Iron tones in Ferrous mode...

[Anonymous]

Hi Guys,
I've been hunting in Ferrous mode for several digging seasons now and hunting a site that is loaded with iron. I've been doing quite well on small silver, nickels and old wheats and injuns.
I use a clear screen and sometimes black out crown caps using the 'Select' feature. I tend not to like nulling as it slows down hunting and I usually work an iffy null signal till it sounds good enough to dig and waste more time digging something the machine had already told me was crap. <img src="/metal/html/nono.gif" border=0 width=22 height=19 alt=":nono">
So let's get to the meat of it...
Keeping in mind that I didn't ride the 'short bus' to school but did wave to the other kids on the other biggie buses going to technical institutions...
Why would iron have different tones? There are several tones on the iron scale. They don't fluctuate that much but they do differ. Have any of you mastered the <STRONG>'ear-art' </STRONG>of <STRONG>target averaging</STRONG>?
By that I mean that if you have [refer to para 4]a nail sitting next to, above or below a merc dime, it will result in the Explorer making up a tone to match a target made of a silver-iron. What would have seperately been a low tone [nail] and a high tone [dime] would now be a new <span style="background-color:#ffff00;">'mid tone'</span>.
If the nail's signature is larger than the dime [which I presume it would be] you'd hear the low tone with maybe a squeak of high tone. Which I listen for and dig.
But I do get iron tones that are higher than nails but still low enough on the scale of tones to not be something I'd tend to dig and will most often ID on the digital display on the left hand side but more towards the middle rather than upper left corner [nails]. Is that target averaging? Or am I not on the right track at all??? [refer to para 4].
By now, Upstate Jim is scratching his head hoping I'll turn the Ex in for a Bounty Hunter Tracker IV <img src="/metal/html/lol.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":lol"> and live life a bit more simply.
I'm hoping you can see through all this to my real question of target averaging. I don't find too many quarters and never found a silver half. If they are hiding amongst the iron and target averaging is a factor, I may be missing some targets I should be digging.....
Open to discussion and in your responses keep in mind para 4.... <img src="/metal/html/wink.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt="">
tom

 

[Anonymous]

Hey Tom,
Just answered you sensitivity post below. I hunt primarily using the exact same settings as you, open screen, crown caps out, and ferrous. Constant nulling drives me nuts, but expect that is just becasue I've grown used to all the low tones that seem to overwhelm some people.
A little guessing here, but I know from experience what you are saying. With a nail and coin you can get a whole range of responses, depending on the relative location of nail, coin, and coil. Sometimes the coin will come through strongly in one or more directions as a normal coin tone, sometimes you get more of growly signal with the target icon up at top but more to the left than to the right.
I think this may have to do partly with the way detectors see targets. I've been told with a gold chain you only can pick up one link at a time, that is why fine chains are impossible to get a signal off of. Sometimes you see the nail, sometimes the coin. Generally results in a crappy signal, but that is all that is left in most hunted areas.
When and why it averages sometimes I don't know but I've certainly seen it happen. Maybe the targets need to be in electrical contact for this to happen.
This winter play around inside with nails and coins and different coils, vary the relative locations and angles of attack with the coil. You'll see alot of what you are seeing in the field. And will be amazed we find stuff in iron at all and why no trashy place is every completely detected out.
Hope this helped more than confused.
Chris

 

[Anonymous]

Glad you understood what I was trying to explain in both this and the sensitivity post below. Thanks for responding to both.
I was out today and tried manual 32 in an area that is nice rich soil about 6 to 8 inches deep then hits the clay layer. It was so chirpy that I kept dropping the sensitivity as I walked along swinging and it finally settled down around 24. The iron tones which usually 'thump', at the higher setting had a wierd high pitch that sounded just like a coin-nail hit. But once I settled the puppy down, it resumed the regular iron thump. I then went to [why they call it 'semi-auto I'll never know - it's either auto or not <img src="/metal/html/smile.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=""> ] Auto and walked a bit and went back to the iron hit and it hit normally as a thump.
I guess too high a setting in manual will trigger that falsing that drives me nuts and as Swansea Jack suggested below, if there was a digital read out of where the Auto actually was at any given point would have been a big help.
This particular site has been great for clear screen, ferrous tones. It's iron and good targets. If it blips higher than an iron 'thump' then it's a goodie! It's been great! There's another section of the site that is just loaded with pulltabs, colonial coke cans [ <img src="/metal/html/smile.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=""> ] bottlecaps, and iron and that's where the fun stops. Chasing down those iffy coin hits next to iron usually wind up being junk.
But that other part... primo! Seated dime, barbers, mercs, Indian Heads, little Canuck 5 cent fishscales all tucked in beside, under, next to iron and I think it really gave me the opportunity to 'learn' to listen to the machine.
Sorry for ramblin on and thanks again for straightening me out on the sensitivity issue.
Best of luck in your hunts, Chris.
Tom

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Tom, I run in iron mask set at -15.. I just cant stand all the low tones in my iron infested sites.. Anyways, after hunting the site quicly a few times, thats when I slow down and listen for the stuff hiding in the iron.. Its hard to explain in words, but I dont pay attention to what tones the target comes in at.. its more of whether its a positive tone or iron.. sometimes you get high tones off the iron even in ferrous, but to me its still got the broken ping sound of iron, now when I hear a smoother tone mixing in with that tone, thats when I dig.. I dont get much iron unless I am interested in what it is.. the ones that read far right and a quarter way down the screen are sometimes good iron.. buckles, stirups etc.. a pice of flat iron might read there as well.. but you can still tell by the tone quality its iron..
I dont reject bottle caps even though nothing good ever reads solid bottom right.. however I have found that some low conductive targets will bounce over there quite a bit.. pewter buttons, deep nickles in iron etc.. I am afraid if I reject bittle caps I might miss the initial hit...

 

[Anonymous]

Thomas - I think the reason that they call it semi auto is ... that in a fully automatic mode (such as the Sov) you essentially have no control over the setting ... the detector selects the setting based on it's built-in algorithms. On the Exolorer this would be like setting it at 32 semi auto. However, the "semi" comes in because you have a manually adjusted option of setting the sensitivity at a lower setting while still letting the detector select the level within this constraint ... thus "semi" (or less han fully) automatic.
At least that's my 2 cents worth <img src="/metal/html/wink.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt="">
HH ... Gord.