Neil in West Jersey
New member
I decided a few weeks back that I was going to focus all of my "V"'s energy on one frequency instead of spreading it out over three. At first I was going to try 22.5KHz, but I found that I needed to lower my gain and sensitivity a bit much for my liking. I thought 7.5 KHz would be a better choice for buttons, which seems to be my target of choice lately.
My observations are that I can really crank up the gain and sensitivity in 7.5 KHz. I have been running at RX15 and Discriminate Sens at 94 in one heavily hunted site, and although it chirped a little bit on the ground, it remained fairly stable.
Since I started running in 7.5, I have been digging many deep buttons in moderate to heavily mineralized former farm fields. All were more than 5 inches, and many were deeper than 8. As you may know, buttons do not hit as clearly as coins. Some were first only heard as an All Metal hum. After pinpointing these deep hums and then "scrubbing" the ground with the coil some gave off a little high chirp that mimicked iron. (Many times these chirps did turn out to be deep iron spikes.) Other times these deep buttons have VDI's that jump around as trash from the single digits up to the 60's or even the 80's. I dug a target on my last outing that was bouncing from -17 to -1. After digging the plug and scanning it it locked in on +51, This turned out to be an 1820's USMC button! I now know to dig negative numbers in places known to give up old targets.
Over the last two or three weeks I have dug approximately 25 buttons ranging from the late 1700's to the 1860's in an area that I have heavily detected in the past in Best Data. I feel that single frequency punches a bit deeper than Best Data. The sacrifice is less accurate VDI numbers. It is definitely worth the trade off!
OK here is the tip: When you get a deep target under your coil, pinpoint to center the coil over the target, then with your foot, clear the surface of any loose soil, leaves or pine needles. You will gain quite a bit more depth and get a much more accurate VDI along with a nicer tone. In my Piney area, I am able to clear at least 2 to 3 inches of needles with my foot. A broken 8 inch target becomes a nice clear 5.5 inch target!
Here are some of my most recent digs:
1810 British Customs Officer Button
1820's USMC One Piece Button
CW Two Piece USMC Button
19th Century Communion Token and Indian Head
Chinese Coin Circa 1730-1770's
My observations are that I can really crank up the gain and sensitivity in 7.5 KHz. I have been running at RX15 and Discriminate Sens at 94 in one heavily hunted site, and although it chirped a little bit on the ground, it remained fairly stable.
Since I started running in 7.5, I have been digging many deep buttons in moderate to heavily mineralized former farm fields. All were more than 5 inches, and many were deeper than 8. As you may know, buttons do not hit as clearly as coins. Some were first only heard as an All Metal hum. After pinpointing these deep hums and then "scrubbing" the ground with the coil some gave off a little high chirp that mimicked iron. (Many times these chirps did turn out to be deep iron spikes.) Other times these deep buttons have VDI's that jump around as trash from the single digits up to the 60's or even the 80's. I dug a target on my last outing that was bouncing from -17 to -1. After digging the plug and scanning it it locked in on +51, This turned out to be an 1820's USMC button! I now know to dig negative numbers in places known to give up old targets.
Over the last two or three weeks I have dug approximately 25 buttons ranging from the late 1700's to the 1860's in an area that I have heavily detected in the past in Best Data. I feel that single frequency punches a bit deeper than Best Data. The sacrifice is less accurate VDI numbers. It is definitely worth the trade off!
OK here is the tip: When you get a deep target under your coil, pinpoint to center the coil over the target, then with your foot, clear the surface of any loose soil, leaves or pine needles. You will gain quite a bit more depth and get a much more accurate VDI along with a nicer tone. In my Piney area, I am able to clear at least 2 to 3 inches of needles with my foot. A broken 8 inch target becomes a nice clear 5.5 inch target!
Here are some of my most recent digs:
1810 British Customs Officer Button
1820's USMC One Piece Button
CW Two Piece USMC Button
19th Century Communion Token and Indian Head
Chinese Coin Circa 1730-1770's
etc.