MXT coins in serious junk : Stock Coil

[Anonymous]

Yesterday I was pulling out coins discriminated from tons of scattered aluminum near a firepit. I was using the stock coil in ground VDI number 78. It just took a little time to get a little collection of Junk metal and tune it out, and a few coins to make sure they sounded good. I was hitting coins 90% of the time. This machine can see so deep, and hit so much of the metal, I would not be surprised if it is 100% of the metal down at least 9-10 inches. Maybe 12. If you read my previous posts you will see that I have gone back and forth on my thoughts about the MXT, but I am starting to understand this machine a little more. It could almost be a creature of its own. I am hunting in harsh ground conditions, and it is taking time to learn the detector. Being able to tune out garbage reliably has been my hardest lesson. If you take the time to find some local common metal where you are hunting, and specimens of what you are looking for, bury them at the depth you want to find the treasure at, And then put a little time to tune out the junk, your odds increase greatly(Run on sentence Maybe?). I think this information is good for people hunting in ground reading 70 plus and are using the stock coil. I have found that if you are in an area with tons of trash, and want to dig everything, one way to be thorough is start with low gain and no discrimination, Mark off a square area however big you want to work, and as you cover an area with your lower gain upon finishing turn up your gain a couple notches and go over it again. (I have even been digging Hot Rocks just to get them out of the way)This allows you to "peal off" layer upon layer of metal and work your way down to the deep stuff, and increase your chances of getting clean signals at greater depths. This would be a great archeaology tool. I was telling my wife that you could actually create a history for the patch of ground you are working if you really wanted to by tracking where you found what at what depth. You could use graph paper and mark where you found each peice of junk or treasure each graph would show a different layer. You could do all kinds of things with that data. Graphs to assist in research especially on homesteads and ghost towns. Still enjoying my MXT: Jason. HH

 

[Anonymous]

Jason, sounds like your having fun. I have basically
done the same thing a number of time but instead
of increasing the sensitivity, I just dig everything.
If you will get yourself a smaller coil, a 5.3 or
the little mini-shooter, you'll have even more fun.
Too, because most rings come in as pulltabs, you will
no doubt, dig your self a fine piece of jewelry. Have
fun and enjoy and the MXT is truly a great machine.
Richardntn

 

[Anonymous]

Jason,
Can you go into a little more detail about how you use junk to discriminate it out? Are you doing this just by sound or with the meter somehow? I'm having issues figuring out the meter of this machine. I probably just need more time with it but any tips would be helpful.
Thanks for any comments.
Erik

 

[Anonymous]

In this case I am doing this by sound. I was using the Relic mode in, hunting mainly by tones. I dug some samples of the junk in the area (melted aluminum, beer tops, etc...). I then layed them out in the area about a foot apart along with samples of what I was looking for(coins, and Jewelry). I waved my detector coil in the air over The samples and added discrimination to a point where the junk no longer gave a high tone (more of a brrraap than a ring) as would a good signal, whereas the objects I was looking for gave off a good tone at the correct discrimination setting. When you are doing this be sure to keep the coil at the right height above the objects as to the depth you prefer to hunt. Your gain will control your depth. The more gain the deeper your detector will look. I believe it was Marty who originally posted this peice of information. He said when he hits a good signal he scans it only twice. Once to get a text i.d. and twice to verify it. Then he pulls the trigger to turn off ground tracking to find the depth and trace the shape of the object. If you run your detector over the object too many times your detectors software will begin to think the target is the ground and try to balance it out. Pretty amazing really. This can cause false I.D.'s. I have found that you have to be really careful when using the stock coil in high trash areas not to use too much gain. If you do use to much you will be assaulted with so many tones and I.D.'s it will drive you bonkers. It is just because this detector is so good it sees everything, and it is up to the detectorist to use the right mix of discrimination, gain, threshold etc.. to get what they want out of the ground. Personally in the ground readings 75+ that I am hunting I prefer to hunt by the tones and the VDI numbers. In lower ground readings (found in the prospecting mode) I have heard the MXT's digital text i.d. is much more consistent on targets. It has proven itself helpful to me on many occasions. Much of this info I have learned from previous posts on the forum. There is a wealth of information here on this topic. I encourage you to dig through it.
I hope this helps. HH from Alaska. Jason