Anybody here use 35FE tones?

[TrpnBils]

Re-evaluating my approach to next year because in the two years I've been using my CTX my keeper finds have plummeted compared to my two years prior with the Etrac. I had a guy on a Facebook group tell me he does real well in 35Fe tones, which I never considered. I figured only real hardcore relic guys (and I'm a coin guy) might find that of interest.

Does anybody here have any success with that?

 

[Jason in Enid]

Not I, I used strictly CO tones. If you arent have having luck, find new ground. I hit a lot of spots that are dead or not worth the time, then when I hit a good one I pound it into submission.

 

[TrpnBils]

I hit new ground almost every time I'm out. Rarely return to a site unless it's producing the first time... I have at least a couple hundred sites identified that I haven't touched yet, so it's always somewhere new.

 

[IDXMonster]

I hit new ground almost every time I'm out. Rarely return to a site unless it's producing the first time... I have at least a couple hundred sites identified that I haven't touched yet, so it's always somewhere new.

Jeff....The critical question here(and possibly for awhile now) is this....HOW are you “qualifying” your sites? What is your procedure that leads to you saying “this site LIKELY has an acceptable number of old coins”? To have “a couple hundred” sites identified that would have the qualifications needed to have a viable degree of success is unlikely. This might be where you are going wrong. Can you elaborate on first....how you choose your sites,and secondly...how many of those sites have produced ANY old coins? You would have to be perfectly candid about how you’re going about this in order to determine if A: Your machine/setup/usage is at fault,or B: Your sites are at fault. It’s one or the other,hopefully not both.

Kevin

 

[TrpnBils]

Potential sites are basically ones I've identified as where there used to be a house, school, church, etc. and there no longer is. That's about it until I can get out there and see if there's anything useful coming out of the site. Mostly what I'm using are 1870s maps, and most of the sites are either field or woods now, so lots of cellar holes.

 

[IDXMonster]

I don’t recall if you had said how you did with your silver/old copper count with the eTrac...How many did you find the last year you were using it, just out of curiosity?

 

[TrpnBils]

While nothing spectacular, it's a noticeable difference.

 

[IDXMonster]

Jeff,that’s excellent record keeping! It’s also a VERY clear indicator that If you have spent about the same time hunting these last 4 years,these particular sites are NoT going to allow for high coin counts. What they DO allow is a larger chance of finding those older coppers and weird denom coins that traditionally don’t show up as often on public ground(parks,schools,etc.)
It all depends on what you want to find. If you are going for it all and feel as if these defunct sites are the way to do it,I won’t argue. But if you’re looking for more silver,IMHO it has to be where a lot of activity occurred,and people had it in their pocket. To ME,it’s about return on my time,I won’t usually go hunt somewhere that MIGHT have something. I will go somewhere that DOES have something,because the odds of it having nothing are zero.
On your chart,the difference of 6 silvers to me isn’t an indicator of machine error or operator error,rather...the places you’re hunting do NOT have enough of what you want. Even though you seem to have access to a lot of them,it’s going to take a ludicrous amount of time to sort through them all and harvest the stragglers. Hunting a site with perhaps less area and more activity within that area will up your silver coins. The large coppers are big targets,any of those in public places are likely gone for the great part.
If you’re looking for that “spectacular find” or a “cache” or you don’t mind digging horse shoes,you’re on the right track,IMO. But the biggest thing you can do to change that “9” number is to NOT hunt where you’re hunting. I truly believe that.

 

[TrpnBils]

Jeff,that’s excellent record keeping! It’s also a VERY clear indicator that If you have spent about the same time hunting these last 4 years,these particular sites are NoT going to allow for high coin counts. What they DO allow is a larger chance of finding those older coppers and weird denom coins that traditionally don’t show up as often on public ground(parks,schools,etc.)
It all depends on what you want to find. If you are going for it all and feel as if these defunct sites are the way to do it,I won’t argue. But if you’re looking for more silver,IMHO it has to be where a lot of activity occurred,and people had it in their pocket. To ME,it’s about return on my time,I won’t usually go hunt somewhere that MIGHT have something. I will go somewhere that DOES have something,because the odds of it having nothing are zero.
On your chart,the difference of 6 silvers to me isn’t an indicator of machine error or operator error,rather...the places you’re hunting do NOT have enough of what you want. Even though you seem to have access to a lot of them,it’s going to take a ludicrous amount of time to sort through them all and harvest the stragglers. Hunting a site with perhaps less area and more activity within that area will up your silver coins. The large coppers are big targets,any of those in public places are likely gone for the great part.
If you’re looking for that “spectacular find” or a “cache” or you don’t mind digging horse shoes,you’re on the right track,IMO. But the biggest thing you can do to change that “9” number is to NOT hunt where you’re hunting. I truly believe that.

That all makes sense, but I have to wonder.... the vast majority of those public sites (schools, churches, parks, fair grounds, etc) that had a lot of people over the years are right there on everybody's radar that does this. You look at any "how to metal detect" site that covers even the basics and those are the spots they tell you to go to. My mindset over the past couple of years is along the lines of "find an untouched site"...one where nobody else has hit so everything that was lost there over the years of occupation is still there in one way or another. That's also the reason why I tend to not bother with homes that are still occupied...less hassle and less modern garbage with the unmapped sites that are sunk into the middle of a farm field somewhere or buried deep in the woods.

If I remember right, you and I started with the CTX right about the same time, right? What kinds of sites are you having success at? If I recall, the last video of yours I watched was a cellar hole in the middle of the woods in the snow, right?

