Need Some EXPERT ExCel ID Advice:

[NamVetLesTreasureSeeker]

Hey Guys, I bought a used ExCel ID last July from one of my fellow club members. But other than some air tests, and (2) competition hunts, I haven't had a chance to really work with this detector. Due to the extreme hot summer, concrete ground, and the fact, that I am primarily a water-beach hunter, and I use strickly water detectors for that operation.
I went to a 100 yr. old city park for some "Dirt Detecting". I set the "Little Fireball" up in Factory Preset, but I pumped the sensitivity up to 8, and ground balanced. Naturally, due to the age of the city park, it has ALOTTA DEEP TRASH. I'm talking aluminum trash 6-7 inches deep. I dug alot of deep trash, and a very small lead or copper object down a good 8in. But, the target ID bounced around alot, with multiple tones. There is also plenty of Iron in the ground, which did not bother so much. But, I was getting alot of bouncing good numbers with mid-high teens, which I know indicates pulltabs/screwcaps/scrap aluminum.
Can you offer some GOOD ADVICE or possible program settings, so that I will still get very good depth, which I was. But, possibly get some BETTER LOCK-ON ID. I know to check for positive #'s in at least (2) directions or more, and I was doing that. But, the #'s seemed to bounce around to 3-4 #'s or more, and I thought that possibly it was a GOOD Target Next to SOME TRASH. Again, I am just learning this machine, and any advice would be greatly appreciated. HH

 

[BarnacleBill]

and hope I'm not overstating the obvious. So if it were me, there are two very basic things I would do.

1. Crawl before you walk, take the Excel to a less trashy area and get used to it a little, don't start off detecting in the middle of a minefield.

2. Only dig targets above +23 that vary only +/-1, say a 24 that toggles 23 or 25. For now ignore +36's.

20 Years ago I used to park hunt so I know about aluminum trash. Your chances of finding gold in a real aluminum mess is not good, so if you want to try for nickels then +9 thru +12 with good lock might be worthwhile.

Good luck, and I'm sure others will have some real nifty tips.

HH
BarnacleBill

 

[Jackpine Savage]

When I'm working a target like that and can't get it to steady out at least a little from one angle or another I pass on it when hunting around modern trash. Also digging 26 and above seemed best to me. Around here very few screwcaps read higher than 25 but there can be older wheats that read down around 26 so I kinda picked that as my cutoff number. Hopefully others can help out more as I don't hunt those kind of sites very often.

HH Tom

 

[Bill Ladd]

of the bouncers early on in your hunt just to get an idea of whats going on. For me, something like a deep indian head or small button can bounce because it's just within detection range. This is easy for me to say because I'm on early sites with no screwcaps & I'm digging every signal. At sens 8 you can't get much better for lock on unless the soil will allow you to try 9? 10 has never worked in my area. Another thing I do sometimes on an iffy bouncer is push mode & go into all metal. All metal being deeper can sometimes give a better ID on items just barely in disc mode range.....
HH, Bill

 

[Jackpine Savage]

Bill,

I have been getting in the habit of using all metal more often to help ID the deeper stuff. It does make a difference. Course I would dig the target anyway!

HH Tom

 

[Dave Z]

Steve H. brought up a good point about VDI's the other day.A lot of detectors with the 1-34 range or the CZ's will bunch a lot of targets.Nickel,pull tab and several other targets will be to close to separate.You hunt mostly like I do,cellar holes and old sites where we dig everything positive,so we don't notice it so much.But I think for the coin and ring hunters who hunt parks and schools,an expanded VDI range would be quite useful.I think if Fisher expanded the Coinstrikes VDI range from 1 to 100,a pull tab might now read at 30 where a nickel will come in at 20,instead of reading the same #.It would give you a lot more info to work with.What do you think.Dave

 

[NamVetLesTreasureSeeker]

Many Thanks Guys! I really appreciate the responses, and I'm going to try your suggestions, especially checking the bouncers in All Metal Mode. HH

 

[Bill Ladd]

I will keep that in mind and run it across Fisher for the future. Not sure if the conductivty is just too close to spread that much, but it's definately worth discussing. Thanks for bringing that up. Your right too, that I do mostly colonial sites where we dig anything, even iffy ones that turn out to be iron or something I don't care. I look at it as "cleaning up" the site, (but seems like more than 1/2 the time it's a tiny/deep button everyone missed). I just love hunted out sites. Even if you find a flat button it makes ya feel good
HH, Bill

 

[Mark in NC]

I know when I had a DFX, if memory serves me, the ID resolution would be different for high vs. low conductors, depending on which frequency you were using (if choosing a single frequency that is). For example, high freq. machines have a bigger spread for low conductors and the opposite for low freq. machines. The C$, being (at best guess) a somewhat low frequency detector, seems to let you see the diffence between the high conductors (copper and silver)? Just a uneducated guess...

HH

Mark in NC

 

[Bill Ladd]

again, I don't claim to know engineering or design new units on my coffee table like that other forum NASA tom figured out how to get nickles/Indians up into a high tone on the 3d so I guess anything is possible....
good discussions that I can hopefully pass on

 

[Dave Z]

I've been ring hunting in parks lately.I want to see how many pull tabs equal one gold ring.I've been digging everything for seven hours now.On the DFX,nickels hit between 18-22,rectangular pull tabs at 28,other pull tabs in the 48 range,screw caps at 48-53(depending on how their crushed).Zincs at 63,pennys at 78,dimes 79-80,Quarters at 83-84,silver higher.I don't know what your Coinstrike reads nickels and pull tabs at.I'll guess 11 for nickels and 12 for pull tabs for example.Expanding it's range to 100 or maybe even 200,would seperate tehm to say 16 for a nickel and a pul tab at 25.If it went to 200 that range coiuld expand to 20 for a nic and 40ish for the same pull tab.The park and school hunters would find this useful and since Fisher is going the digital route,this would seem the next logical choice.HH.DAve

 

[Dave Z]

When using both freqs. a nickel for example would fall at 18 and a silver quarter at 86.When going to either 3kz or 15kz they get spread out even more,but there is a vdi normaliztion mode which when turned on while in single freq mode will convert the vdi's to the standard (dual freq.) read outs.It's just another tool at your disposal.Dave

 

[Dave Z]

I've always wanted to ask you this.When going into the old coin mode,what's the difference between what it does in that mode and let's say if you just recalibrated the meter one segment higher.For example,just tell the brain of the 3d to read everything foil as a nickel and everything zinc penny as a dime or copper penny.Is this how it works or is something else beimng done in that mode??Thanks,Dave

 

[Mark in NC]

According to NASA Tom, only specific conductors were moved to high tone. For example, older nickles, which normally get lower on the scale, get moved back up to nickel, high tone. At the same time though, tabs don't. It will move some junk (can slaw) to high tone, but usually it's jumpy. It works great on old sites with little or no newer junk, but can work well when you're used to it on newer ones too. Strange thing is, a old V nickel I found hit perfect Hi tone, nickel ID in the ground, but went to tab out of the ground. Tom said it was designed just that way, taking the dirt matrix into account... My C$ however, punches deeper in some of my more mineralized areas, holding onto the actual ID at the limits of it's depth ability. They make a great combo at most sites I visit. I'm anxious to see if the Edge also will work well in the local dirt.

HH

Mark in NC

 

[Dave Z]

The real old nickels I find always read higher.They come out red and green from corroding and leave a nice little halo which makes them read between a zinc and copper penny.I can't tell you how many V nicks I've found that read in that range.Myself,I'd rather they try and get another inch of depth out these machines instead of making cosmetic changes.Dave