Relic Setup Help Needed

[DFXer]

I'm on my third week with the SE and having fun. Sunday I went for my first SE relic hunt around an early 1800's foundation and farm site. I have detected this site with my DFX in the past. Away from the foundation the SE was stable and I found the usual horse harness hardware and farm tools. As I got nearer to the home site I experienced a lot of falsing. I used both auto and manual sensitivity at lower levels and went from all metal to various discrimination patterns but the falsing (or one-way high pitch signals) contunued.

Can anyone suggest a good stable starting setup for relic hunting in Massachusetts (low level iron mineralization) that will work in the carpet of nails and iron trash at these sites? I'm using the 10.5 coil and moving very slowly.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[Tinfoil]

n/t

 

[Chris(SoCenWI)]

No matter what you do you will get iron falsing, After a while you will get used to it and automatically tune most of it out. Problem is that deep coins and coins buried next to iron can sound very close to iron falsing and you will have to dig alot to tell the difference. Most places have been heavily hunted and only the very iffiest signals are left.

Couple of quick tips. I hunt smart screen(original XS) with everything open except the bottle caps in the lower right hand corner. If you don't use any discrimination on the left side of the screen you MUST use ferrous sounds, otherwise all the nail/screw/small iron hits at the upper left of the screen will sound just as good as silver hits at the upper right. Other wise if you use a little iron mask or discriminate out nails in smart screen you can stick with conductive sounds.

If you haven't already try laying a rusty nail on top of a coin. You will only get a hit from one narrow direction and 180 opposite. This demonstrates how important it is to hit a productive iron-laden site from many angles; and why we still find stuff in heavily worked sites.

I'm a died in the wool manual sensitivity guy. Seems the explorer community is about evenly split on this and we all find coins. Most prefer to run sens as high as is stable, but there are rare occasions where less is better.

Also would advise against using any patterns, especially tight learned-in ones. As you have probably seen by now that coins can hit in different places as you sweep over them. If you had that chunk of real estate disc'ed out you would have missed them. Much better to listen to all the sounds and learn what the machine is telling you.

Bottom line is that many of the sites we hunt are completely iron filled. Explorer is very good at sniffing stuff out in trash and that is why so many coins where found in hunted out areas when the first came out. This picture is from 2004; hit a very public park but most likely the first person to hit it with an explorer. Not a bad afternoon. Got dozens more pics like it and wish could find sites like this again.

[attachment 73662 05-05-04.jpg]

Changing coils/settings/techniques will bring up a few more coins each time but it is tricky and takes much patience and experience to weasel coins out of the trash.

Chris

 

[mattockman]

I would suggest a smaller coil---8" or 6" or 5".....or keep using the 10.5.....you need to control your swing properly.....I would also suggest keep fast and deep off....I personnally do not like fast on ever....just me I guess...some people like it....but deep off anyways.......try to get use to no disc. if you can't then work with Iron mask mode.......I sometimes turn sens. way down....like 8-14 just to get the shallow good stuff next to tons of iron, then up it gradually to get the deeper ones......go over the same spots as you up it .....and go at it in diff. directions.....when you got sens. up to your max before falsing drives you nuts.....listen for quiet sounds....its like a backround noise .....it sounds good but just like it is far away.....deepies......and coppers are usually so green with corrosion they will have a low sound mixed with a good penny sound mixed together and what I can only describe as scratchy.....hot rocks hit very high right like silver but much higher(curser)...all you see is part of left and part of bottom line on curser......and if you check digital it will read 31 on ex.xs......Oh and use ferrous sounds......gain at 7 and by hearing a quiet target and you are not sure....up the gain to check target again....it will improve sound......I use 7 so I can tell a deep from shallower coin.....I can't rely on depth meter....sometimes its ok and most times its not. but it is just another reference......

 

[Tinfoil]

I really don't recommend hunting the iron trash for a new person just starting out with the Exp.s. With the large coil it is even worse. I use my 4X7 Excellerator coil or my M/L 7.5" coil, and 5X10" Joey coil in the moderate iron or the trash. I think you are asking for some frustration right off the bat. You need to work your way into the iron and trash and not do it with a big coil. Just my take on it. My 2 yuks anyway. HH : : Later Jerry aka Tinfoil

 

[Chris(SoCenWI)]

n/t