trash will imitate good targets and an indication of a dime will not always be one. Patience is needed and you have a good group on this forum as they always answer questions, so indeed don't be afraid to ask. Remember many answering the questions were once newbie Explorer users and can understand your frustrations..

 

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to mention that iron falsing is pretty hard to pinpoint <IMG SRC="/forums/images/smile.gif" BORDER=0 ALT=""> The reason for this is that often times you get the falsing as the coil is coming off (or going onto) the piece(s) of iron.
Jim said it, but it is worth saying again. Reduce sensativity and reduce gain, they both feed the iron falsing fire. And slow your swing speed down.
Another tip... If you dig and find a chunk of iron, get up and rescan the hole. If you don't have a good target anymore, go with the odds and fill in your hole. It is possible that you moved iron over the target, hiding it, but odds are that it was the iron that caused the falsing.
Tim

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you everyone for the information. One more question for Guvner - If I block out a screen all except for the top right, should I worry that the threshold is nulled most of the time?
Thanks
Barb

 

[Anonymous]

anything disced out would cause a null, so you would be in a null all the time unless over a coin or clean ground.. that might work to get some good stuff out of the iron filled site, but you will miss plenty...Jim

 

[Anonymous]

The thought was that she was getting too much info for a newbie... Just my take... I hunt -6 to all the way open depending on what I'm in the mood to listen to... Guvner..

 

[Anonymous]

Haven't dug a piece of iron yet with my Explorer..
have to realize may be an Explorer newbie but have used every unit on the planet, just about and that
helps..if I appear to be going slow bet your boots am reading and little by little using some of the aspects in the start program. Sort of learn one aspect at a time...like to know how cold the water is before I jump in...