New MXT user...good news.

[opacific]

I got my MXT 2 weeks ago, and purchased the 6X10 DD coil. I think the DD coil is 1000% better that the stock coil. I have been searching an abandoned home built in 1907, and I finally got a 1945 Merc. Dime. YEAH!

I am still learning all the tweaks I can do with this detector, and it is starting to make more sense.

Is it possible to take a sampling of pulltabs, and ground balance to discriminate them out?

In a different lot, I got a signal of +86 and 0 depth, but after digging 9" down, I still couldn't find anything! Should I go back there with a bigger shovel? It showed 10% iron probability - with ground rating of 59, in prospecting mode. Zero discrimination with 8 gain.

I am near the Puget Sound area, so I could use some help in that old yard. There is a lot of trash, and is taking a long time to search that area. Anyone want to search that (North Bend, Snoqualmie) area? I could use some help!

 

[steelheadfever]

Hi, I wish I lived closer, because I would be over to help you in a flash. If I were able to hunt that spot, I would use a smaller coil like the 4x6 or 4.5X 7 Excelerator. The 6x10 is a great coil but if the site is as trashy as you say a smaller coil would be better. Also I would hunt with no discrimination( all metal)and use the most sensitivity possible and then dig EVERY thing. Let us know how your hunts go and send us photos of your finds. Good luck and HH Dennis in Idaho

 

[Monte]

"I have been searching an abandoned home built in 1907, and I finally got a 1945 Merc. Dime. YEAH!"... Hopefully this is a site you can spend frequent times at and perhaps there's more silver lurking there?!?

'I am still learning all the tweaks I can do with this detector, and it is starting to make more sense."... There really aren't that many 'tweaks' you can make. Adjust a good functional Threshold, a low Discriminate level, ample Gain and then go hunt and dig!

"Is it possible to take a sampling of pulltabs, and ground balance to discriminate them out?"... Nope. What you can do, and what I suggest to most people when hunting any site for the first time, is RECOVER ALL DETECTED TARGETS for the first 30-45 minutes that you're hunting. Listen to the audio response, analyze the target, audibly, from a couple of angles and with a little coil lift, and then glance at the display while doing so. Then, recover the target and make a mental note of what you found and what audio and visual info it provided.

After that 30-45 minute period you'll have a better idea of how many targets there might be to deal with, what the types of targets are that are there, you'll know what some of the trash targets are you can expect as well as some of the interesting desirable targets are, too. If a site is plagued by one particular item, and it is there in abundance, and it provides fairly consistent TID readouts, and if you don;'t want to recover any more of them, then you'll know what visual info to ignore .... but you'll also find that quite often, the best approach is to run with a high sensitivity level, minimal discrimination, and employ the [i"Beep-DIG!" approach to successful metal detecting. I've used that for most of my 41+ years in the hobby, and I have been preaching this concept for over a quarter of a century. Give it a try.

"In a different lot, I got a signal of +86 and 0 depth, but after digging 9" down, I still couldn't find anything! Should I go back there with a bigger shovel? It showed 10% iron probability - with ground rating of 59, in prospecting mode. Zero discrimination with 8 gain."... No, forget the shovel. If you get a coin-sized reading and a coin-like TID and a suggested coin-depth of '0', there's no sense digging to 9" in the first place .... unless you're anticipating something other than a coin.

If the site's trashy I'd suggest getting either the White's 5.3 Eclipse (a 6

 

[Rob (IL)]

Opacific, I see you have not been on the forum long. I've had my MXT since December. I would follow Monte's advise, it has really helped me. You can see he answers each part of your post. What do you mean by tweaks? Rob