X-Terra 305 - Really! What is my problem?

[youtawn]

Hello everybody:

New member here from Utah. I've been a long time lurker, but this is my first post. The problem that I have is not really understanding my 305 (recent purchase). All I can find is junk! I've read the FAQ's and tried to find all the info that I can, but I am still not having any success. I seem to only be digging up pull tabs and aluminum pieces, and they register as 12 - 40 on the number scale (pretty much all over the place). I thought that a 42 or 44 on the scale would be silver, is that incorrect? I am getting 42-44 numbers and they are pull tabs! Shouldn't aluminum or any type of material read in a specific range, or am I on the wrong path? My ground balance is around 2 or 3 usually, does that sound correct? I am hunting in AM mode or program 1, and they both come up with the same garbage. If you can't tell, I am a little frustrated.... Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Ken in NC]

Lay a zinc penny, a nickel, a clad dime, and a clad quarter on the ground. Scan each of them with your X-305 and record the reading on them. Then report what the readings are.

This will help other members determine if your machine is operating properly.

 

[youtawn]

Thanks for the response. I will do that as soon as I get home from work today.

 

[mapper65]

I may be way off base but I typically don't see a ground balance that low. I'm using a 705. Where I live most of the local parks end up being around 21-23. I have seen higher and only a few times a setting as low as 9. I usually get pull tabs that ID around 18-20 but if they are the older removable style and someone has folded over the part that was attached to the can I can occasionally get a 10-12 which would also be in the nickel range. You may want check your ground balance and just for a little while try and duplicate the pattern on the 705 that is pretty much coin only. You'll still get some pull tabs but it may help you discriminate some stuff and get a little more comfortable using the detector. You may miss some good stuff but again, it will help you get comfortable with the detector.

I usually get nickels arund 10-12, pennies around 32 (sometimes higher), dimes around 38 and quarters around 42. There are exceptions to everything but I'll here is what I do. If I am swiping left and right and I get a nice clear 32 ID and then I swipe forwards and backwards across the same target and I still get that nice 32, more than likely it's a penny. If I swipe left and right and get a good ID of 32 and I swipe forwards and backwards and the ID jumps around well above and below 32 then more than likely if I dig that target, it's going to be junk. Again, there are exceptions. The other day I had very questionable signal that was IDing 10, strong like a nickel in one direction but wasn't holding up quite as well in the other direction. Most times when I dig a signal like that I will end up with an aluminum screw top cap from a bottle. On this occasion it did end up being a nickel.


I would try duplicating pattern 2 on the 705 for a little while and see if you can pull up some coins. Here is what pattern 2 would be.


Accept IDs 8, 10, 12, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46).


Reject IDs -8, -6, -4, -2, 2, 4, 6, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 4.

 

[youtawn]

Accept IDs 8, 10, 12, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46).


Reject IDs -8, -6, -4, -2, 2, 4, 6, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 4.

Thanks mapper. I'll give this a try next time I hunt.

 

[TURNMASTER]

I think the 305 has a bit different range than the 70/705, not sure though.
Look for the more repeatable signals, and targets that do not move around. I dig plenty of Aluminum with the 705.
Sometimes good coins do not ID as good coins.

What kind of sites are you hunting?

Are you digging clad?

What you are missing is the trash that some of us dig. It looks better if I post my good finds and leave out the trash. Everybody knows what a rusty nail looks like, and I dig plenty of them.

Jeff

 

[dig it DanO]

. I thought that a 42 or 44 on the scale would be silver, is that incorrect? I am getting 42-44 numbers and they are pull tabs!

Are you sure that you are getting 42-44 numbers on any target with an X-305?
I hunt with a X 50 and X 705 but the ground balance of 2 sounds strange to me also. I realize the 305 has a shorter scale than my 705, but that sounds low. The forty numbers can be silver. An aluminum can sometimes gives me a high silver number. Most of the time I realize what it (might be) when I go to pinpoint mode. Pull tabs fool me too sometime especially when the beaver tail part is bent over the hole part of the ring. Its not all treasure. There is a lot of trash also. Try not to get frustrated and keep at it. Good things will come with practice.
DanO

The X-Terra 305 has 12 segments.
The target IDs range from

 

[youtawn]

What kind of sites are you hunting?

I am hunting old home sites and old mining towns.

Are you digging clad?

I have found a little, yes.

 

[Digger]

First off, don't get frustrated. If it were easy, everyone would be digging nothing but silver and gold coins. Secondly, depending on your soil conditions, you may want to make sure you are properly setting your GB over a piece of ground with no metal under the coil. Having a ground phase reading of 2 or 3 on the X-305 equates to approximately 10 - 15 on the X-70 or 705. For many of us, that would be quite low. Especially if you are using the stock concentric coil. As I've posted before, if you have a reading of less than 28 using the X-70 or 705, you should consider using a DD coil. For you and your 305, that would represent a GB setting less than 5 or 6. Lower than that indicates your mineralization is pretty high. If that is the case, using a DD coil (regardless of the detector you have) will improve the performance.

As to the numbers you are getting............ it is true that on a 70 or705, a quarter will typically register a 42 on the TID. (give or take a notch segment either way) But only in a perfect world! Adjacent targets, highly mineralized ground, improperly established GB or coins on edge, can and will skew those TID numbers. You mentioned you were getting 42-44 numbers as pulltabs? If you are getting a 42, you should send in that 305 because it isn't suppose to include a 42 in the TID range. The 305 has 12 notch segments that are represented by numbers going from -4 to +44, by fours. A quarter on your 305 will usually read a 40. But again, only in a perfect world. Here is the link to an X-TERRA coin TID chart I made. http://www.findmall.com/read.php?55,1130228,1130230#msg-1130230

Before you get too discouraged, know that the reason most of the gold jewelry left laying in the park is because the last guy who hunted it, didn't want to dig those "weird" signals. Here is a link to a post I made some time back, regarding what those numbers could represent. http://www.findmall.com/read.php?55,569213,569213#msg-569213

Hang in there. It will get better!

