First post & coil question.......

[Anonymous]

Evenin' all. This is my first post here. I've been checking out the forums on here for a week or so, and this seems like a really nice place.
Now my question..... I've had my MXT for about 1 1/2 years now. When I bought it, I also got the small DD coil for it. I haven't had much luck with it and so far, really haven't been that impressed.
Granted that I haven't got to hunt anywhere near as often as I would like, so maybe I just don't have enough experience with it yet. Last year I hunted a site I have permission for on a battlefield (pvt land) around Chattanooga TN. The ground was pretty good, showing around 55 on the display with a relativly small amount of modern trash. This land has been hunted before, but we still found some nice keepers.
On the last day, after digging a target, I put a new dime in the hole at about 5 inches. The DD coil never picked it up <img src="/metal/html/confused.gif" border=0 width=15 height=22 alt=":?"> ...... not at all. I was in relic mode, switch middle, gain at +2.
I've been told that this coil must be swung somewhat slower than the stock coil. Am I doing something wrong? Could there be a problem with the coil? Does anyone have any tips or tricks for using the DD coils?
I haven't really thought about it much until recently. I also haven't done any air testing with it, guess I should. I've got another site close to home that is a house built around the late 1700's. Around 1200 acres of land that was settled initally in 1740, so it definitely has potential. The yard of this place is littered with trash and modern bullets, so it is overwhelming the larger stock coil. I planned to try this DD on the next hunt.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. <img src="/metal/html/smile.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt="">
Thanks & HH!
Tim in VA
MXT & Classic ID

 

[Anonymous]

opposite about the little DD coil. I have one and
so does the guy that hunts with me. We, both, are
very impressed with the depth on this little feller.
Super job in trash, in fact, I had the 5.3 and
with great mental anguish decided to let it go.
The little DD won out. If you have someone close
by that you could exchange coils with,or a dealer,
maybe............. I wouldn't care to send ya my
coil to let you try it out on your machine..if'n
it will help. HH and let us know what happens,
RichardnTn (where in va)

 

[Anonymous]

I'm glad you like yours. I'm sure this one will work out ok if I can figger out it's secrets. <img src="/metal/html/tongue.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":b">
Do you treat your DD any different? Faster / slower swing, different settings, stick your toungue out the opposite side, sprinkle the machine with ceremonial dirt from a Confederate camp before hunting? <img src="/metal/html/lol.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":lol"> Honestly, I probably just haven't played with this one enough yet. I'm gonna try it on the old house next trip and see how it does. Don't have much to loose. The stock coil in that yard is almost one continous signal. Don't think the landowner would appreciate me using a dozer to take the first 6" off her yard <img src="/metal/html/wink.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt="">
I'm located in Tazewell Co up near the WV border. What part of the volunteer state are you in? Always loved Tennessee and would love to get down that way more often. I knew a guy that owned a farm near Franklin several years ago before I started relic hunting. He's moved on since, and I just can't help thinking about an opportunity lost.
HH
Tim

 

[Anonymous]

Greeneville, about 50 miles, as the crow flies,
NE of Knoxville, right in the mountains against
the North Carolina border. The little DD will
take anything you hand out, it works better if'n
you keep it slow in the trash though. I run it
at about 2+ or so on the sensitivity. It's hard
to believe how that little fellow can get in so
close to the trash and find the goodies,quit as
a mouse too, zero chatter.
HH Richard'nTn

 

[Anonymous]

Tim, Sounds like you found a great place to hunt. All we need to do now is get your machine ready to do it's job. Don't give up on the coil just yet. The shooter DD coil is a good design and will detect as deep as about any small coil. The reason you can't hit the dime at 5 inches is exactly because of what you said. It was newly buried and you are using a coil designed to separate trashy items from good targets. The bad news is that small coils like the Shooter will not go as deep as the larger coils. As to the freshly buried dime, coins that are placed in disturbed ground do not amplify their signals well. Coins (and relics) that have been buried for a period of years create a halo effect that intensifies the target size and allows them to be detected deeper. Ever notice the rust in the ground around an iron target? With that said, I might make a couple of suggestions. DD coils are designed to mininize the effects of ground mineralization readings above 70. If the ground that you are hunting in reads a mineralization in the 50's, the stock concentric coil may be as stable as the DD. If you are hunting relics, the larger concentric coil will get greater depth than the small coil. You just have to realize that the detector will only tell you if it is a bullet. Not if it is new or old. You usually have to dig some junk to get to the good stuff. Especially if the junk lays between you and the stuff you are after. If you need to use a DD coil to combat mineralization and chatter, you might consider getting a larger DD Eclipse or an aftermarket DD coil. But again, with soil readings in the 50's, I don't think mineralization is your problem. I think the first thing you need to do is determine if the Shooter Eclipse coil you have is working OK. I know airtests are not representative of actual hunting conditions, but airtesting a coil can help you determine if the coil is even working. This coil should hit a dime at 5 inches, anyway. Try setting your detector with the gain as "full blast" as you can tolerate. If running a +2 doesn't create too much chatter for you, try running +3. Set the discriminate to allow the targets you want to find (preset is OK), set the threshold to allow you to hear a faint sputter. Set the ground toggle down so the MXT compensates for changes in the ground balance. With the machine set like this, you should listen for any changes in the threshold tone. As with most detectors, a slower sweep speed is better when listening for these subtle changes. If you can't hear the tone change on an airtested dime at 5 or 6 inches, then you need to find another Shooter coil and test it too. If it reads the same as yours, then I would bet your coil is fine. If neither of them hit a dime at 5 inches, then I would suggest you have White's techs take a look at your MXT. May need to be recalibrated. You may want to do some testing yourself. Next time you go out to this site, spend 2 hours with the small DD coil and dig what you would normally dig. Then spend 2 hours with the stock coil, going over the same area you hunted the small shooter coil. Dig everything that makes a high tone in the relic mode, center position. Once you see how many keepers you get with the larger coil, you may decide to save the DD Shooter coil for coin hunting in the park. HH

