When should one use Iron mask?

[Anonymous]

I hear that some people run in iron mask mode all the time.
Should I do that and get used to it?
Could it be I am missing coins by not running in iron mask?
Thanks for any help.
One confused detectorist!

 

[Anonymous]

ferrous tones all the time. Mostly I hunt in real trashy areas with the 8" coil. From lots of experimentation I feel that I get the best results with these settings It takes some getting used to though because of all the sounds. I just kind of ignore all the low tones and just dig the high tones with the cursor in the upper right. I also run manual sense at about 17 and have picked up small copper rivets 8" deep. I don't think I miss many good targets by going slow with these settings. Hope this helps. HH

 

[Anonymous]

billy:
ferrous tones all the time. Mostly I hunt in real trashy areas with the 8" coil.
Tony:
O.K. so why ferrous? Why not conduct? I am curious and really don't know. I thought most coins were non-ferrous?
Billy:
From lots of experimentation I feel that I get the best results with these settings It takes some getting used to though because of all the sounds. I just kind of ignore all the low tones and just dig the high tones with the cursor in the upper right. I also run manual sense at about 17 and have picked up small copper rivets 8" deep. I don't think I miss many good targets by going slow with these settings. Hope this helps. HH
Tony:
Thanks Billy. I tried using your setting this morning. Dug up one huge either coffee can bottom or maybe crisco lid? Thought it was silver. Will try some more later.

 

[Anonymous]

a coin will have a small footprint, circle your target while sweeping the coil, a coin will sound off in a small area while a can lid will sound off in a much larger circle.
The only time I don't use this method is if i relic hunt.
Charlie

 

[Anonymous]

I believe you should be detecting in iron mask all the time. This is
because of my repeated belief that discrimination causes you to miss
many good targets. Much Gold reads like pull tabs and due to the
different alloys of gold, gold reads all over the place. In addition,
when a nickel and a silver dime are close together the meter reads
crazy. When I want to cherry pick because of time constraints, I just
dig the targets that are in the copper silver range only.
Good Luck
Jim Vokes NY

 

[Anonymous]

Iron Mask
taken from an article by Desmond Dunne
The Iron Mask feature on the Explorer is manually adjustable from "0" (which is complete ferrous elimination indicated by a half black, half clear screen), to a 16 (which is no ferrous elimination or all metal). In the case of the latter, the whole screen will be clear.
At first glance this might appear slightly confusing, as logically a "0' setting would indicate zero discrimination. But this is not the way it is, it is just how the Explorer is set up The switch on Factory Pre Set is 6 (minus 6), The iron Mask feature is manually adjustable to suit your own style 4 searching, and to allow you to control the amount Of )Ton rejection you wish to have on any given site. This important adjustment can determine whether or not you find items that are buried close to, or underneath, iron items With correct use of the Recovery. Gain, Variability, Limits and Tone settings, these may dramatically increase your interpretation of signals received whilst utilising the Iron Mask facility.
Correct use of the Iron Mask feature can also determine the recovery time of the threshold while it cuts out over, or near to, a ferrous object. This null situation can cause good targets near to ferrous items to be non responsive, so you could pass over a good or bad target in the same sweep and hear neither.
The higher the Iron Mask setting you have chosen, the longer the recovery time. The least amount of Iron Mask you can tolerate without digging up too much iron is therefore recommended,
With the Explorer it is possible to have two audio tones generated on what appears to be a single target. This might be a quick and broken signal accompanied by a higher tone, The target crosshair might also "bounce", indicating a desirable target near to or under a ferrous item It may happen that a piece of partially rusted metal, such as a modern piece of steel, might also cause the crosshair to bounce from top left to bottom right, Should this occur, switch to your Digital screen and if it reads either 30 or 31 the target is more than likely an iron based item,
TIP: In Quickstart press the Iron Mask button twice. This level of masking is adequate for most applications.
taken from http://www.minelabowners.com/phbb2