HH Randy

 

[youtawn]

...... depending on your soil conditions, you may want to make sure you are properly setting your GB over a piece of ground with no metal under the coil. Having a ground phase reading of 2 or 3 on the X-305 equates to approximately 10 - 15 on the X-70 or 705. For many of us, that would be quite low.

I'm not sure that I am doing the GB correct. I have the coil above the ground and press the button, then raise and lower the coil, while adjusting it, until the audible sound goes quiet. I start with a loud sound and adjust until it is as quiet as possible. Is that correct?

Also, the ID numbers I am getting are a 40 and 44, not a 42. Sorry about that typo.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am going to try them all.

 

[mapper65]

You may want to check out these videos

http://www.mlotv.com/view/102/x-terra-ground-balance

http://www.mlotv.com/view/547/x-terra-305-505-us-field-overview

 

[Digger]

For GBing the 305, turn on the detector and raise the Sensitivity to the max. Hold the coil waist high, flat to the ground and chose a Noise Cancel channel that allows the X-305 to operate without any chatter. If you are not able to get it without chatter entirely, lower the Sensitivity one click at a time, readjust the NC, until you get it reasonably quiet. After setting the proper Noise Channel, set it to All Metal and sweep over the ground, looking for a spot without any targets. When you find that spot, hold the coil about an inch above the ground and press the GB pad. Slowly bob the coil up and down to a height of about 5 or 6inches, and back to the one inch height, up and down, up and down, all the time listening for a tone. If the pitch of the tone is high, press the - keypad until it gets low pitched. Then bump it back up one click +. If it is low pitched to begin with, press the + key until it becomes high. Then back it off one click - . You may never get the detector completely quiet. The objective is to get it to a point where the low tone and high tone blend together. JMHO HH Randy

 

[youtawn]

Lay a zinc penny, a nickel, a clad dime, and a clad quarter on the ground. Scan each of them with your X-305 and record the reading on them. Then report what the readings are.

This will help other members determine if your machine is operating properly.

OK, so I did this. I am getting 32 on a penny, 8 on a nickel, 36 on a dime, 40 on a quarter, 44 on a silver dollar, and 20 on a gold ring. Do these numbers sound correct?

The objective is to get it to a point where the low tone and high tone blend together.

I don't think I have been doing this correctly. I played with it last night, following your directions, and it GB'd at 11, which makes more sense.

Thanks for all your help everybody! You guys are great to offer help.

 

[TURNMASTER]

To me clad sounds like silver, I am half def ya know. That is mostley in the pitch range that most women speak in, true story. 20 to 30% loss in 4 different tones. Just so happens that power tools and machinery operate in pitches similar to what many women talk in. I have an actual medical excuse for not hearing my wife. LOL

Side tracked

If you are digging clad Quarters and Dimes you should hit them in Silver. Depth at that point becomes the factor to a degree, but so does seperation. The old home sites I hunt are TRASHY.

"Having a ground phase reading of 2 or 3 on the X-305 equates to approximately 10 - 15 on the X-70 or 705" I ground balance in the 10 to 15 range all the time.

DD coil seperates real well and handles bad ground better, kind of a two for one.

Pull tab IDs, the better you are to haveing the target located well with the coil, the better they will ID and gage depth more accuratley.

I dug a flatened Aluminum can, vertical in the ground, 11" to 12" measured to the tip. It sounded like a Quarter.

I dig trash. I am getting better, but as I get better I wonder how many goodies I am leaving for the next guy. Some days I am just pickier than others.

I look forward to the time that I have got a much better handle on this hobbie.

GL
Jeff

 

[Furious T]

If you follow Digger's suggestions and are still getting the same results, i.e. all sorts of targets being identified with the same or similar numbers, try lowering your sensitivity significantly and see how it performs then. Just a suggestion.

 

[Ken in NC]

"OK, so I did this. I am getting 32 on a penny, 8 on a nickel, 36 on a dime, 40 on a quarter, 44 on a silver dollar, and 20 on a gold ring. Do these numbers sound correct?"

It certainly looks like your machine is working properly by the readings it is reporting on the coins. I cannot suggest why it sometimes reads high on pulltabs, unless there is perhaps a quarter close to the pulltab that you may be missing.

After digging up a pulltab with a high reading, do you recheck the hole?

 

[Digger]

Regardless of the make and model of detector, we all get fooled once in awhile. OK. Maybe more than once in awhile! Can slaw and pull tabs can (and will) read all over the map. It all depends on the size and shape of those little devils. The square shank of those older pull tabs come in just like IH cents. When the little aluminum piece breaks off the tab, it can come in as a copper cent or a dime, depending on how it is bent. Larger "full body" tabs can read as high as a quarter. And then there are those pesky screw caps! I've dug hundreds of them over the years, expecting a quarter or half dollar. I guess my point is, a metal detector is not like having X-Ray vision. The engineers program the detectors to provide a TID based on the surface area and conductivity of the target. When the phase delay of a specific target mimics the phase delay of a coin, guess what? Exactly! As to the ring reading 20? Could be. But I've dug gold rings as low as 6 and as high as 36 on mine. Again, depends on the metalic content and size. JMHO HH Randy