Unable to discriminate out Pull tabs with MXT

[LuckLarry]

While working a sand filled Volleyball court at a local park with my wife this weekend.
(A really neat site. Guys showing off, jumping, falling, loosing change. Just wonderful!
I really recommend Volleyball Courts.)

Anyway back on target. While working this area with my wife, whom I bought a little ACE 250 for, I got tired of doing the right thing. You know digging hundreds of pop tabs from thirsty Volleyball players.

Anyway I decided that I would really show off my MXT and hence justify the $1000.00 plus investment in it and all its coils to my wife. I said look here dear I can make all the pop tabs go away! I then threw one down on the ground and proceeded to embarrass the hell out of myself. I never was able to discriminate one out. I am pretty sure I tried every combination, With the switch both forward and centered. In both coin and Relic modes. Even with the dual knob turned to maximum. Maybe the heat or the embarrassment robbed me of my senses and I missed something. Can anyone share again in a very easy to understand way, how they do it. I have always been a 4.0 student but maybe I have been struck retarded lately and don't know it yet.

Thanks, and as always, we wish you,

Luck, Larry

 

[Monte]

First, keep in mind that most of the older "beaver tails" and some of the "rings" from the early ring-pull type will have a conductivity similar to, or less than, a common US 5

 

[DPW]

Really? Over $1,000.00? I hope you got a lot of extras for that price. O.K. Went back and read your post again. This time I noticed the plural coilS. I'd have deleted my post if there was a way to do so.

 

[WJW]

This is just my humble opinion, but I do not bother trying to discriminate out pull tabs. I prefer to only discriminate out iron when I am coin and jewelry hunting. What I found that works for me is to watch the VDI number when I get a solid hit. If it reads a steady 16-20, I dig. Most of the time, I will be digging a nickel and sometimes a ring. Above 20, I usually find the targets to be pull tabs. This isn't a guaranteed method, but I find it works well for me. HH
Bill

 

[Rudy]

Monte,

This is what I've found and would appreciate your thoughts/opinion on it.

I find that not only do nickels come in at 18 to 30 VDI, but they also seem to have a mellower sound than pulltabs when I sweep over them in Disc mode at normal sweep speed.

Also, when I sweep over them in all-metal mode, the VCO sound they make seems "tighter" than do pulltabs.

Of course, an old ring tab, or a lose beaver tail will ocassionally fool me.

Do you find this to be the case also?

 

[shawnv(or)]

all of which I have found in the last 90 days with my MXT. All have a VDI of between 14-55 with most of them between 20-35. If you change the way you think about pulltabs your finds will increase significantly. When I get a solid repeatable signal with a VDI of 16- 18- 20- 24-26-28 30-35. I listen very carefully for a little click or a buzz before the good tone maybe it is just a tiny bit wider in sound. i confirm that I have actually ID'd it correctly by digging it up and putting it in my pouch. Sometimes you get a real good sounding hit that is above a nickel and you just know it is a tab and you dig it up and its a beautiful ring or locket. I typicaly dig between 45-60 coins 30- 45 pulltabs in a 3 hour hunt. I keep all my pulltabs and fill a coffee can and turn them in to my treasure club at the end of every year we donate them for dialsys for children. You will DEFINITELY dig more jewelry.
Just my two cents.
Happy Hunting
Shawn

 

[shawnv(or)]

[attachment 8921 DSCF0021.JPG]

 

[Royce_OR]

Shawn,

Would you mind sharing your MXT settings?

Thanks,

Royce
Salem,Oregon

 

[LuckLarry]

shawnv(or) Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> all of which I have found in the last 90 days with
> my MXT. All have a VDI of between 14-55 with most
> of them between 20-35. If you change the way you
> think about pulltabs your finds will increase
> significantly. When I get a solid repeatable
> signal with a VDI of 16- 18- 20- 24-26-28 30-35. I
> listen very carefully for a little click or a buzz
> before the good tone maybe it is just a tiny bit
> wider in sound. i confirm that I have actually
> ID'd it correctly by digging it up and putting it
> in my pouch. Sometimes you get a real good
> sounding hit that is above a nickel and you just
> know it is a tab and you dig it up and its a
> beautiful ring or locket. I typicaly dig between
> 45-60 coins 30- 45 pulltabs in a 3 hour hunt. I
> keep all my pulltabs and fill a coffee can and
> turn them in to my treasure club at the end of
> every year we donate them for dialsys for
> children. You will DEFINITELY dig more jewelry.
> Just my two cents.
> Happy Hunting
> Shawn


Ahh Shawn. I just knew someone was going to read me this scripture and verse. Thanks for making my day. I have never been in a situation prior to the one I mentioned in the post, where I have even considered nulling out tabs. But I just thought that it was the right time to sell my wife on why she might want to consider upgrading to an MXT. As well as demonstrating what awsome capabilities it had and why It had such an expensive pricetag. Well that sale did not take.

And all I have heard since is how she out performed me so badly that day with her little Ace 250. (You think I should tell her I planted her area? NAW! let her gloat.) I really wanted her to fall in love with the hobby and she really did that day. I hope some day to get here interested enough to move up to a better machine though.

So Shawn here is how you could prove a positive influence in this phase of my predicament. I believe i may just have done it wrong. As I said I had never before even tried to null out tabs, so I placed the post in hopes that someone could give me a clue in how to successfully demonstrate the one feature she desires most to see, and one so often touted by all the sales liturature as well as the Engineering Guide I talked her into reading.