 

[IDXMonster]

Jeff,that’s excellent record keeping! It’s also a VERY clear indicator that If you have spent about the same time hunting these last 4 years,these particular sites are NoT going to allow for high coin counts. What they DO allow is a larger chance of finding those older coppers and weird denom coins that traditionally don’t show up as often on public ground(parks,schools,etc.)
It all depends on what you want to find. If you are going for it all and feel as if these defunct sites are the way to do it,I won’t argue. But if you’re looking for more silver,IMHO it has to be where a lot of activity occurred,and people had it in their pocket. To ME,it’s about return on my time,I won’t usually go hunt somewhere that MIGHT have something. I will go somewhere that DOES have something,because the odds of it having nothing are zero.
On your chart,the difference of 6 silvers to me isn’t an indicator of machine error or operator error,rather...the places you’re hunting do NOT have enough of what you want. Even though you seem to have access to a lot of them,it’s going to take a ludicrous amount of time to sort through them all and harvest the stragglers. Hunting a site with perhaps less area and more activity within that area will up your silver coins. The large coppers are big targets,any of those in public places are likely gone for the great part.
If you’re looking for that “spectacular find” or a “cache” or you don’t mind digging horse shoes,you’re on the right track,IMO. But the biggest thing you can do to change that “9” number is to NOT hunt where you’re hunting. I truly believe that.

That all makes sense, but I have to wonder.... the vast majority of those public sites (schools, churches, parks, fair grounds, etc) that had a lot of people over the years are right there on everybody's radar that does this. You look at any "how to metal detect" site that covers even the basics and those are the spots they tell you to go to. My mindset over the past couple of years is along the lines of "find an untouched site"...one where nobody else has hit so everything that was lost there over the years of occupation is still there in one way or another. That's also the reason why I tend to not bother with homes that are still occupied...less hassle and less modern garbage with the unmapped sites that are sunk into the middle of a farm field somewhere or buried deep in the woods.

If I remember right, you and I started with the CTX right about the same time, right? What kinds of sites are you having success at? If I recall, the last video of yours I watched was a cellar hole in the middle of the woods in the snow, right?

Yes,we did! And that was my very first video cuz I had JUST figured out how to run the GoPro and the woods was the only place that wasn’t totally frozen! That could have been misleading as to where I DO hunt. The vast majority of my finds come from old ball fields. ANY old ball field that has 75+ years of history. It can still be in use,been hunted by every body in town...they produce like nobody’s business. WHY? Because even though they have been hunted,chances are high they haven’t been hunted by an FBS machine or a CTX. Even if they HAVE,that’s NO guarantee the operator had ANY idea what they were doing. The best way to test this is to go find a ballfield and hunt the outfield. It’s as simple as that. Most of my coins come from the 8+” range. You’ll be able to tell if it’s been hunted hard,because there will be very little in the way of clad,which tends to be up to 6-7”. Basically those other hunters have cleared the pesky coins out of the way for us! The 17” coil is what I use almost ALL the time,unless it’s a very specific situation where I need to go smaller.
If you look at the Friendly Forum under” Coin-shooters and Relic Hunters”, I just posted a thread on my wrap up of 2017 with machine settings,pics and a write up. Take a look when you can and realize almost ALL of these coins came from ballfields. Then go test it for yourself when the digging allows. You will want to bring your small shovel...
Happy New Year!

Kevin

 

[TrpnBils]

Alright, Kevin - I'm going to take up your cause and try to destroy an old ballfield when the weather warms back up. I found a pre-1918 ballfield that was out of service by at the latest 1952 this evening about half an hour from my house. Haven't talked to anyone yet, but it's a small subdivision area and the infield and most of right field are now somebody's yard so it's a nice, spread out area. Here's hoping I can get permission!

 

[diamondcutter]

I use combined with a high tone for nickel slot also with silver, Indian head slot, I also noticed that auto sensitivity is just fine in +3, instead of high manual, the high tones really pop, have had great success so far, and where I have done it all is in hunted out parks for the most part, did get a real nice one last year thou.

 

[stephenscool]

Am I wrong in assuming the tone is just the sound response for a target?

 

[sgoss66]

Not sure what you are asking, Stephen. I think you are asking a deeper question than what it appears on the surface, because the simple answer of course is yes, that's what an audio tone is -- a "sound response" applied to a processed return signal received by the coil. So I'm pretty sure you are asking something deeper...

Steve

 

[stephenscool]

Not sure what you are asking, Stephen. I think you are asking a deeper question than what it appears on the surface, because the simple answer of course is yes, that's what an audio tone is -- a "sound response" applied to a processed return signal received by the coil. So I'm pretty sure you are asking something deeper...

Steve

Not really.. I primarily beach hunt. Trying a pattern out that is all blocked except 9,10,11,12,13,14. I'm going to dig everything that beeps in there. So I set the tone at 1200 so it would be nice and loud and unmistakable.
1 thing that is a big change that I have to adapt to is sizing. With a pi I can use the threshold to size and pinpoint a target. On the ctx I don't want to use the pinpoint (at least yet). I want to size it with the program I'm using without hitting a dozen buttons.
As a beach hunter its for the most part impossible to know 100% that a target is gold... however, I want to be confident that a left target isn't gold.

 

[diamondcutter]

I think your question Stephen pertains to how your going to detect, digging everything in your open range, yes that will insure you not miss a thing, but if i did that where i go i would be there a hundred years, so using techniques to discern your targets is optimal in trash filled old parks or other areas. How we do is dependent to three factors, it has been hunted to death or there is trash that masks the target just enough for others to skip, or it's not a producer. Or if by chance you do get a honey hole well that's just a different matter.