Sand Shark Setting...

[El Guapo]

Good Day fellow detector enthusiasts! I broke my cherry yesterday with the new hobby of metal detecting. My first real find was a penny on the beach. Well any way my question is about the settings. It may sound like a dumb question, but the dumb question is the one you don't ask. "a teacher once told me that"...
All right now... "Threshold and Volume"
Your Mode switch is set, "VCO". Adjusting the threshold with the, "Threshold and Volume switch". That's understood.
Now what about the volume?
Is the, "VCO" mode just for threshold?
Once I set the threshold and change the mode to, "normal" am I good to go for volume?
I also keep the keep the Pulse Width in the 12 O'clock position.
I am keeping the hunting to the beach for now. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[fwcrawford]

I believe the threshold pertains to both modes..normal and VCO.
I would make sure you have a nice threshold tone in either mode.
I only have been using the VCO mode as I like the response better than normal mode..
Most others seem to prefer this mode also.
Hope this helps answer your question.
Felix

 

[El Guapo]

Thanks for the feed back.... I'll give it a try next time I head out.

 

[tvr]

I like VCO too, because it kind of grabs my attention. That said, I have found that the normal mode seems to let me hear faint (deep) targets just a little better when I'm really paying attention. Normal mode seems to draw out the length of the threshold rise a little more than what VCO mode does. Normal mode also gives just a little more expression of tone elongation and hollowness on the edges of the tone rise over an iron target. Elongated iron, like nails and hair pins, give a double blip along the long axis. If you can walk around the target and sweep it from all directions, that will let you hear the double blip. Getting to feel fairly confident about identifying iron junk lets me walk away from a few more targets that I would otherwise dig. There is always a risk of walking away from a good target ... but digging a lot of iron trash can get old too.

Volume; I run maximum most of the time in both VCO and normal modes. If the threshold gets too uneven or pulsing, I find that taking the volume down just a little off of maximum can smooth the threshold.
Enjoy the Sand Shark!
Cheers,
tvr

 

[El Guapo]

I tried both setting this morning in the water. Both seemed to work fine. No interesting finds today. I did finally see two other people with there metal detectors out in the water. These guys go out up to their necks.... There's alot of bull sharks around the beaches... I am not ready to be shark bait.... I only went as far as could reach with a small scoop that I made. My new one hasn't come in the mail yet. So I picked up a pitcher at Wally World and drilled a bunch of 1/2" holes in it. It works fine for now until the new one comes.

Peace