My evaluation of Auto vs Manual Sensitivity; Ground Coin vs Ferrous Coin

[ronfin]

OK, I've been using the CTX for a few months now and have kept a journal of all my finds. Time, location, depth, soil conditions, and mode. I've used the stock coin mode, Ferrous Coin in Combined, and Ground Coin in Combined. I've tried Auto sensitivity with +3, to just Auto, and then Manual sensitivity as high as 28. What I'm seeing is a trend, and that trend is leaning towards certain settings being "better" for my area than others. Now granted this isn't very scientific, since we have to factor in whether or not we get out coils over some nice targets to even dig, but, as I continue to go back over the same patch of dirt with my current settings, I am repeatedly seeing very good results. These particular settings are trending IMOH towards a stable set-up. Ground Coin seems to work better than Ferrous Coin. I'm seeing better TID's at depth. Also, I'm almost convinced that using Auto sensitivity on the CTX is better than using Manual Sens. The machine is very capable of hitting deep targets in Auto sens. I'm seeing 8-10" consistently in dry or wet soil, hard or soft. I had an issue with nails (iron) falsing, but have learned to trust my machine more than my gut. If I hit a target at say 7", and it's hitting 12-17 Fe, and say 43-49 Co, if the signal does NOT hit at 45 degrees for the initial swings, then it's most likely iron. I've dug a lot of nails even as I'm telling myself "Hey, I know this sounds like a deep nail, but lets make sure." I've made sure so many times I'm pretty sure. Now the reason I still dig the deep signals like that are because if a nail is present with a good silver target, you can see the same results. So where does that leave us? Do we dig those targets even if 99% of the time it's an iron false? I say yes. I don't wanna take the chance I miss a 1935 Washington sitting in a hole with a huge nail. In the end it's those of us that are reserved to knowing we're gonna dig a lot of trash, but the more you dig, the better your chances are of scoring great finds. As a general rule of thumb I hunt 5" and deeper when I'm looking for silver. Have I found shallower silver? Absolutely, but 5" and below seems to increase the chances by almost 50%. Try hunting in Ground Coin in Combined, Auto sens only, and dig those iffy wiggle repeaters at 5" and deeper, and let me know if you're successful too. I'd love to see everyones silver count increase dramatically, just not if you hunt around me. Then for you I'd say hunt with the CTX off. haha

 

[TheGeorgiaCanuck]

Just thought about going back over the hot spots I've gotten silver from in Ground-Coin today. Will try some this weekend. I saw a big improvement for my area between Combined/Ferrous-Coin and 50CO/Ferrous-Coin. The soil here is pretty high GB on my AT-Pro, so I might try using GB with Ground-Coin/Combined. Do you use GB with your Ground-Coin settings?

 

[ronfin]

I let the machine auto GB. I never manually GB, but have on rare occasion done a Noise cancel. Having a lot of success wit Ground Coin mode lately, and Auto sens +2, or +3.

 

[Atlas]

Thanks for the details on your setup and testing. I was out today (2nd day out with CTX) and was getting tortured by iron falsing. Lots of Fe12-17 range and CO 30's and up. But they were one way signals or not repeatable. That is I could get them for a sweep or two then they would go away and maybe come back but certainly not solid repeatable signals. Mostly they would disappear when I turned 45-90. The display gives a cross hair up in the coin range as well as one down in the lower right like a ghost image not sure if this is normal or not but I think I saw some comments on this in another thread. Perhaps this is diagnostic of a false iron signal?

I was running Auto 3 mostly and in Combined with Ferrous/Coin. So I think I'll try your suggestion on ground coin in Combine. I like your 5" rule. were you digging anything shallower than that in your Barber hunt above or only going for 5" and deeper?

 

[ronfin]

All the Barbers and Merc today were deeper than 5". I have found silver at 3", but very rare. 5" and deeper seems to be a good depth to set my limits.

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

Love this post Ron! I prefer ferrous coin myself but that is just my pref...

Glad you took the time to post this. Lots of good info here!

 

[Digger]

Good report Ron. I also find myself using Auto +3 most of the time. The only time I feel I can improve my hunt with manual Sensitivity is when I am hunting a very uncluttered area, the ground is not broken and my auto level is less than 22. I've spent some time with Ground - coin, but not nearly as much as I have Ferrous - coin. I'll work on that! As to depth "cut-offs" for digging..... many of the places I hunt have had so much landscaping done that digging based on depth would be counter-productive to me. For example, in my local park, I've dug clad dimes at 7 inches, followed by an IH cent at 3 inches. Needless to say, when I hunt this park I end up with a lot of clad. And I hate clad! But you gotta do what you gotta do, if you want to get the good stuff. HH Randy

 

[amberjack]

also believe its time to try this setting "Ground - coin" firm believer that stability gets more depth than just cranking it up 99 times out of 100.

