Spaceport said:
[size=medium]I have decided to take mine with the 5x10 to my iron infested site tomorrow....it has produced a few Colonial relics and other early coins from 1857 up to modern. The site is heavy with tiny square nail bits and full ones and big deep iron too. I feel like the 5x10 may pull me a masked target the stock coil has missed.The Racer has done well there and pulled me some flatbuttons that other machines missed, but I know there has to be more hiding ....ground is medium to hot.[/size]
The Makro Racer seems like it was especially or almost specifically designed to provide the best performance in a dense, iron infested challenge.
The stock coil I seldom use. Less than 20 minutes since I've had the Racer since February, preferring the 5½X10 DD for more 'casual' site hunting, as in more open and not abundantly trashy places. The smaller 4.[size=small]7[/size]X5.[size=small]2[/size] DD '
OOR' coil [size=small](my long-used term for an "
Out-Of-Round" shape that I started using with a Tesoro 8X9 that replaced the round 8")[/size] has been my favorite and stays mounted full-time to my first Racer because, most of the time, I hunt heavily nail contaminated sites. Nails, parts of nails, and other similar small-sized pieces of ferrous junk.
Did you get the Racer Pro Pack and/or do you have that smaller '
OOR' Double-D coil? If you do, I'd suggest using it. If you don't, then I'd suggest you put it at the top of your shopping list.
Spaceport said:
[size=medium]My question is should I run the gain lower than the default setting of 70?[/size]
Maybe, but it's all up to you and how well you can personally handle the Gain settings for the coil used and the conditions encountered. I have a friend who fires his Racer up and always uses the default '70' Sensitivity. Another who, like me, tends to bump it to '85' the majority of the time. And there's another friend who likes to work it down ± the '50' setting, similar to the Nokta FORS CoRe default setting, but run it a little lower or increase it as he determines how challenging the site might be
to him. It's all a personal decision matter.
Spaceport said:
[size=medium]Also how should I ground balance it?[/size]
Keep Tracking turned 'OFF' and use the automated Ground Grab function at, or as close to, the hunt site.
Spaceport said:
[size=medium]In previous hunts I have had to move to another area far away or on the way into my spot because it is so filled with targets I literally have to spend over five minutes sometimes finding a clean piece of ground to balance over....would tracking be useless in a spot like this since it is so trashy and full of targets?[/size]
Yes, Tracking would be useless, especially if the site is contaminated with a lot of ferrous trash as a detector can off-track to the iron debris.
The Owner's Manual states you should only use Tracking in the Threshold-based All Metal search mode, and NOT use Tracking in the three motion-based Discriminate modes.
Best procedure is to GB at a site you are going to search. However, as you noted, some places have such an immense about of junk that you don't have a clean area to GB. By design, the Racer's default GB is generally quite sufficient to be used at any site you decide to search in the Discriminate modes, and a real benefit of adjusting a GB is to have a closer setting when using the All Metal Pinpoint mode. If you can't find a clean spot, just make sure the Tracking is turned 'Off,' adjust the ID Filter [size=small](Discrimination)[/size] and other settings as you desire and hunt-away.
Spaceport said:
[size=medium]I read on another forums turning the gain down 40-45 could help in unmasking the way I interpreted it. [/size]
Yes, at times it can help. However, the main steps to take when you are searching a very contaminated site to try and locate the partially-masked desirable targets are using a smaller-sized coil [size=small](which is what I do with all my detectors and prefer the '
OOR' on the Racer)[/size], and working any search coil in a slower, methodical sweep. Remember to overlap, to not sweep too quickly, and to investigate [size=small](as in recover)[/size] all 'questionable' or 'iffy' responses and not only the perfect-sounding beeps.
Monte