I thought I'd post this in the X-Terra forum, rather than the "Today's Finds," so people curious about the equipment can better find it. (X-Terra 705 w/ two LF coils)
Last night I hit a disused beach (c. 1960s - 1990 ), since the water levels at the lake are down at least a couple of feet more than normal for this time of year, exposing a large swath of previously inaccessible lake bed. (Go figure that we have a 5 inch rain deficit locally while other not-so-far-away parts of the state are 5 inches above normal! Sheesh.) I figured it would be trashy, so I kept on my 6" 3kHz Digger coil. Sure enough, I dug a dozen or so pull tabs and a good twenty lead sinkers in addition to a dozen or so various coins dating from the 60s and 70s. Just before calling it an evening, I hit a nice, solid 42 'quarter' signal and dug the first ring -- the big one -- at about 5 inches of sand. It's marked 'Taxco .925', so a nice sterling ring from Mexico. Fine way to end the evening.
The beach and lake bed are nasty-mineralized as I was reading ground balance numbers anywhere from 1 to 10 (out of 100) that fluctuated wildly. The detector was having a heck of a time giving solid tones (let alone consistent IDs) even on good targets, and I was pushing it with sensitivity up to around 25.
Tonight, I decided to swap on my 15" 3kHz Coiltek WOT coil and give it another go, thinking that I was probably rather well depth-limited in such conditions on my 6 inch coil. Well, the bigger coil was slightly more stable -- which I attribute to it averaging out a larger slice of ground -- and definitely hitting deeper. I pulled several 60s-70s dimes and quarters from depths of 8" or more, most green and heavily corroded. The target ID still bounced around a lot, anywhere from 34 to 46 on the clad coins, and 22 - 40 on pennies. The nickel I found kept bouncing between -4 to 4, but I dug it since it was a solid hit.
Finally, in one spot, I got a very narrow, but solid whisper of 46 (that disappeared with sensitivity set to less than 28 out of 30); I'd normally consider passing up such a signal as probable can-slaw, but decided to dig given the ground conditions. Finally, after digging down FOURTEEN INCHES -- the handle-end of my Raptor digging tool was flush with the surface -- I caught a flash of metal and brought up the second ring-pair. This one's stamped 14k -- my first gold ring! -- and has what seems to be a (tiny) real* diamond.
So I've learned that a 3kHz coil can work well even in brutally mineralized ground, that 3kHz does indeed find gold, and that the 15" coil can go deep even for a relatively small target. Flipping on 'Beach Mode' helped the little Digger coil operate better in the sand, while it seemed to hinder the larger 15" coil; it was more consistent in simple auto tracking mode. I'm considering going back with my 18.5kHz 10x5 coil (which I almost never use) as I am curious how it will perform. Will the HF be better for finding gold, or will it be too depth-limited given the conditions? Mostly, I'm betting I dig a lot more lead!
*From the informal 'breath' test, the stone clears instantly, whereas the cubic zirconia I have stay fogged for several seconds.
Last night I hit a disused beach (c. 1960s - 1990 ), since the water levels at the lake are down at least a couple of feet more than normal for this time of year, exposing a large swath of previously inaccessible lake bed. (Go figure that we have a 5 inch rain deficit locally while other not-so-far-away parts of the state are 5 inches above normal! Sheesh.) I figured it would be trashy, so I kept on my 6" 3kHz Digger coil. Sure enough, I dug a dozen or so pull tabs and a good twenty lead sinkers in addition to a dozen or so various coins dating from the 60s and 70s. Just before calling it an evening, I hit a nice, solid 42 'quarter' signal and dug the first ring -- the big one -- at about 5 inches of sand. It's marked 'Taxco .925', so a nice sterling ring from Mexico. Fine way to end the evening.
The beach and lake bed are nasty-mineralized as I was reading ground balance numbers anywhere from 1 to 10 (out of 100) that fluctuated wildly. The detector was having a heck of a time giving solid tones (let alone consistent IDs) even on good targets, and I was pushing it with sensitivity up to around 25.
Tonight, I decided to swap on my 15" 3kHz Coiltek WOT coil and give it another go, thinking that I was probably rather well depth-limited in such conditions on my 6 inch coil. Well, the bigger coil was slightly more stable -- which I attribute to it averaging out a larger slice of ground -- and definitely hitting deeper. I pulled several 60s-70s dimes and quarters from depths of 8" or more, most green and heavily corroded. The target ID still bounced around a lot, anywhere from 34 to 46 on the clad coins, and 22 - 40 on pennies. The nickel I found kept bouncing between -4 to 4, but I dug it since it was a solid hit.
Finally, in one spot, I got a very narrow, but solid whisper of 46 (that disappeared with sensitivity set to less than 28 out of 30); I'd normally consider passing up such a signal as probable can-slaw, but decided to dig given the ground conditions. Finally, after digging down FOURTEEN INCHES -- the handle-end of my Raptor digging tool was flush with the surface -- I caught a flash of metal and brought up the second ring-pair. This one's stamped 14k -- my first gold ring! -- and has what seems to be a (tiny) real* diamond.
So I've learned that a 3kHz coil can work well even in brutally mineralized ground, that 3kHz does indeed find gold, and that the 15" coil can go deep even for a relatively small target. Flipping on 'Beach Mode' helped the little Digger coil operate better in the sand, while it seemed to hinder the larger 15" coil; it was more consistent in simple auto tracking mode. I'm considering going back with my 18.5kHz 10x5 coil (which I almost never use) as I am curious how it will perform. Will the HF be better for finding gold, or will it be too depth-limited given the conditions? Mostly, I'm betting I dig a lot more lead!
*From the informal 'breath' test, the stone clears instantly, whereas the cubic zirconia I have stay fogged for several seconds.