AJ

 

[Crusty]

Good post, very imformative!

Dave

 

[SAGITTARIUS]

Ground coin worked for me. Found 2 mercurys & a rosie recently. It seems much smoother and more accurate than ferris coin. Both auto +3 and manual 30 worked on the sensitivity. Still having no luck in the area I cleaned out with my Explorer. Thanks for the information.

 

[LandOLincoln]

I find that hot rocks 01-08 to 01-10 come through a lot better with ground coin vs ferrous coin in my soil.

 

[AngelicStorm]

Okay, I have been using the Search feature quiet extensively and can't get a clear or absolute answer to my problem. This thread is the closest thing I could find that relates to it so I decided to bring it back out.

Ronfin's first post is what I'm addressing as the closest match and before I begin the mode I tend to use is Combined, Ferrous-Coin target separation, wide open screen, and Recovery Deep.

I'm not sure what area he lives in, but in my area through repeated digs, I've found that Manual gets deeper targets than Auto +3 even through tests. Usually an improvement of say 1-2" in depth is added when I set the sensitivity to manual. One reason why I think manual has shown itself to work better in my area is because of the suggested sensitivity level of the majority of the places I hunt hovers at around 14-19. What I do is set the manual sensitivity to about 7-10 notches above the suggested level. So, say the suggested level is 14 I would set it to 23 or 24 and if it suggests 19, I would set it to 26 or 27. Manual sensitivity levels 26+ tend to get a bit too chatty here and thus the reason for me not raising the manual level 9-10 notches like I would have for the suggested 19. There are quiet a few areas that my suggested sensitivity will ramp up, but I don't have to many sites like this. A note is that there is a little bit of chatter to no chatter when I settle for the actual manual sensitivity level I choose.

I'm not sure if the above sensitivity evaluation of my own relates to my issue or not, but I will describe the issue of iron-falsing the way it happens to me.

Iron-Falsing seems to be a big issue for me even when using Auto Sensitivity in Ferrous-Coin. I have read and understand that Ferrous-Coin is good for seeing both targets letting you hear both at the same time. The dilemma here is there is always the chance of a good target hidden in with the ferrous target. It just seems that like Ronfin said, 99% of the time it is iron nails or objects that are similar. In my case most of the objects that cause me to get false signals are iron nails or small chunks of iron that range anywhere from 4 inches -1 1/2 feet deep, most often the 7 inch+ range. Also, somewhat like Ronfin's case these iron-falses ring in FE 12-13 and CO 34-47. When these signals take place, I always hear the more conductive signal "usually clear" while seeing both targets show up on the screen leading me to believe there could be a good target. My approach to this is rotating 45 degrees like Ronfin does. Most of the time the signal starts to get choppy when rotating at that degree so I rotate at 90 degrees. Usually the signal is still there but more choppy so I rotate at 180 degrees. The signal then comes back just like it was in my original position. So, my thoughts are "What the heck, lets dig it" to almost always dig a bad target. Now going from that, I understand Ground-Coin is for mineralized ground and stabilizes the TID readings in more mineralized ground. I have not tried Ground-Coin in such cases as Iron-Falsing to many times. The reason for that is that I have read that ground conditions maybe mineralized when the suggested sensitivity levels lean toward 14 or lower and again, here the suggested levels tend to stay at 14 or above. I'm not sure what to do in this case. I have even been able to implement the Target Trace feature with the Sizing option activated and pinpoint right on top of the targets only to get nails. Just to note, rarely do I get a good target from what appears to be Iron-Falsing, but it happens. Yesterday was an example with a target being 8" under. It could have easily been just another of those million nails I dig with no difference in signal.

Now if you're like me and don't want to waste most of your effort/time digging a million holes because of Iron-Falsing, you would want to know what other settings or methods could be used to be more sure of what's under the ground. Not to mention some people don't like to see you dig so many holes in their yard or property. I'm hoping for of the responses, maybe a more reliable method.

 

[AngelicStorm]

Manual sensitivity levels 26+ tend to get a bit too chatty here and thus the reason for me not raising the manual level 9-10 notches when 19 is suggested like I would have for the suggested 14.

Correction

 

[Southwind]

I do believe area plays a part in it but I also feel I get better results using Auto +3 than manual. I also got the same results with my E-Trac. For me stability beats out erratic operation from pressing the sensitivity too high.

