BarnacleBill
New member
Not having had a chance to take the 10.5DD HF for a spin on a saltwater beach I jumped(cabin fever), at the chance of a sunny day above 20degF to wring her out a little. The only down side is that I knew I was going to arrive on the incoming tide with two hours till high tide, then two hours left after that before the sun would start to go down. For those that don't beach hunt in northern climes, this means the beach sand will be frozen, therefore it is always best to work the outgoing tide.
And so it was when I arrived, the sand was frozen from 3 to 6 inches deep, making it necessary for me to work the waterline on the way in. At times I could kick the shovel through the 3 inch crust, but the 6 inch stuff.......well......I think I bruised my insole.
If I did start a hole, but couldn't get through, I waited for the surf to wash over it and soften it up. But I wasn't going to wait around, so I would move on and start another hole, meanwhile watching to make sure the waves didn't erase the previous starter hole. At times I had three holes going and looked like a mother hen trying to sit on three eggs at once.
The 10.5DD HF was a bit of a surprise in that it GB'd in the high 60's & low 70's using beach GB mode. This beach has a moderate amount of black sand and is the same spot I tested the small coils at last summer. I was able to run sensitivity at 23 with very little falsing right at the water line, which for a single frequency VLF and large coil is notable. Below is the table I created in this spot while testing the small coils. Note the GB & max sensitivity settings as compared to the figures I just mentioned for the 10.5DD HF. Therefore I had high hopes that a coil this size at this sensitivity setting would be pulling some deep targets. But I also knew that there have not been any storms lately and this beach was flat and sand filed, as expected without the shelving the storms bring.
[attachment 79379 Table.gif]
This beach has a slight amount of hot rocks, with many pea sized ones at the surface and up to basketball sized under the sand. The X70 was reacting to the pea sized ones on the surface and larger buried ones. But they were easy to spot as they will not lock jumping around from the 10's to the 40's in a very sporadic fashion. I had a plan to use the X70 for the first two hours on the incoming tide, eat lunch, gear up with my CZ20 8 inch coil and hit the soft sand on the outgoing tide for some deep digging. The CZ20 I have is very hot and capable of 20+ inches(measured in solid sand) on corroded zincs and large class rings.
As I went along I was finding targets in the 5 to 6 inch range but nothing much deeper, which left me scratching my head considering what my expectations were. I finished up my first two hours with what is in the picture below. The X70 pulled the clad steel Canadian coins with no problem, which is good because they are common here. And oddly with what coin dates I can see, the 70's dominated the dates. Never known the ocean to classify by date.
And no iron, hurray, because this beach has it's share! Keep in mind the frozen sand really slows recovery time.
[attachment 79380 terra10_5.jpg]
With the CZ20 I headed back out to the nice soft dig-able sand with sensitivity pegged at 10. The smaller pea sized hot rocks do not bother the CZ, but the larger ones do ring as high coin. After two hours searching the same beach section with sundown approaching, what I found is pictured below. I did leave three or four iron rust spots deep in the sand 12+ inches. But no deep coins, just a couple 7-8 inch stinky zincs. So the reason the X70 hadn't found any deep coins is, there weren't any in that area. If there had been, the CZ20 would have pulled them out, as it is a formidable beach machine. But I have a feeling the X70 pulled more because of the advantage of a large DD and it's coverage. More investigation is needed to build a body of data and GET OUTTA DA HOUSE!!!!
[attachment 79378 cz20stuu.jpg]
HH
BarnacleBill
And so it was when I arrived, the sand was frozen from 3 to 6 inches deep, making it necessary for me to work the waterline on the way in. At times I could kick the shovel through the 3 inch crust, but the 6 inch stuff.......well......I think I bruised my insole.
If I did start a hole, but couldn't get through, I waited for the surf to wash over it and soften it up. But I wasn't going to wait around, so I would move on and start another hole, meanwhile watching to make sure the waves didn't erase the previous starter hole. At times I had three holes going and looked like a mother hen trying to sit on three eggs at once. The 10.5DD HF was a bit of a surprise in that it GB'd in the high 60's & low 70's using beach GB mode. This beach has a moderate amount of black sand and is the same spot I tested the small coils at last summer. I was able to run sensitivity at 23 with very little falsing right at the water line, which for a single frequency VLF and large coil is notable. Below is the table I created in this spot while testing the small coils. Note the GB & max sensitivity settings as compared to the figures I just mentioned for the 10.5DD HF. Therefore I had high hopes that a coil this size at this sensitivity setting would be pulling some deep targets. But I also knew that there have not been any storms lately and this beach was flat and sand filed, as expected without the shelving the storms bring.
[attachment 79379 Table.gif]
This beach has a slight amount of hot rocks, with many pea sized ones at the surface and up to basketball sized under the sand. The X70 was reacting to the pea sized ones on the surface and larger buried ones. But they were easy to spot as they will not lock jumping around from the 10's to the 40's in a very sporadic fashion. I had a plan to use the X70 for the first two hours on the incoming tide, eat lunch, gear up with my CZ20 8 inch coil and hit the soft sand on the outgoing tide for some deep digging. The CZ20 I have is very hot and capable of 20+ inches(measured in solid sand) on corroded zincs and large class rings.
As I went along I was finding targets in the 5 to 6 inch range but nothing much deeper, which left me scratching my head considering what my expectations were. I finished up my first two hours with what is in the picture below. The X70 pulled the clad steel Canadian coins with no problem, which is good because they are common here. And oddly with what coin dates I can see, the 70's dominated the dates. Never known the ocean to classify by date.
And no iron, hurray, because this beach has it's share! Keep in mind the frozen sand really slows recovery time.[attachment 79380 terra10_5.jpg]
With the CZ20 I headed back out to the nice soft dig-able sand with sensitivity pegged at 10. The smaller pea sized hot rocks do not bother the CZ, but the larger ones do ring as high coin. After two hours searching the same beach section with sundown approaching, what I found is pictured below. I did leave three or four iron rust spots deep in the sand 12+ inches. But no deep coins, just a couple 7-8 inch stinky zincs. So the reason the X70 hadn't found any deep coins is, there weren't any in that area. If there had been, the CZ20 would have pulled them out, as it is a formidable beach machine. But I have a feeling the X70 pulled more because of the advantage of a large DD and it's coverage. More investigation is needed to build a body of data and GET OUTTA DA HOUSE!!!!
[attachment 79378 cz20stuu.jpg]
HH
BarnacleBill