What pattern should I begin with?

[sport.pilot]

Hello everyone,

Well, the remodel is finally finished and I get to go detecting later today with my new X-terra 70. I am not new to the hobby, but am new to the X-terra. I plan to hunt a local park that has mild ground and a fair amount of trash except in the sports fields. I have ths standard coil, the DD elipictal, and the smaller 6 inch DD on its way. I am wondering which of the patterns would be best for me to start out with to get a feel for the detector. I am basically after clad coins so I can learn the sounds and numerical readings that go with certain coins/targets.

I have hunted with an XLT for about the last 5 years, but have had other detectors before that such as and XL Pro, a CZ-5, an Explorer XS, etc. So, I understand the basics of coin hunting, but am uncertain what pattern I should select to give me the best feal for the 70 before I begin hunting in the all metal mode. Also, should I leave the detector in the preset sensitivity setting if it does not become unstable? And, if I use a pattern, do I ground balance the detector or is that built into the pattern? I do not think so, but I figured I should go armed as best as I can. Thank you all for your help. This is a great place to learn about this wonderful hobby.

Darryl

 

[Digger]

The X-Terra has three Patterns. All Metal and Prospecting modes. Prospecting mode is an all metal mode with Iron mask. What is called All Metal mode is (I believe) actually a zero discrimination mode. Each of the three Patterns can be adjusted to accept or reject anything you want. For example, even though Pattern one comes default with everything accepted except -2, -4, -6, -8 and +48, you can tweak it any way you want. If you don't want to dig a particular type of pull tab, pass it under the coil and simply press the Accept/Reject pad to reject that target notch segment. If you only want to dig quarters, turn everything to reject except 42. If you want to dig dimes, keep notch segments 34 - 40 accepted and reject the rest. If you are after nickels, reject everything except 10 and 12. You an even set your X-70 to have several "pre-,memorized" programs in it, to use whenever you want. For example, you could make pattern one your nickel finder. Pattern two could be only for quarters. Pattern three could be dimes, coppers, quarters and halves! Every time you turn on the X-Terra, those programs are already there, just as you left them. The notch segments (targets) you accept or reject are entirely up to you. And can be changed at any time.

I made a TID chart a couple years ago using the stock 9-inch coil at 7.5 kHz. The readings were done on a variety of US coins, using a bench test envrionment. If you can't find it in the FAQFAQ section, let me know and I can repost it for you. JMHO HH Randy

 

[John LA]

I set one of the patterns to eliminate minus numbers. Then if anything keeps annoying me I eliminate it too but only at the location or locations where the problem exists.