Beach mode on CTX 3030

[mccrorysjewelry2]

I know this question is going to sound crazy but, here goes. Has anyone ever tried to use the beach mode when hunting on land in dirt? What would happen if you did? How would the CTX react to the dirt. Also I have a old park I want to hunt but, the ground is very sandy with lots of mineralization. More sand than dirt. Could someone use the beach mode and if not why? I am doing some experimenting with the CTX and trying things outside the box and using the CTX in ways it wasn't designed to be used. I have a program setup in Beach mode that I have selected combined setting with seawater on, deep on. pitch hold and sizing. Was wondering if anyone has ever tried Beach mode to hunt in dirt. Thanks

 

[GKMan]

People have! There are a couple threads I have seen about folks using the Seawater setting on land with some good results...

Detector Advice - Bad Mineralization
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?86,2050136

Saltwater mode in HIGHLY mineralized pulls heavy hitters.
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?86,2032476,page=1

 

[mccrorysjewelry2]

I have used seawater a lot with great results. Has anyone used the Beach mode in dirt or in sandy dirt with seawater on? Thanks

 

[GKMan]

I haven't had the opportunity to do so. By far, I believe that the seawater setting being enabled would make the greatest difference since it is allowing for higher sensitivity with less chatter. Everything else is just a variation of other settings you could make. The ground up here is pretty good though and so thankfully we don't have to worry about it much.

Oh, by the way it will be great to hear if some of your experiments help you out!

 

[mccrorysjewelry2]

My brother said he tried Beach mode in a site that was highly mineralized dirt with the seawater setting turned on and was getting some great depth. This is why I am asking if anyone has tried this. I know the CTX was not designed to work this way but, neither was using seawater turned on in dirt. I was wondering if using Beach mode in this old park that has mostly black sandy dirt would go deeper in Beach mode than running the CTX in coin mode with ground coin setting on because the dirt and sand are highly mineralized. Thanks

 

[CCadrin]

The modes that Minelab supplies are just a name given to a set of options that are defaulted to you. The detector broadcast its frequency to its predefined depth ALL the time not regarding to any mode or setting. The responses are then interpreted based upon the options you have chosen. The options that can be chosen are discrimination pattern (Beach is more open then the others), SEAWATER option, DEEP option, FAST option, TARGET SEPARATION, and your SENSITIVITY setting. Your sweep speed is also critical on deep targets. I have found a faster sweep speed provides a sound that makes me investigate and try for get a repeat sound. A snail pace sweep goes right over the target without a peep (I learned that in my test garden).

SEAWATER can be used anywhere since it reduces or turns off some of the super sensitive frequencies to make the unit more stable. If it is more stable you can increase your SENSITIVITY (Manual). SENSIVITY will correspond to greater depth and other targets masking your desired target so sometimes more is not always better. In some cases you may want a lower SENSITIVITY or run in Auto SENSITIVITY since objects close to your good target may interfere with desired target.

I've been hunting a park that is 'hunted out'. I am still amazed at how may coins that are less than 6 or 7 inches still being pulled and many are at 4 or 5 inches. I would not be to concerned with depth but more on coins being masked by other objects.

The Minelab's default modes are rarely used by the more experienced users. They are not optimal for most hunting situations If you follow the experts on the forum, opening the discrimination up to the 20 to 28 conductive line or fully open will find more good targets. The best thing you can do to learn the machine is time and patience trying the different options (not picking Minelab's modes to see which one works or not); reading the forum religiously, learning the Xchange Software; reading and studying the Andy Sabisch book.

One thing that I did was to print out the Minelab's default modes to have a visual of the options (discrimination maps, target separations, etc). And printed out other custom modes people have created and determine what their objectives were. My collection of modes are around 40. For example my beach mode, you are hunting an area where there may not be many targets and you want to dig everything except for rusty nails. Your discrimination map should be fairly open (Minelab's Beach mode stops on the 20 conductive line). Seawater on if I am in salt water (dry sand you can turn it off). In the water, if I am swinging slow in the water I may have DEEP on. Sandbars I may turn off deep and use FAST.

Happy Hunting!

 

[mccrorysjewelry2]

I totally get it. I feel so stupid for even asking these questions. I don't know why I thought running Beach mode was any different than running any of the other modes. The only difference in each mode is the amount of disc that is being used. You pick what setting you want in each mode. Thank you CCadrin for bringing this to my attention. The only thing I don't quite understand is you saying swinging the coil fast will hit on deep targets better than a slow swing. Doesn't CTX have a slower recovery speed than say the deus, Racer,Garrett and some other detectors? I have always been told slow is the way to go with the CTX. That you are missing deep targets by moving fast. Please explain CCadrin why you feel the others have it backwards? Thanks

 

[GKMan]

CCadrin is correct about swing speed, and like I had mentioned earlier, Beach mode is simply a variation of other settings you could make .

To test this out for yourself, simply put a coin on the ground and try swinging over it slower, than faster. As you quicken your swing you will find you will get more "depth" You will find some posts about fast swinging on this forum. This fast swinging was the only thing that ended up getting me a large cent at a site I had tried everything. With that coin, a typical normal swing you heard nothing, I sped up the swing (by quite a bit) and ended up getting a tone that said dig me.

 

[Larry (IL)]

Yep, a faster swing gets me an additional couple of inches in fairly clean ground like "hunted out" parks and field hunting. If you are hunting in trashy ground, a slow swing is necessary and even a smaller coil would be an asset to separate the targets.

As far as using saltwater on, I get less chatter when hunting fertilized fields here in the Midwest which are usually very alkaline like saltwater. A little trick I learned using the Whites V3i.

 

[CCadrin]

I never swung a Deus but I currently swing a Garrett AT Pro, Nokta Fors Core, Whites Pi Dual Field besides the CTX. Some people say the Nokta is faster then the Deus. It can be very fast and sound off for each target no matter how close they are. Overall though, the CTX is really not that slow. I use to swing the CTX very slow (4 or 5 second sweeps) and all of my buddies were out hunting me and digging deeper targets. So I went back to the test garden and increased my speed (1 to 2 second sweeps) and my targets can easily be heard. You need to determine the swing speed based upon he size of the coil and trashy areas you are hunting. I have the 5x10 Coiltek and you have to swing very slow to find the good stuff in a trashy area. The key thing is to know your hunting area and cleanout the shallow stuff they go for the deep stuff.

Your target separation will also play a role on what targets may be heard. High-trash will sound off on the strongest target and ferrous-coin will attempt to sound off on the coin based upon how close they are. The CTX may only sound off once due to masking while the Deus or Nokta will sound off twice.

 

[mccrorysjewelry2]

Thanks everyone for your help. I am learning new things about the CTX I never knew. Will need to go back and do some testing. Thanks