Really, Really Frustrated

[Acornhead]

I went out yesterday for the first time in a while about 4-5 hours. I tried to TTF, felt like I was missing alot. I've heard it's very noisy, but I didn't get that. I thought it was way quieter then I'm used to and must have been missing targets. . I went back to Goes4ever's settings, and used Andy's program modified for gold, his regular program and also tried Just the Good Stuff Pattern. Really frustrated now. Kept digging nice high tones which sounded almost exactly like silver, probably 12 of them, and they all turned out to be deep iron, mostly nails Never really had this happen before. A lot of iron was giving me the exact sound of coins. . When I scanned the dirt pile, lots of them didn't sound off, were nulled once they were dug out of the ground. I'm feeling very frustrated now, and have lost much of my confidence. I was doing pretty good my first 2 years with whatever program is loaded on the machine when you turn it on, and just used the mortification suggested on Geos4ever's website. I'm no pro with the machine, but have found many seated dimes (13 my first year), seated quarter. Suggestions? Now I know how to down load modes and patterns, but feel way less confident with the machine. I initially started wanting to use other's patterns and modes because I was digging no nickels or gold, something the DFX did well. (but couldn't compete with the Etrac on deep silver and copper.)
Des in Buffalo

 

[sbumps]

I'm having the very same problem. Most of the silver signals I dig, turn up to be bits of iron.

 

[Nuke em]

I don't know what your settings are but its easy to know iron , or at least when you are used to it
Firstly check the left side numbers , if high (no matter what the tone) (17 or higher) then it may be iron but to make sure go into the quick mask screen and with the up arrow put 6 lines of black, go over the target again and if scratchy or null's then it is likely to be iron.
Also lift your coil up off the ground to 6 in then sweep , if there its likely to be iron , A Silver coin is also likely to be smaller than iron in size and if near the surface it will have a lower FE number , if deep then the Silver target will be smaller than iron and you can size the target by circling it with the coil , if the Silver is shallow it will most likely give accurate numbers and double ping where as Iron will give an overload if you touch it
Hope this helps. .

 

[Southwind]

For me the key to telling silver from deep rusted iron is in the pinpointing. A good target will pinpoint in the exact same spot from all directions in most cases. Iron will pinpoint at different spots as you move around the target. I also have a lot of luck using the stomp method. When you get a signal you're not sure if it is good or iron, stomp on it hard with your heel so you pack the ground over the target. Iron, again in most cases, will then break up or go away, while a good target will improve in tone.

 

[Goes4ever]

A simple tirning 90 degrees and rechecking the signal works for me, i have never had a nail sound good from both ways, one way sounds awesome turn 90 degrees and signal is always broken up or scratchy

 

[Jeff in Pa]

Same here Terry.

 

[chb177]

Southwind describes a good pinpointing technique that works well for me. I haven't tried stomping to compact the dirt but falsing iron will stop sometimes once soil is disturbed. Sometimes just probing will cause signal to change when rescanned. I will pinpoint and watch TID cursor. If it stays buried in right corner it is most likely iron. If you get a good small pinpoint and cursor moves to match the TID...dig. Also if you pinpoint and then wiggle the coil directly over where pinpoint was and it doesn't sound off, it is probably iron and you will find the signal to the side of the pinpoint.

 

[Will1877]

I don't know iron has yet to fool me and I have more silver in first four months then then first four months with any other machine I used. Iron sounds like hell in ferrous tones and does not id even close to a coin. I hunt in what I belive is relic mode two tone ferrous deep off fast on and few other tweaks in other settings. I have checked peoples holes I hunt with in this mode they are getting high tone with some cracking sound in two tone its a low grunt and in all cases have been iron. Im not saying about my silver finds to gloat but you should not loose confidence that program really really works. I would like to mess with other programs cause I love the tones the machine can make but two tone has done amazing things for me already in hunted spots I just cant get away from it.

 

[NebTrac]

A simple tirning 90 degrees and rechecking the signal works for me, i have never had a nail sound good from both ways, one way sounds awesome turn 90 degrees and signal is always broken up or scratchy

That's usually the tell-tale sign for me as well. Great signal one way (bent rusty nail, rusty deep barbwire and fencing staples in good moisture) then the signal REALLY struggles to get through on the 90.

NebTrac

 

[Digger]

For me the key to telling silver from deep rusted iron is in the pinpointing. A good target will pinpoint in the exact same spot from all directions in most cases. Iron will pinpoint at different spots as you move around the target.

Me Too! Consistency in sound and target location

 

[khouse]

Are you running manual sens? I know when I'm forcing the machine deeper by using manual sens of say 27 to 30 I will dig some deep rusty iron that fools me. But running it a little cooler or auto there is almost no issues with iron in my soil. You might try auto sens at A for a while to see if the issues clear up?

 

[ironsight]

Yep, a good one way and a bad 90 deg. other way will work 90+% of the time to ID corroded iron. For nails, the the longer non-bent ones are the easiest to ID as iron.

But then there's that 1 to 10% of the time where the 2-way test doesn't work that well.
I've dug up a lot of corroded short/small stubby usually bolts that likely looked like hi conductive coins to the detector give iffy but 'diggable' 2 ways.

Another example, i had a decent silver ID one way but the other way was a jumpy silent to jumpy iron sometimes trying but never hitting anywhere near the coin area.
It was a slow day in a hyper pounded old historic park, so i decided to dig knowing it was probably gonna be iron. Turned out to be an extremely worn Barber dime on edge at 9 inches.
Never expected that one! No telling how many coils swept over that dime the past decades.

 

[khouse]

Big square rusty nuts come to mind that trick me. If I get coin numbers one way I dig and have been rewarded as well with some coins. I have the best luck NOT digging iron by running auto sens. But I'm usually forcing (or trying to) deeper with high manual sens.
However a few days ago I did get two 2 way 12/42's. After I dug down a foot I knew I was tricked but got them out since I was right there. They were baby railroad spikes in nice perfect shape maybe 3.5 inches long and 3/8 inch square.

 

[Acornhead]

Thanks so much everyone. Will try to use all advice this weekend!! Really friendly and helpful forum. Des in Buffalo

 

[ChicagoJohn]

I found silver in shallow is easy. I found some silver in deep but also some are old nail! I don't know why and sometime reading something like 16-44 or 17-45 could be silver or old nail at 8 to 9 inch deep!

 

[Nock]

I watch my cursor movement if its in the lower right corner,or far from the 12 line I don't dig. Any comments on this I would like to read, maybe I am wrong.

 

[moonshine]

like others have said before me, when that happens to me, i struggle to pinpoint, and after i find the iron, it makes sense why. the detector is fooled somehow. it seems like multiple "good" targets sometimes...., struggle to pinpoint....then dig the iron, then all signals are gone. then i think, well i should have known something was wrong because it didnt pinpoint "right'. yes it can be frustrating. it doesnt happen to me very often though for whatever reason. but its hard to pass up that sweet high tone. i dig and hope that there might be a coin mixed with junk, so id probably STILL dig them.

 

[DiggerODirt]

Sounds like you have your settings way off base...I would do a MASTER RESET, then start from scratch...

HH,

 

[nge]

are you using TTF with a "wide open" screen, no discrimination? make sure you're in ferrous tones.......nge