1st Relic Hunt with Quattro

[Daniel Tn]

I used the stock 10.5" coil and like I say...I'm not a fan of bigger coils...but my SunRay 8 is not here yet so I had to make due.

Took the Quattro out for its first spin relic hunting. I'm so use to VLF style machines with fast responses that it was very difficult for me to hunt the Quattro with multi frequency and a DD coil. I done a custom program in the relic mode by cross saving it with the conductive audio and lowering the disc to just reject the -10 to -7 window. Auto sensitivity with the trash density set to High in this mode...that way I could just push a button and get the factory relic with the ferrous audio and low density to check targets.

The machine handled the dirt pretty good. I could hear a steady threshold most of the time...except for when it would go null and catch a high pitch beep on the edge of the null (on all the edges of where it nulled). I'm going to take it out a few more times but I'll just tell ya...I'm not liking this nulling stuff. It scares me that I'm going to miss a target that iron is rejecting. Because thus far nearly every larger piece it reads in the -2 to -1 range and will actually give a high pitch steady beep on them; BUT it does not give a VDI number when it does it. Since the screen does not immediatly clear out, it will keep that -2 or -1 number and still give beep on it. Now here's the deal. The signal will go away when I lift the coil far off the ground for a few seconds and then sweep it back over the spot...I'll get just a null. I hope that is just iron in the ground but ya never know in these Civil War sites of what that iron may be masking.

I got two solid hits that gave me + numbers. One was a button face (kind of odd to dig the face without the back...usually it's the opposite) and dug the top of a can with those V style holes in it for where the drink came out. I just didn't feel confident in that site with the Quattro and turned it in for my Tejon.

The Tejon said there was alot of iron in the ground...as evident from the broken pops it would produce. I just think the slow recovery speed of the Quattro is going to hurt me more than help me when it comes to relic hunting. I could be wrong...a few more trips will let me know whether I'm going to keep it or sell it. From what I read here though...most of you guys that like the Quattro are beach hunters. I'm far away from the beach so we'll just have to give it time and see...see if the 8" helps me any.

 

[Rick(ND)]

Daniel,

If you dont want the nulls then run the pattern more open with very little disc out. Also if you are in a area with a lot of iron then run the relic mode or all metal mode as these use the ferrous tones so iron will be a low tone, but in conductivity it will be a high tone.
When I was using mine I run the relic mode with just a little notched out in the left side of the screen and if it was a iffy one I would push the all metal mode to double check the signal.
Any signal I thought was good I would get the area where it was, then lift the coil so the threshold reset and go over it again to see if it would give the same tone as before or not. Like the Explorer the ID on the meter is the last target it seen and wouldnt read untill the threshold resets itself. This is why we go by the tones more than anything as it may see a good target you are hearing, but on the edge may be a trash target it will see before the threshold comes back you may never hear and the ID will show trash instead of the good target you were hearing.

It will take a little to get used to and you have to have patience with this detector as some learn it after a few times out, some never do, but it is recomended to use it for 40 hours or more to be comfortable with it, after that you should start learning more and more with it with each use.

Rick

 

[beachguy777]

You probably need some help here from some of the "bigger guns" out there, but I can't help thinking that if you're getting the high pitch at the side of the null, you may be getting some falsing going on. I get that same thing at the beach, only in my case, I think it's because I had sand and salt water between my cover and coil. I would certainly try noise canceling on a clean piece of ground, make sure your sens is on auto and maybe even try using the slow sweep mode which should be more accurate. If you're worried about missing some of the iron, I'd try switching to All metal and just read the tones and the numbers. Good luck, and don't give up yet on the Quatro.

 

[beachguy777]

I concur with you Rick, on all that, and it sounds like he's checking back to the ferrous (Relic audio), good idea. I just re-read Andy's book again, and it stuck in my mind that he said try both audio's ferrous and conductive on different targets to see which works best in a given cituation or target. Hope that helps a little, I know I desperatly need to work on the audio thing trying that comparison. I think that could be a major factor for discrimination with the Quatro.

 

[Rick(ND)]

That is one of the great things with the Quattro is being able to switch mode so fast and easy to check out a target. I do mostly coin hunting and found that in either Ferrous tones of relic and all metal versas the tone is conductivity in the coin mode a silver or copper coin will sound the same. The nickle will sound differnt, but those pesky rusty nails that give a high tone in conductivity now will be a low tone. Sure has helped me learn the tones of the FBS of the Quattro and the Explorer.