Discrimination/All Metal Question

[Anonymous]

I have a 1994 vintage Silver Sabre II and was wondering if anyone has noted the following behavior:
When hunting in at 7-8 discrimination level I get a good signal indicating most likely a coin. I pinpoint it in discrim mode and switch to all metal. At this point clads,pennies,pulltabs,etc.
generate a constant tone. The darndest thing is that silver merc's DON'T generate any tone at all !
Anyone ever see this before ? I don't get it.

 

[Anonymous]

Im guessing that your factory pre-set ground balance is not set right. Will it do that with all coils? The GB was pre-set to the coil which came on the detector and a change in coils will effect GB to some degree. Check your GB by going to all metal mode and pumping the coil at the ground. If your threshold sound increases a lot as the coil approaches the ground, your GB is set too positive and you are loosing sensitivity to more conductive targets like silver coins.

 

[Anonymous]

I have a Silver Sabre II, and a few things occur to me that may be of help. First, two questions:
1. I'm kinda confused. If you're not hearing Mercs at 7-8 disc, how did you find them?
2. Has anything else silver you may have dug before (quarters, halves, even Barber dimes, sterling spoons or thimbles, etc.) given you a signal in 7-8 disc?
So much for the questions. Here's a quick test you can check for yourself and see what happens.
1. First, air test a Merc with your Disc at 7-8. If you're getting a signal at all, then Mercs should *theoretically* be hitting, and there's most likely nothing wrong with your detector. I say "theoretically" because all sorts of strange things can happen in actual dirt, so ... if Mercs have hit for you at 7-8 disc in the past, it could be that you were on some fluky dirt that was far more mineralized than what your Silver can easily handle.
2. Check your Threshold adjustment (the Threshold knob is that little white nubbin on the back of the brain box). It's kinda hard for those to go out of whack once you set them properly, but stuff happens sometimes and perhaps your tone has been re-set too low to hear the Mercs hitting, especially if they're at the deeper end of the depth the Sabre typically gets. In essence, your Sabre is finding them, but you're not -- which is what Threshold is all about. Which is another reason why you'd hear Mercs in All Metal but not in Disc. This is why I always check my Threshold before each time I hunt.
Let us know what happens.
Scott

 

[Anonymous]

A couple of years ago a newbie with a Bandido II asked me to check his detector because it wouldn't pick up dimes or quarters. That was his problem, it was ground balanced way to positive. He had bought the detector used, didn't get a manual and didn't know it had to be ground balanced, or even what ground balance was. Sounds as though that may be Warren's problem.
JB

 

[Anonymous]

Scott,
Looks like you were right on your fluky dirt theory. Checked the threshold and it was set ok.
Tried the dime test in the black gumbo of my backyard and got a signal in all-metal and everything
seemed ok..
The place were I have had this happen has a brown sandy,shallow soil with a lot of metamorphic/igneous looking little pebbles.
Guess I need to make some adjustments when hunting this area.
Many thanks for your help.
Warren

 

[Anonymous]

There aren't a whole lot of adjustments you can make in bad ground with a no-frills turn on and go SS2, but there's one I can think of, and it's served me well. Out here, I run across a lot of old burned cinders and slag (used as fill, especially for laying sidewalks in old business districts), which is probably pretty close to your fluky dirt as far as mucking up the performance of a SS2. When I run into those spots, I crank down my Sens dial. And I crank it down A LOT (like down as low as 5 at times if the cinders are really thick), and the ground becomes far more manageable -- not as much falsing and snap, crackle and pop. And on those sidewalk projects in the old parts of town, everything's pretty shallow as it is (1-4"), so loss of Sensitivity isn't hurting me none.
Scott