Thanks so much, and as always we wish you Luck,
Larry

 

[shawnv(or)]

6 X 10 DD Eclipse
Mode: Relic
Gain: 9-10 (depending on trash)
Dual Control: 3 (if really clean ground 2 let your ear discriminate)
Threshold: barely audible(slight buzz)
Trac: Ground
Trigger Switch: forward
I am starting a new phase with the MXT. After taking a lot of coins in one area with these settings at the 1"-4" depth range I plan on changing coils to the DD Shooter and trying the same area's again. Hopefully I will be able to max out the gain. This set up came as a suggestion from another forum member and if the weather holds out I will give it a shot.
I have only had the MXT for four months and I have dug just over 1500 coins. I have been very happy with my purchase. I have definitely found more jewelry with this MXT than any other detector.
Good luck and Happy Hunting

 

[shawnv(or)]

coins than I She also found a 14K wedding ring (Heavy) the very first day she took it out. She leads the women in our treasure club for finds and she consistenly places in the top 10 for most coins in our coin hunts. The ACE 250 is probably the most underated detector out there. You CAN notch out most tabs with that machine. Some modern tabs cant be discriminated at all. But she has learned that you dont want too. I think she is up to 10 rings(4 gold) a beautiful 1874 IH, and other nice jewelry and over 1000 coins in just three months. A quality pinpointer like the Sunray or Treasurmate is an absolute MUST. My wife prefers the gun style WIZARD II. I have both of the above. MY only other advice to you is to cover as much ground as you can and only dig best sounding targets. Take all your JUNK with you and area's you hunt will give up more goodstuff. On deeper targets I stopped cutting plugs and started just cutting long slices that i can pull apart and pop out the target. I hope you and your wife have as much fun as my wife and I have.
Make it fun even digging those tabs.

 

[LuckLarry]

Well, Well!! I work in the computer and communications field at a college. We often find ourselves at a very upset users desk, who just swears we are dirt or worse because the computer or device that they have been issued is not responding as they want it to, when the reason it is not is just a simple oversight on their part. You know, often as not the real simple stuff, like they kicked the cord out of the wall or some silly thing, We tech's have sympathy for them anyway of course because we have all been there once or twice ourselves. Among us tech's, we have a code. Whenever we come upon another tech helping someone, and ask if he needs our help, and the tech is involved in one of these silly situations, we do not wish to embarrass the poor user. So we use our code. We will say, no thanks it's just an "ID Ten T" problem.

Well I got my MXT out tonight turned a plastic trashcan upside down and started playing with it to see if I could figure out the method of discriminating out tabs. It work flawlessly!! Just as the manual suggested it should.
Can you see me turning red?
I can only assume that when I threw the tab down to demonstrate the notch filter to my wife in the volleyball court, that there may have actually been something in the sand underneath it. With my luck I may have just walked away from a Gold Ring, while cussing the very fine MXT that was trying to tell me it was there! So I must asume that this was one of those "ID Ten T" problems. Or spelling it differently "ID10T" problem. Definitely just a hardware problem, You know "a loose nut behind the keyboard".
My thanks to all the great people who helped me with suggestions and encouragement during my very discouraging time. A special thanks to that MDer that allowed me to win a $5.00 bet with a friend of mine, that I would receive a message telling me about all of the great things I would miss out on by trying to demonstrate this feature to my wife! You guys are all great, just the best. And as always I wish you all Luck,
Larry

 

[Butch in Colorado]

n/t

 

[Monte]

Rudy,

When all conditions are very favorable, and when all targets are within a close proximity to the coil (less than 3"

 

[Rudy]

Monte,

Thanks for your thoughts. They've also helped me crystallize other factors that I hadn't even thought of mentioning in my original post. One is depth. Pulltabs are mostly found near the surface, so yeah, the sounds I was talking about are for near surface targets. If they are deep, I will dig regardless. I had omitted this very important fact.

 

[billKY]

Congratulations on the $5 win. Here's another bet. I bet, if you and your wife swap machines for five consecutive hunts that you'll BOTH own Ace 250s and the MXT will become a backup.

But, I'm sure you've thought of that....

 

[LuckLarry]

Actually my wife is begging me to get her an MXT. She cannot pinpoint squat with her machine and I have to come over and help her narrow it down every dang time she "dongs" on something.

Also her depth is also almost always not anywhere near as accurate as the MXT. I told her that when she finds enough money to pay for an MXT we will get her one to. If she didn't need me to help her pinpoint the target close enough to use a pocket pinpointer each time I would really worry that she would start going off without me. I am thinking of letting her use my little bright orange $19.00 Radio Shack detector with the 5" coil to see if she can narrow it down enough so I don't have to keep spending all my time helping her. Without a doubt my actual time hunting would go up by 60 to 70%. and I would be a lot stiffer competition for her. I'll keep the MXT for myself, I need the edge. Out of the four detectors I now own, and the many I have owned previously, it is Head and Shoulders above anything else I have ever placed my hands on. But it's a beautiful world because folks often have different preferences. If not there wold only be one style of car, all the houses would be identical, and there would only be one style of restaurant. So viva la difference. And as always we wish you.....Luck Larry

 

[billKY]

n/t