" SOVERIGN PROS." need ya' again..!

[peg leg red]

First off, thanks! Rick, Rick, Adam, Art,and all others, on this site.. (little background) Bought a Sov. Elite about 2 mos. ago. and have used it only on the beach.. t-12 coil , no meter, no probe..I have used it through 5 sets of new batteries and thought I was understanding the tones and I am on the beach,, dry and wet sand and shallow water.. ( Problem ) .Today I found a site that will be a gold mine I hope..1/2 acre on the corner of two main roads or "crossroads" in the country, Site has had 4-5 old buildings in the past,,, first one was 1876-1911 academy and Grange??? 1888 - 1900 U.S. post office,1896 also weather station on same land ,,1911- 1927 public school,,( burned I think) and 1941 thru today old wooden country "club house" used for socials weddings etc. Never any pavement on the land. huge trees. sounds good right ??
>>> So out I go with my Elite and hit a brick wall !!! ... I Left within an hour and half because I did not want to stir up interest from passer-by's or detectorist.. (yes,I got permission ) ...The whole time I only got out of null just long enough to find a wheat penny,, I know coil is too big for that much trash and I swung SLOOOOOW. and SLOWER, and tried lots of combonations of settings , tones were bouncing around!!, Could not seem to ever get out of Null long enough to get a true tone or lock ???
>> Are there any settings and other advice you can help with????? I don't plan to go back until I have the right equip. or some working settings with the set up I have , and /or lots more experience ,, THANKS, in advance ..... ...Peg Leg Red

PS... Soil is rocky and lots of clay under top soil, not a lot of mineralization,
bunch of white quartz rocks and red gravel mixed in........

 

[Art (NWOH)]

You wanted a pro and got me instead....so far.

Red , That sounds like a great place to hunt .......with a backhoe and sifter.

You picked a really sucky spot that is (probably)loaded with goodies.......
From what you describe this is going to be nail city. Probably cinders too. Red gravel? Clay subsoil, thin topsoil? Let's not forget power lines, right?
Many different buildings with at least one possible burn down (see nail city).
Tones jumping like crazy or long nulls no matter what.
Don't tell me that the dirt was very dry then got rained on enough to give you a thin moist layer on top of drier dirt......that's about the only thing missing in this abortion.

OK........

Coil's too big.....right.
Going slow.....right.
Trying different settings.....Right.

You are doing about all you can do with a big coil. If you can scrounge up a 8" or smaller will give you a better chance.
Try to keep sensitivity low enough (maybe try auto) to keep it from a solid null.

Possible noise trouble......
You mix iron trash and electrical noise you got a mess.....lots of nulling. Much more than iron by itself. Layered moisture also causes trouble.

Set the coil on the ground. If the threshold is not smooth, then back the sensitivity down until it smoothes out. Chatter whithout coil motion indicates electrical noise. You can weed your way through at least some of the noise if that is one of the problems.....
Noise really bounces the threshold around and gives a lot of quick falses. The falses are shorter and usually lower pitched than good targets. Most are in the aluminum trash range, so you might have to settle for hints of high coin responses. You can also max out the discrimination....you won't have to hear so much garbage.

Don't count on very many good sounding hits. Dig anything that sounds about right for a high coin as long as it feels about the right size and does not try to move around on you when you pinpoint.

Hope some others will jump in on this. Sounds pretty bad.

HH

 

[peg leg red]

Art, don't leave out the rain, I waited for that so I could dig..rained for about 2 hrs. before I went.today. (Can you say Greenie ??) Peg Leg Red

 

[Art (NWOH)]

Yep.......the very last thing to screw it up.

It's better to hunt dirt completely bone dry than to hunt it layered. Uniformly moist is best, but layered sucks.

Smaller coil and hunt with consistent moisture content.
If noise is a major factor, pray for a power outage.

By the way.......I have found some spots that had just about everything wrong too.

HH

 

[adam in cal]

just so happens to be the toughest to hunt , from what you describe its gonna be infested with iron nails ,and from what your detector is telling you it is a nail ridden site,if you wanna stick with it you can go slow and keep waiting for the tector to reset after each null ,(but you wont get far) and you will be there forever,I may stick with a site like that provided it gives up an occasional good one, you can try all metal mode and just dig signals that are small and try to see if you can pick out some good ones that way ,(you will dig a zillion nails per good find), it sounds like a rough spot, the kind I love and hate, I hate to give up on them cause you know there has to be a goodie ,but then you go insane hunting them and find tons of iron ..

 

[Art (NWOH)]

I think all metal would be hopeless there without a GT.
Still might not work too good.