 

[AngelicStorm]

I do believe area plays a part in it but I also feel I get better results using Auto +3 than manual. I also got the same results with my E-Trac. For me stability beats out erratic operation from pressing the sensitivity too high.

Yes, I agree but like I said, I tune it down from being erratic to a tolerable level to no noise at all. I also said that even in Auto +3 I get the same results and that I always seem to get an additional 1-2 inches in depth when on manual. Our areas must be different and I have yet to find a solution to this issue.

 

[doninbrewster]

Great thread. When it comes to only digging targets deeper than 5" I think a lot depends on the area you're hunting. I've hunted an old, large park for more than 30 years. Anything less than 5" deep is almost certainly clad. This place also had lots of trash and focusing on the deeper signals works best. If I'm hunting a yard at an old house I dig everything. Without the trash and recent clad I find much more success this way. Also, when detecting on a hillside I dig shallower signals. The runoff from the rain keeps the soil moving downhill and targets are not as deep. A great example is an 1810 large cent I found only an inch down. When hunting a new area I dig all the good signals until I know what's there. I keep digging the shallow signals until I find silver, wheat cents, Indians or whatever to see at what depth they are located.

I haven't done much detecting in ground coin as I usually hunt ferrous coin. From what I'm reading, it could give a more consistent reading on good targets and eliminate some of the iron. I'll have to give it a shot when the ground thaws. I can't wait until the ground thaws as the last spot I hunted was a new spot that gave me 6 LC's and some silver the first time out. It's now frozen down to at least 6" and I'm not going to ruin my future hunts at this 120 acre site by going in with a pick axe.

 

[grouser]

it just seems a bit odd that we would advocate diggin 7-10 inches on a supected, 99% sure it's a nail target,,, and then pass on everthing above 5 inches. Plenty of silver found less than 5 inches,,, for me anyways,,, to each his own I suppose.

 

[msviking]

In my very mild soil I get better VDIs and depth using Ferrous Coin and auto sensitivity. I am able to get Auto sensitivities at 20+ that are nice and stable. As others have said, test both in you ground and see for youself which is better. You can easily do this by setting the User Button to recall the last program, this makes switching between the two a one sec. one button deal.

HH
Robert

 

[AngelicStorm]

Great thread. When it comes to only digging targets deeper than 5" I think a lot depends on the area you're hunting. I've hunted an old, large park for more than 30 years. Anything less than 5" deep is almost certainly clad. This place also had lots of trash and focusing on the deeper signals works best. If I'm hunting a yard at an old house I dig everything. Without the trash and recent clad I find much more success this way. Also, when detecting on a hillside I dig shallower signals. The runoff from the rain keeps the soil moving downhill and targets are not as deep. A great example is an 1810 large cent I found only an inch down. When hunting a new area I dig all the good signals until I know what's there. I keep digging the shallow signals until I find silver, wheat cents, Indians or whatever to see at what depth they are located.

I haven't done much detecting in ground coin as I usually hunt ferrous coin. From what I'm reading, it could give a more consistent reading on good targets and eliminate some of the iron. I'll have to give it a shot when the ground thaws. I can't wait until the ground thaws as the last spot I hunted was a new spot that gave me 6 LC's and some silver the first time out. It's now frozen down to at least 6" and I'm not going to ruin my future hunts at this 120 acre site by going in with a pick axe.

This is very true. I get the same results on hillsides too. There could always be something significant lurking right on the surface when it comes to hillsides.
I'm also going to give Ground-Coin a bit more of a chance since I get so many false signals here. Hopefully we both get good results.

it just seems a bit odd that we would advocate diggin 7-10 inches on a supected, 99% sure it's a nail target,,, and then pass on everthing above 5 inches. Plenty of silver found less than 5 inches,,, for me anyways,,, to each his own I suppose.

I have found shallow silver and other unexpected things that seemed they shouldn't be as shallow as they were. It happens but not to often here. I always dig everything to make sure there is nothing left behind.

In my very mild soil I get better VDIs and depth using Ferrous Coin and auto sensitivity. I am able to get Auto sensitivities at 20+ that are nice and stable. As others have said, test both in you ground and see for youself which is better. You can easily do this by setting the User Button to recall the last program, this makes switching between the two a one sec. one button deal.

HH
Robert

I may have to do some more extensive tests using the different search modes on deep nails and similar objects.

 

[Historical Prospector]

I may have missed it somewhere in the thread Ronfin, what is your auto sensitivity level suggest by the Ctx3030 in your area?