I have the new Explorer 2. How can we approach the correct sensitivity setting for any given location? Also, how can one tell when falsing is occurring, whether it be mineralization, iron, high trash, etc? I imagine coil size plays a big factor here too. Is the presence of a certain percentage of threshold part of the correct sensitivity & gain setting? Thanks in advance!!!
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Sensitivity Settings
- Thread starter Eiger
- Start date
Captain Kirk
New member
Joe,
I think that Mikes post was eye opening, but one has to be careful. Last week I was out hunting with a companion that called me over to check his signal. The target tone was very week and the cursor moving up and down the right side of the screen (sometimes falling into the bottom third). We were both hunting with sensitivity set to 25. Having read Mikes post on the luck he was having with the setting at 18, I decided to give it a try. I heard absolutely nothing with the setting at 18.
We decided that the signal was iffy but worth digging. He pulled out a merc at an angle that was down about 9". The conclusion is that there are no hard and fast rules that work for every circumstance (but, I am sure that Mike will agree to that).
HH,
Glenn
I think that Mikes post was eye opening, but one has to be careful. Last week I was out hunting with a companion that called me over to check his signal. The target tone was very week and the cursor moving up and down the right side of the screen (sometimes falling into the bottom third). We were both hunting with sensitivity set to 25. Having read Mikes post on the luck he was having with the setting at 18, I decided to give it a try. I heard absolutely nothing with the setting at 18.
We decided that the signal was iffy but worth digging. He pulled out a merc at an angle that was down about 9". The conclusion is that there are no hard and fast rules that work for every circumstance (but, I am sure that Mike will agree to that).
HH,
Glenn
Agreed... I guess there are a number of variables as to what will work and what won't. I thought Mike's post was a good one and I've seen it work myself in my own front yard (picking up a Rosie where I'd hunted numerous times at higher sensitivity). If my memory serves me correctly, there were a number of different comments (including Mike) that basically pointed out this (lower sensitivity) is just one more thing to try, to eek out a find 
My son and I went to a great site today that not only produced some good finds but is a great test for a detector. There are some high voltage transmission lines that cross the property. I used this to give manual and semi-auto sensitivity a try. What I found, or at least this this is what I was seeing, is that when I would work towards the lines I would begin to get the typical noise induced hits that grow worse the closer I got to the lines. I would reduce the sensitivity and also noise cancel to get the threshold solid then switch to semi-auto. It appeared that this helped in that I got very good depth with semi-auto.
However, my son had 20 times more finds than I. What he did was if he got a hit he would take his boot and scrape a few inches of soil from over the target. He did this on deep low tones, anything that gave a nice hit no matter what the tone. He was using manual at 28 and the very faint low tones would come in nice and strong as a high or mid tone after removing the few inches of soil from over the target. Those few inches of soil over the target made the difference between a low rejected target and a high accepted target.
We talked about this all the way home and how many targets we have passed up because it gave a low tone. I don't know what to say other than I saw it and those low tones are turn into nice high ones if the coil is a few inches closer. I am still trying to think this through and what I am going to do about including those low tones in targets that I need to dig. I must have passed us hundred of those targets!
However, my son had 20 times more finds than I. What he did was if he got a hit he would take his boot and scrape a few inches of soil from over the target. He did this on deep low tones, anything that gave a nice hit no matter what the tone. He was using manual at 28 and the very faint low tones would come in nice and strong as a high or mid tone after removing the few inches of soil from over the target. Those few inches of soil over the target made the difference between a low rejected target and a high accepted target.
We talked about this all the way home and how many targets we have passed up because it gave a low tone. I don't know what to say other than I saw it and those low tones are turn into nice high ones if the coil is a few inches closer. I am still trying to think this through and what I am going to do about including those low tones in targets that I need to dig. I must have passed us hundred of those targets!
Mike (Virginia Beach)
New member
Glenn, I would only expect that DROPPING of the sensitivity thing to work in an area where the ground was "hot" or there were EMI issues. It sounds like you were in some decent ground with no external factors, in which case I would probably be running 25 to 28 myself. But since we often don't REALLY know what we're dealing with until we play around, I will be experimenting like that as well at least on a few targets per site. There will be times when dropping it will work miracles and times when it won't.
Mike,
I have found like you have that you just have to mess around with the sensitivity on a few targets to see what works. There are places up here in PA that my Explorer likes to be run on the noise side... then there are places that running it down in the 16-18 range is the way to go. It's like anything in detecting... there are no set rules on what will work. There's a lot a couple of blocks away from my house that has 'noisy' ground. Dropping the sensitivity did wonders there for me... I've dug IHs in the 9-10 range on 16 in sensitivity.
-Bill
I have found like you have that you just have to mess around with the sensitivity on a few targets to see what works. There are places up here in PA that my Explorer likes to be run on the noise side... then there are places that running it down in the 16-18 range is the way to go. It's like anything in detecting... there are no set rules on what will work. There's a lot a couple of blocks away from my house that has 'noisy' ground. Dropping the sensitivity did wonders there for me... I've dug IHs in the 9-10 range on 16 in sensitivity.
-Bill
Cody,
I have seen the same thing up here in PA. I have dug some of the deeper low tones and they turn out to be alot higher in conductivity than they originially IDed as. But, that 'effect' does not happen at every site I go to. If you look back through some of my posts I do refer to IDs 'falling' into alot lower catagories at some of the sites I hunt.