HH

 

[Rick(ND)]

It is going to be tough to hunt this site, impossible with the 10 inch coil, hard with the 8 inch coil and probably best with the 5 inch coil if you can pick up one. Even then with all the trash and such it is going to be tough.
Like Art is saying to hold the coil still and see if the threshold comes back or not and maybe try auto sensitivity may help a bit too. Over all I would get to know the Sovereign well before trying this spot again so you can tell some of the little blip if they are good or bad.

Rick

 

[adam in cal]

maybe so , its all hes got really , in disc it will be almost a constant null , I would try all metal .when you get a smallish hit try to flip back to disc and see if you can get a response,I just keep switching back and forth or.. find a new site .......I remember my first trip to a real old site like that.....much more of that I woulda broke the detector over my knee and ran away crying ............it aint gonna be easy and not real fun either,but one find at a place like that can make you forget the misery and you'll be back for some more pain ,.

 

[peg leg red]

Thanks,, I guess , I am going to buy a S1 probe and use that.........plr

 

[Art (NWOH)]

Try to find an old place that is original as possible. The more times it has been remodeled or additions have been made the worse it gets.

You may not find a great deal of stuff, but it will be much easier than that place you just tried.

Things to look for......

Stone foundations. Stone construction. Old looking brick (around here it has a slight orange tint).

A lot of wooden houses often were originally small, then added onto later. Depends on when construction was done as to how bad things may have gotten messed up. Fill dirt from expanded basements can bury goodies. New rooms added on will cover what may have been productive areas.

If you can find some old maps, you could have some fun field hunting where old houses used to be .

Was just some suggestions. Easier hunting .

HH

 

[Neilo]

Run the machine in iron mask with your sensitivity turned down until your falsing stops.A smaller coil would be quieter and less sensitive to interference, did you try the noise switch?Run the machine in Tracking mode.Turn your discriminator down to minimum setting. Good luck seeya Neilo

 

[Art (NWOH)]

Not that it matters with the Elite, but tracking on a GT only operates in all metal.

HH

 

[Neilo]

Art I have owned 3 sovereigns over the years,as you know different models have different features, got a bit mixed up must be old age or something like that.seeya neilo

 

[plugger]

n/t

 

[plugger]

n/t

 

[peg leg red]

Thanks,, Plugger , I was thinking as much stuff that is in the ground there, I might have to hunt with a S1 probe on my elite,, I know there are 'OLD Things" there... but its going to be difficult...I am working my way through learning tones as fast as I can.... Hunted about 12- 15 hours on beach this past weekend and found lots of clad but no real bootie.........Its coming though....I am hunting beach about 90% of the time and tones are difficult with salt and rust.........I have dug on weak , faint tones that seem to move around , and found nothing???????. Deep digging too !! I am having trouble getting used to middle to lower tones, I am using....
Settings: * no disc
* no notch
* sens 12
* vol. full
* threshold light and stable
* T10 coil
* Jolly roger hd. phones with duel vol. control (med. set.)
* slow to med. coil swing
>> I will learn this sov. talk.<<< .!!!................Peg Leg Red

 

[Art (NWOH)]

You are doing it about as close to right as you can, Red.

Let every hit be a learning experience. We all get fooled once in a while, but once you get used to it most of the time the things that sound bad will be bad, and the things that sound good will be good.

It's more than the pitch of the tone...
Width, stability, sound patterns, loudness.....it all figures into the total response of the target.

Takes a little time to get this stuff imprinted on your brain.

Thought you were joking about hunting with the S-1. Won't get much depth.

Keep on ...... gets easier.

HH

 

[Rick(ND)]

Setting sounds good, but it may be better to run auto until you get to know the tones better as the threshold will run smoother and you wont have to go super slow waiting for the threshold to reset.I find it is also a bit easier to learn for many people starting off with the Sovereign. Also if you are trying to use the 10 inch coil for this spot it is too big for a area full of signals and the 5 inch coil would be your better bet. For cleaner area and beach the 10 inch works good and I find the older 8 inch coinsearch has done good for me in trash, but have seen where the 5 inch coil is the only one to use in real bad areas.
I was out to a spot on Monday and used the GT with the 10 inch coil as I forgot to take my 8 inch coinsearch coil, this area had been detected by others, there was trash there and some times a solid null. I had to go so slow and only could get a threshold to come back if I held the coil still, but went real slow and listen close to hear just a slight tones of a target. Was able to get 4 old Wheaties (2 very nice 1934's a 1941 and a 1948 that all had no wear), 4 new memorial and 3 new dimes, but was able to get the 10 inch coil to work in this area by going very very slow and run a lower sensitivity.One problem was pinpointing because of all the signals, so I had to pinpoint the best I could in disc so I knew which target I was getting the signals from, then switch to all metal and just try to pinpoint that signal only. I also dug a few rusty nails to that fooled me, but notice that happens a little if you want the deep weaker coins.

Rick