In search of the Holy Grail or what happens when you "notch in" chocolate on the Excel.

[BarnacleBill]

I purchased the Excel to look for old coins on iron infested beaches, not as a small gold machine, though lately I have found several small gold rings and a very small medallion with it. Dr. Tom has suggested running disc=-8 to perhaps hit a small gold target if you can get it to bounce (+) more often than (-).

For those not familiar with the wading aspect of the hobby, the Holy Grail is to find a machine which can locate small gold targets(chains) deep while not being driven crazy by small iron and micro-foilslaw. This may seem like unrealistic expectations and perhaps it is. If you think it is easy to find small gold chains, then take a look at the chain photo below and recall how many times you have seen finds like it posted anywhere.

In order to see how far the Excel could be pushed in search of small gold objects I set the Disc to –16 and Sens to 9. The Kiss was found intact while hunting with these settings. The chain is one of my test targets, I did NOT find it.

[attachment 7902 kiss.jpg]

The following is a series of small targets found near the surface. The sinkers are tough targets because they contain lead and steel, so not easy for the Excel to settle on. The earring back is obviously a tough target. The small peace sign is very thin, and once turned sideways is almost impossible to get at any distance. The chain is plated copper w/ no clasp or hook, I located this target but then could not locate it once I dug it up, saw it as I was refilling the hole.
[attachment 7903 small.jpg]

Pictured below are a series of targets that while not all shallow they were tough because they bounced (+) to (-):

[attachment 7904 tough1.gif]

Group:

1. Obvious foil wads, everyone is familiar with these. Very bouncy.
2. Stainless hardware, aluminized steel, I don’t mind digging these, have you checked the prices at the hardware store?
3. Open loops, very jumpy on the Excel.
4. Plated steel barrettes, need I say more?
5. Small irregular plated steel, shallow detection only.

The coins found.
[attachment 7905 coins.jpg]

And now for some observations on Excel behavior. Those who use it, know that it ID’s quite well with numbers varying slightly. But lately I have noticed in many cases the +36 is more of a “I don’t know” reaction from the machine when targets are at their ID depth limit. Many have turned out to be coins of various types. But the two Jeffs in the photo below started out at +33, ID’ed as quarters. They were quit deep and you can see the green corrosion on them. When removed from the hole they ID’ed correctly.

So is this a reaction by the machine to something near the ID depth limit, or is the machine reading a halo which appears to be a quarter?

[attachment 7906 jeffs.jpg]

And with the rest of the items there are several small earrings etc that are tough/iffy targets. Yes I did dig three iron targets that were standing vertical, but keep in mind I was digging iffy targets.

[attachment 7907 rest.jpg]

HH
BarnacleBill

 

[Bill Ladd]

Thanks for taking us through all those different finds & how they reacted. I do agree that a +36 is a "not sure" reading on deepies & really has to be dug. The C$ has a similar reading of +51, but it's alot harder to deal with because +51 is also what our hot rocks are dropped into......

 

[Jackpine Savage]

Good post Bill! While I prefer a single tone machine for hunting at low disc and going strictly by the audio for the dig no-dig decision, digging the +/- bouncers on the Excel & C$ gives very good results too. As you pointed out as long as it stays mostly positive or mostly gives a tone other than iron its diggable for this type of hunting. Once learned, the language of single tones machines quickly gives you the info you need vs relying on 2 types of info on tone ID machines. Horses for courses as the Brits say.

Tom

 

[BarnacleBill]

back when Santa was a cub scout I started w/ the original Tesoro Cortes. I feel the audio was much more expressive than the current crop of saturated and digitally created tones. The Stingray II I have is much more along that line. There is something to be said for independent digital and analog audio signal paths, ala the Naughty, disc + AM.

HH
BarnacleBill

 

[Jackpine Savage]

on those deeper weaker targets? Quite a few machines cheat when it comes to ID'ing deeper targets with low signal strength. Whats that you say? They are intentionally designed to raise the ID rather than drop it low into the iron range when the signal is weak. How often have you encountered a target on the beach or in the field that wasn't centered under the coil on the initial sweep that read higher than actual once centered. Happens all the time with mine. Same thing on the deeper stuff. Actually that is one of the things I like about the Excel. Now if only they could make a machine that would ignore those really deep ring tabs.

Tom

 

[BarnacleBill]

I would tend towards push up, whereas the CZ's push down. But oh that corrosion, how it muddies the waters! I am waiting for some other brave souls to jump in....there's blood in the water here guys & gals...jeezum chummin' usually brings more pan fish to the surface.

BarnacleBill