 

[Anonymous]

Digger is right, turn full power that's what I do with my 5" excel. Works much better. It does't read well on freshly dug coins placed back in the hole with loosley covered dirt.

 

[Anonymous]

That's good info. I do know about digging the trash, believe me <img src="/metal/html/lol.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":lol"> You can look in my garage and tell that. I cart off everything that I dig. That way I don't have to dig it again, and it help keep the landowner happy.
I understand about the halo effect having seen it many times with iron. What worried me is that the machine didn't make <span style="background-color:#ffff00;">any signal at all</span>.
I've made several other nice finds since using my stock coil, so I don't think the machine is wacko. If the weather holds up this weekend, I may get down there Sunday and try it again.
If I do, I'll post the results on here. Thanks again for the help!
HH
Tim <IMG SRC="/metal/html/whites.jpg" BORDER=0 width=29 height=18 ALT="w~"> <IMG SRC="/metal/html/flag.jpg" BORDER=0 width=32 height=17 ALT="usa~">

 

[Anonymous]

First, as to not hitting on the dime - many have indicated that they have tossed a coin into a freshly dug hole only to find they can't get a tone from it, particularly if they haven't filled the hole back in. That's pretty normal.
I would suggest you try to work an area that has some targets, but not so busy that you can't separate targets with the stock coil. First locate some targets with the stock coil, pinpoint and mark them with something like a golf tee; note the depth indicated in pinpoint mode. Then switch to your DD Shooter and re-scan the area - see if you can 'see' the same targets; note the pinpoint depth. Then actually dig the targets and measure or guesstimate the depth. Short of having an actual test garden where you have known targets at known depths, this will give you an idea if your coil is actually getting any depth. In that soil I should think you would have no trouble finding coins at 5"-6".

 

[Anonymous]

Tim,
I I have used the mxt for about a year now. One of the first extra coils I tried was the 4x6. It was a decent little coil, never got anything real deep but it did seperate good, In trash , heavy trash you need to go really slow. Also in this trash you may do better not running the gain wide open, in the + range you targets signals are amplified, thus making trash have a stronger signal also which can over ride the sometimes weaker signal of a good target. Try one of these trash heaps running the gain at 8-9, relic mode trigger in the center disc on 3 ground set to track and threshold barely humming. Set up like this items under your disc setting (3) will have a low tone and all else will have a high tone (dig these !) This little coil's depth reading will always read deeper than the target is. In trash a targets vdi can get of quite a bit so I dig all high toned signals and dig the ones that give a high tone only from one direction, found a bunch of wheat pennies in some heavy iron trash and could only get a piece of a beep from one direction. The ground here in VA can get rough in places and this read dirt make for some rough diggin when it gets dry . I ended up selling the 4x6 and now have have the 5 and 14 inch excellerator coils. The 5 is super in trash and gets more depth than the 4x6. It seperates just as good if not better and I have found wheat pennies at 6 inches with the 5 inch coil and so far the deepest with the 14 is 2 dimes at 9 inches and did dig a hunk of metal at a measured 21 inches. You will do good with the 4x6 and stock coil, but you will do great with that pair of excellerators. As far as the 14 compared to the stock It gets more depth ( a solid 3-4 inches) it is a DD which is 100 times better at separating targets and being larger you get more coverage. Personally I would say sell the 4x6 take that money get you a 5 inch excelerator coil, save up your finds then get the 14 and then you will be wondering why you need the stock coil. Just my opinion.
Happy Hunting and good luck, Ray