-Bill
I have seen the same thing up here in PA. I have dug some of the deeper low tones and they turn out to be alot higher in conductivity than they originially IDed as. But, that 'effect' does not happen at every site I go to. If you look back through some of my posts I do refer to IDs 'falling' into alot lower catagories at some of the sites I hunt.
-Bill
smithobx
Member
Is that there are no rules when it comes to sensitivity. Every site is different when it comes to interferance,soil type and types of targets, not to mention your individual settings for your detector. If you are a new user make sure you have a good stable null (thats the silence between targets) untill you get some time on the machine. This will help you sort out the sounds. Also put various coins on the ground or examples of relics and get familiar with the sounds. AND, read this forum, these guys know the EXII inside out. Good Hunting!!
Yes, I do recall you talking about this and I have posted on the same topic in the past. This hunt was one of clearest example I have experienced so took pretty much settled it for me. I do know at this particular site the discrimination tones and all metal depth were a couple inches different. The site has recently been turned over so it is easy to use our boots to scrape away a few inches. Some targets have been turned up and others down but tone wise a low tone will turn high with a few inches of soil removed. I am talking of way over half the low deep tones were mini,round balls, and CW buttons.
I am a new explorer user and dont really know jack shit about the machine but I will tell you at the beach today I had pennies and dimes reading down in the far right corner and also the far left corner, bottom. Sounds were decent but the crosshair location not even close. I hunted in IM -16 and heard everything but now I am wondering about some of the iffy signals I passed over. I guess its just the mineralization of the beach or whatever but I will sure be paying more attention to questionable signals at the beach.
Chris(SoCenWI)
Well-known member
In 2004 I found 17 seated coins. (only 16 shown, found another half dime before the end of the year.) I was detecting mainly at areas that I could get a long ways away from powerlines and other sources of EMI, and was able to run the machine at upper twenties , even thirty on the odd occasion, manual sensitivity with reasonable stability.
[attachment 20258 2004seated.jpg]
And pretty similar circumstances for 2003
[attachment 20259 seatedgroup.jpg]
[attachment 20258 2004seated.jpg]
And pretty similar circumstances for 2003
[attachment 20259 seatedgroup.jpg]
Chris(SoCenWI)
Well-known member
This past year I was hunting sites that were pretty much as old as previous years, but in town and almost always under power lines. Here I could seldom run abve 15-18 and get a usably stable unit.
Only one seated for this year.
[attachment 20260 Picture018.jpg]
I think any site used before 1910 or so will hold seated coins. But they may be too deep to detect, especially dimes. And not really too deep per se, if they were in clean soil, no problem, But to get past the trash and still get depth is tough. Adding in lots of EMI seems to make the trash light up also- (This is one for Cody and Glen, et al, any chance that trash has some kind of antenae effect in EMI?)
My personal experience is I get the most old coins in very moist soil, when the grass is very short- early spring. At high sensitivities the deepies will sound much like iron-low tone- with just enough high tone peeping through to be interesting. This was addressed lower in this thread. After a certain depth all signals will sound low; the detector cannot differentiate between metals. At some sites you can kick away some ground and get a little closer to the target and see if it does better. At most site there are literaly thousands of small iron targets that also sound and behave the same, checking them out individually would be impossible. As others have posted the WOT can sometimes make these targets sound good.
There are times when lower sensitivities can make targets sound better, but not usually. A couple of places I've found less is better is in extreme heavy iron where the coins might not be too deep. Detecting right next to the sides of front steps is one example. Usually a blanket of nails from siding and roofing jobs, and the shade from oft present shrubbery keeps the coins shallow. Sometimes can't get a hit until lowered the sens to 2 or 3.
And that is my couple of bucks worth of silver advice.
Chris
Only one seated for this year.
[attachment 20260 Picture018.jpg]
I think any site used before 1910 or so will hold seated coins. But they may be too deep to detect, especially dimes. And not really too deep per se, if they were in clean soil, no problem, But to get past the trash and still get depth is tough. Adding in lots of EMI seems to make the trash light up also- (This is one for Cody and Glen, et al, any chance that trash has some kind of antenae effect in EMI?)
My personal experience is I get the most old coins in very moist soil, when the grass is very short- early spring. At high sensitivities the deepies will sound much like iron-low tone- with just enough high tone peeping through to be interesting. This was addressed lower in this thread. After a certain depth all signals will sound low; the detector cannot differentiate between metals. At some sites you can kick away some ground and get a little closer to the target and see if it does better. At most site there are literaly thousands of small iron targets that also sound and behave the same, checking them out individually would be impossible. As others have posted the WOT can sometimes make these targets sound good.
There are times when lower sensitivities can make targets sound better, but not usually. A couple of places I've found less is better is in extreme heavy iron where the coins might not be too deep. Detecting right next to the sides of front steps is one example. Usually a blanket of nails from siding and roofing jobs, and the shade from oft present shrubbery keeps the coins shallow. Sometimes can't get a hit until lowered the sens to 2 or 3.
And that is my couple of bucks worth of silver advice.
Chris
It's odd how higher conductors get pulled lower in some places and not others. It doesn't happen every site I go to around here and doesn't appear to be linked to the 'age' of the site either. In those places I've also been able to dig 'bumps' in the threshold and come away with coins... You just have to pay attention enough and experiment some to realize when it's happening.
-Bill
You just have to pay attention enough and experiment some to realize when it's happening.-Bill
Chris(SoCenWI)
Well-known member
n/t