Quicker way to pinpoint

[William1221]

I tried several ways to pin point with with my 15x12 SEF. This seems to be the fastest and most accurate way for me. I find a desirable target and use short wiggles to get it fairly close. I then raise the coil over the area until there is no sound. I then lower the coil slowly still wiggling. I come to the spot where the sound becomes the most concentrated, On the 15x12 I use the front V as described buy Critterhunter. I have read where the front or back of the coil is too "hot to pinpoint with" It occurred to me that by raising the coil slightly will help to find the most accurate spot. I believe the reason this technique works is that when the coil is too close to the object there is a "splash over" of the signal as you raise the coil up it localizes the portion of the object that is closest to the surface .I have found this technique can be used with any coil. Hope this makes sense.

 

[Critterhunter]

Haven't noticed it being "too hot" at the tips where I need to do that. The center I find too hot though with the seemingly concentric portion, but I don't like PPing using the center on the stock coil either. With the SEF coils I just wiggle it while walking it towards the target until it first starts to sound off. Then I switch 90 degrees and do the same. If PP mode is not picking it up or is sounding off to minerals or nearby trash then I just use discriminate for this.

Another handy method I use is some times discriminate (like PP) will not sound off to the target from one direction. If I can PP it in discriminate one way but don't get a clear defined or sounding off signal from 90 degrees then I'll throw it into PP for that direction to note the spot, then flip back to discriminate and re-check it from 90 degrees. Another handy use for this is let's say there is trash around it that you are picking up if you try to PP in PP mode from one direction. Use discriminate to mark the spot. Now switch 90 degrees and you might find discriminate is having a hard time sounding off or is nulling it out. Flip over to PP for that direction to mark the spot. I always like to then do a third PP on the target by moving back to the original position to double insure my findings. Probably more often than not now I just use discriminate to PP targets, only switching to PP mode when I'm having issues, but often PP mode has it's own issues to deal with. Whichever gives me the same location on the target when checked from two directions.

One thing while on the subject- I'm finding that some very deep coins or ones mixed in iron or other trash often will only sound off from one direction. They might be on edge as well. For that reason I've taken to re-checking any "junk" signal that won't produce a good ID/audio doing the wiggle from at least two other directions as well. Even if it only sounds off one way often you can just tell that the signal is so perfect in that direction that it just has to be a coin. No slight worbly or iffy audio to the target from that direction, while the others might be a complete null or a really bad signal. I'd say when I run acrossed those that about 75% of the time it does indeed turn out to be a coin and not a false iron hit. Just look for those perfectly audio/ID signals even if they are only sounding off one way. This differs greatly from what iron usually does, as well as screw caps or other junk that tries to pretend it's a coin.

If it's deep and with careful investigation doing the wiggle or short sweep doesn't produce any kind of good coin signal, I'll re-check it from at least two other directions. I'm amazed how deep coins will null or not sound well from all but one direction in my tests. Also, more often that not now I'm finding that a slow short sweep (4 to 6" or so) seems to produce the best ID at depth now for me. Often before it was as tight and fast of a wiggle as I could manage. I attribute this to the 12x10 wanting higher sensitivity calibration with my buried dime test for best/easiest/most stable ID. It relates to what others have found about higher sensitivity settings wanting slower sweep speeds. Since it seems most of the time now I'm at least running at 10 or 11 O'Clock or higher (towards full) with this coil, I am finding I need to slow my sweep speed down to see the really deep stuff.